10 Transgender Actors Making An Impact On TV

Trans actors like Elliot Page are making a significant impact on television.

You Are Reading :10 Transgender Actors Making An Impact On TV

Over the last few years, many actors have been raising awareness for the transgender community. There are transgender celebrities across every industry, including retired athlete Caitlin Jenner, reality TV contestant Audrey Middleton, model Valentina Sampaio, musician Laura Jane Grace from the alternative band Against Me! The list goes on and is only just getting bigger.

When it comes to acting, there are plenty of LGBTQ+ movies out now and coming soon. But on the small screen, transgender celebrities are really making an impact with important roles on television.

10 Josie Totah (Saved by the Bell)

Totah is able to speak to an entirely new generation given that she is just 19-years old. She currently stars in the new Saved by the Bell reboot on NBC streaming service Peacock, and is quickly being called the breakout star.

Totah had a recurring role on the Disney Channel series Jessie but received high praise for her roles in the 2016 movie Other People and the short-lived NBC comedy Champions. She turned heads when she came out as trans in 2018; the decision, especially at such a young age, inspired many people.

9 Laverne Cox (Orange Is The New Black)

One of the first new actors of this generation to make a stand about trans people being cast in trans roles, and advocating for roles that are more truthful about the trans experience, Cox became a breakout star in Netflix’s Orange is the New Black, which itself has been praised for its diverse depictions of members of the LGBTQ+ community. She was notably the first openly transgender person to be nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for acting, and the first ever to be nominated for an Emmy, period, since 1990 (the first was composer Angela Morley.)

Cox continues to open doors by becoming the first transgender person to be a series regular, playing a transgender character, on the series Doubt; the first openly transgender person to be on the covers of both Time and Cosmopolitan magazines (the latter in South Africa); and the first openly transgender person to have a wax figure erected at Madame Tussauds wax museum.

8 Alexandra Billings (The Conners, Transparent)

Returning to television to play Darlene and Becky’s boss on The Conners, Billings has a pretty lengthy résumé, including her most notable and popular recurring role on Transparent as Davina, as well as roles in ER, Eli Stone, How to Get Away with Murder, and Grey’s Anatomy.

At 58, Billings has opened doors for others. When she appeared in the 2005 movie Romy and Michele: In The Beginning, she made history as the second openly transgender woman to play a transgender character on television.

7 Elliot Page (The Umbrella Academy)

Elliot Page has been a successful actor since starring in the movie Juno. He then went on to enjoy a widely successful career with a variety of movie roles, including Inception, Tallulah, X-Men, and, most recently, stars in The Umbrella Academy on Netflix.

He came out as gay in 2014, but in 2020, confirmed that he is indeed transgender. The news made headlines and served as an inspiration for others out there struggling with their own identities, especially given Page’s A-list status: at 33, he already has an Academy Award nomination to his name.

6 Jamie Clayton (Sense8)

Honored by Out magazine back in 2011 for being one of the top transgender personalities, Clayton has been portraying transgender characters for the last decade, starting off with HBO series Hung in 2011.

She has also done work to help young kids going through the confusing stages of their lives and gender identities by narrating the young adult novel George about a transgender girl. Sense8, the Netflix series that garnered Clayton an even bigger following than she already had is one of many that fans believe was cancelled far too soon. It has since developed a cult following.

5 Alex Blue Davis (Grey’s Anatomy)

Davis is best known for portraying an openly transgender character on the massively successful Shonda Rhimes series Grey’s Anatomy. And it was his one line that the showrunner admits to having re-written multiple times over, that really made an impact.

“I’m a proud trans man, Dr. Bailey,” he said. “I like for people to get to know me before they find out my medical history.”

4 Dominique Jackson (Pose)

A successful model, author, and actor, as well as a reality TV personality, it’s her personal story that really resonates. Born and raised in Trinidad and Tobago, Jackson reportedly fled not only an abusive childhood but also a lack of acceptance for being trans.

She had a rough time after fleeing to the U.S. as well, reportedly being homeless and even turning to sex work to survive for a period of time. But she has shown how it’s possible to overcome obstacles in life. She plays the leading role of Elektra Abundance on the Emmy-nominated FX series Pose, which has been lauded for the attention it brings to the LGBTQ+ community.

3 Indya Moore (Pose)

Also from Pose, and also a model as well as an actor, Moore is transgender and non-binary. With a similarly rough upbringing and parents who did not understand their transgender identity, Moore went into the foster care system at age 14.

Despite being bullied and dropping out of school, Moore endured. They got their GED, became a successful model, and now stars in a hit FX show.

2 Hunter Schafer (Euphoria)

While Schafer’s only acting credit to date is on the HBO series Euphoria, it’s an important one. The character has been praised for being one of the few transgender actors on television to not be depicted as struggling with their identity. Her role showed that a trans person can be seen simply as a person on a show – being trans doesn’t have to define them.

Schafer has modeled as well for a number of top brands, from Dior to Calvin Klein and Vera Wang, and continues her work as an activist for the LGBTQ+ community,

1 Jen Richards (Her Story)

Richards not only starred in Her Story, she also co-produced it. The show went on to receive an Emmy nomination back in 2016. But more importantly, Richards, who has since appeared on TV series like Nashville, Better Things, and Tales of the City, has been working hard to promote trans visibility.

She founded an organization called Trans 100, which works to honor and recognize trans people and businesses that are doing positive things for the community. She has also been an advocate for pushing producers to cast actual trans people in trans roles.

Link Source : https://screenrant.com/elliot-page-transgender-tv-actors/