Transgender and transsexual actors/actresses

Jamie Clayton's big break was playing Kyla on season three of the hit HBO series Hung alongside Thomas Jane. After her multi-episode arc on Hung, Jamie joined actors Mary Lynn Rajskub and Hank Harris as a lead in the Emmy winning digital series, Dirty Work, playing crime scene cleanup maven Michelle. In 2014, Jamie booked the series regular role of Nomi Marks, the San Francisco based hacker, in the Netflix Original Series, Sense8. The show became a critical darling and an international success touching on topics not normally emphasized in the Sci-Fi genre such as politics and religion. The series ran for two full seasons and ended with a 2½ hour finale that premiered on Netflix on June 8th, 2018. Jamie had a six episode arc on season 3 of Designated Survivor which premiered June 7th, 2019 on Netflix. Jamie's big screen debut was in Nicolas Winding Refn's, The Neon Demon. She then played alongside Michael Fassbender in Thomas Alfredson's The Snowman. She also stars in the The Chain, opposite Madeline Zima and John Patrick Amedori.

Caroline 'Tula' Cossey was assigned male at birth but went on to transition and have a successful modeling career.

My Story is Tula's candid thought provoking, enlightening, humorous, heart wrenching and motivational account of her struggles: her troubled childhood being bullied and taunted in East Anglia, her dreams of coming out as herself, the operations that liberated her sexually, and the journey from showgirl to James Bond girl to top international model.

At the height of her career, Tula had appeared in Vogue, Cosmopolitan and Harper's Bazaar and graced the covers of many top fashion and beauty magazines and top calendars around the world. She was also the first transgender model to appear in Playboy magazine and was featured on the cover of multiple international editions.

After she was twice exposed by the News of the World, Tula's career plummeted and her marriage to multimillionaire Elias Fattal was annulled. In the spring of 1989, she was forced to make a unique appeal to the European Commission of Human Rights: she was fighting for the legal validation of her marriage as female and the right to have her birth certificate corrected after gender reassignment surgery.

Her activism led to appearances on Donahue, Joan Rivers, Howard Stern, Geraldo, Montel Williams, Maury Povich, Arsenio Hall, Neal Boortz, David Frost, Gloria Hunniford, BBC's Question Time, Jonathan Ross, and numerous other television and radio shows. She has also often been featured on Entertainment Tonight and had a day named after her in Atlanta, Georgia and was given the key to the city.

My Story is not just the true account of Tula's battle for the body she needed to survive and her struggle for the legal rights she deserved as a woman. It is above all an inspirational exemplification of the triumph of the human spirit over seemingly insurmountable adversity and suffering.

Harmony Santana is an American film actress. She is most noted for her appearance in the 2011 film Gun Hill Road, for which she garnered an Independent Spirit Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress, and became the first openly transgender actress to be nominated for a major acting award in the United States.

At the time of her performance in Gun Hill Road, Santana lived at Green Chimneys, a group home for LGBT youth in Manhattan. Being in Green Chimneys drove her to become an activist for HIV & AIDS, Homeless Youth, and Bullying. She was discovered by director Rashaad Ernesto Green at the Queens Pride parade after he had difficulty finding the right performer for the role.

She is of mixed Puerto Rican and Dominican heritage.

In addition to Gun Hill Road, Santana has also had supporting roles in Eating Out 4: Drama Camp and Eating Out 5: The Open Weekend. In 2014 she went on to do short films such as Futurestates: The Living and You're Dead To Me.

Originally from San Diego, California, Jazzmun made her first national television appearance on the 1980s talent variety show Puttin' on the Hits (1984), in which she split her body half in male drag and half in female drag, lip-syncing as a "duet". Finding work immediately after that appearance for her theatrical and modeling talents, she moved to Los Angeles and secured agent Ralph Lliteras to represent her. Since then Jazzmun has performed all over the world performing as either her stage character "Jazzmun", her trademark "Whitney Houston" of which she performed as in the female stage review Le Cage, "Grace Jones" or any number of other characters. Drag icon RuPaul even hired Jazzmun to perform in his music video "A Little Bit Of Love", which spoofed drag queens as aliens out to conquer the world. Jazzmun has proven to be a consummate performer and, when not appearing on television or stage, can be seen in a variety of Los Angeles nightclubs promoting her talents in a variety of ways.

Ajita Wilson was a transgender actress who started out as an entertainer in the red-light district of New York. Wilson had sex reassignment surgery in the mid-1970s. After the operation she started appearing in adult films in New York. Then she was discovered by a European hardcore film producer who got her roles in various French and Italian films of hardcore nature. In 1978 she made a crossover into softcore European films. She worked in a series of softcore and hardcore films over the years. In 1987 Wilson was in an automobile accident and died of a brain hemorrhage.

Savannah is a Transgender actress originally from Corner Brook, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada who has been studying acting for 20+ years. She has been a union performer since 2006. She can be seen on Beauty and the Beast on the CW and Killjoys on SYFY and in the award winning short film Junior's Giant. In 2017 she was featured in WE are Canada: Future 50 portrait series. Savannah completed a Marketing Management program at Ryerson University in Toronto. An accomplished athlete who is a member of the 2015 Canadian National Women's Dodgeball team. She is the first out Trans athlete in Canadian history to compete in team sports internationally.

Chaz Salvatore Bono was born on March 4, 1969 in Los Angeles, California to Cher & Sonny Bono. He is an American character actor & activist and best known for his work on American Horror Story and Curb Your Enthusiasm.

An acclaimed author, Bono has written three books, including NY Times Best Sellers, Family Outing 1998, and Transition published by Dutton in 2011, a candid account of a forty-year struggle to match his gender identity.

Adding to his multiple hyphenated talents, he has shared his life and experiences in, and produced the three-time Emmy nominated documentary, "Becoming Chaz."

Bono has a rich history of advocating for LGBTQ+ rights, having worked for two national LGBTQ+ organizations, and as public speaker on college campuses and at events around the world. He continues to be a strong voice the for LGBTQ+ community, and is a passionate champion of equality for all Americans, especially those discriminated against and targeted because of race, religion, sex, age, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or gender identity.

In 2012 Bono decided to pursue his lifelong dream of a career as a working actor. He's guest stared in the films Dirty, Reborn, Three From Hell, and Reboot Camp. Bono has also guest stared on multiple episodes of The Bold and the Beautiful, Where the Bears Are, American Horror Story Roanoke, American Horror Story Cult, and Curb Your Enthusiasm.

Casey Mongillo was born in Connecticut, USA. They are an actor, known for Red Dead Redemption (2010), Star Trek Online (2012) and Adventure at the Center of the Earth (2008). They occasionally join Rockstar Games (creators of Grand Theft Auto, Red Dead Redemption series) as a guest during their official live streams.

Candis was born in Maui, Hawaii. Candis Cayne has become one of the United States' most popular and sought-after transgender actresses. Candis first made a name for herself at the famed NYC gay hot-spot "Boy Bar", where her performances drew raves. A classically trained dancer, Candis has thrilled audiences from coast-to-coast with her amazing gift for dance, choreography and glamour.

Candis can be seen in the hit ABC series Dirty Sexy Money where she played actor Billy Baldwin's (Patrick) transgender love interest Carmelita. Candis was the first transgender actress to have a recurring role on a prime-time series. Recently, Candis has had guest-starring spots in various shows and a recurring role in The Magicians. Also, check out the 2020 Netflix documentary "Disclosure" for a more in-depth understanding of transgender representation in media and society where Candis speaks candidly about her experiences as a transgender actress.

Born in Cheltenham, England, Richard Smith's family moved to Tauranga, New Zealand, in 1951 when his father, an accountant, decided to become a sheep farmer. Watching horror and science-fiction double features in nearby Hamilton, Smith added an interest in acting to his love of rock and roll. He moved back to England in 1964, tried singing, then became a movie stuntman and fringe theater actor. He changed his name to O'Brien (his beloved maternal grandmother's name) one day while on the phone to British Actors Equity, to avoid confusion with another Richard Smith. He met director Jim Sharman in 1972, when Sharman cast him in the dual roles of Apostle and Leper for the London stage production (transferred from Sharman's native Australia) of "Jesus Christ Superstar". Working again with Sharman on a production of Sam Shepard's "The Unseen Hand", O'Brien mentioned a new rock musical he'd been writing called "Rock Horror." The play went into rehearsals as "They Came from Denton High," and at Sharman's suggestion, was retitled "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" before opening in June 1973.

Bulent was already a popular singer in Turkey when he travelled to England to have a sex change in 1981, becoming a woman yet retaining the traditionally male birth name of Bulent. Under a crackdown on "social deviance" by then Turkish leader Kenan Evren, Bulent was banned from public performances and was also refused a court petition to have her sex re-classfied as female. Ersoy left entertainment in protest until 1988, when changes in the Turkish legal code allowed for MtoF transsexuals to be legally classfied as women. Bulent returned to recording, and actually became even more popular as a female vocalist than she had been as a man.

In 1998, Bulent caused controversy again when she married her 27-year-old companion, Cem Adler - yet the controversy was over the 20+ age difference between them, not the fact that Bulent had once been a man. The couple divorced a year later after Bulent caught Cem with a call girl. In January of 1999, Bulent was involved in a serious car accident which required surgery. She recovered and continues to record albums.

Jackie's friendship and professional association with Andy Warhol began in the mid-1960s. He appeared in director Paul Morrissey's Women in Revolt (1971) with Candy Darling and Holly Woodlawn and Flesh (1968) with Joe Dallesandro and Candy Darling, presented by Andy Warhol. For these unique films, director Paul Morrissey gave the actors information about their character, the scene and suggested lines. The camera rolled and everyone improvised much of the content in a single take.

Jackie was perhaps happiest on stage. His wild creative energies were unleashed on appreciative audiences at venues including Playhouse of the Ridiculous, La Mama E.T.C., the Poetry Project at St. Marks Church, Bastianos Theater, Pyramid, and many other Manhattan theaters. His talent transcended gender and he reveled in melodramatic female roles.

In 1970, Jackie Curtis auditioned in drag for Busby Berkeley's revival of the 1920s musical "No, No, Nanette" - too bad Busby Berkeley and Broadway weren't ready for Curtis in the chorus line! Jackie's cabaret performances were stunning. In 1973 he appeared at the New York Cultural Center in "Cabaret in the Sky - an Evening with Holly Woodlawn and Jackie Curtis", an event attended by gay New York and "cafe society" alike.

Fortunately, Jackie's singing talents were documented on video in the 1970s and also on recently rediscovered studio recordings of songs from "Vain Victory" - which are to be released on CD in the near future! Jackie Curtis began writing plays in the late 1960s in which he usually appeared as the female lead. "Amerika Cleopatra" ran during the summer of 1968. Jackie's co-stars included Alexis del Lago and Harvey Fierstein, who played "Cleo's Jewish Mother".

'Robert de Niro' made his first appearance on the stage opposite Candy Darling during the first run of "Glamour, Glory, and Gold" in 1967. Jackie's musical "Lucky Wonderful", with music composed by Paul Serrato, was produced in 1968 at the Bastianos Theater. "Heaven Grand in Amber Orbit" was performed by John Vaccaro's Playhouse of the Ridiculous in 1969 and toured internationally for two years. Jackie Curtis' "Vain Victory" was produced at La Mama in 1971. It was an immediate smash hit and ran all summer long to packed houses.

Jackie was a prolific writer and a published poet. Jackie's poetry focuses on his fascination with stardom, glamorous divas, and broken dreams. He was proudest of his inclusion in "The Poets' Encyclopedia" published by the editors of the literary journal "Unmuzzled OX" in 1979. The poem "B-Girls" is the longest work in the 310 page volume (8 pages). It is based upon Jackie's observations of the barroom denizens of "Slugger Ann's", his grandmother's bar. (Jackie lived above the bar with his grandmother for much of his life.)

Jackie died of an accidental heroin overdose on May 15, 1985. He was just 38 years old. At his wake, friends filled his casket with photographs and mementos of his career, packs of Kool cigarettes, a magic wand, a cocktail shaker full of martinis, and sprinkled his face and body with glitter.

Later, after the funeral, friends covered his burial mound with so much red glitter that it was visible in the distance from the highway. Jackie's unique talents and his wonderful friendship and spirit will always be sorely missed by those who had the good fortune to know him.

Christine Jorgensen was an actress, nightclub entertainer, and the first transgender person to be widely publicized in America. On December 1, 1952, her transition was the subject of a front-page story in the New York Daily News and she became a celebrity overnight.

Christine sold the exclusive rights of her story to William Randolph Hearst's The American Weekly, which published her five-part series, "The Story of My Life," in 1953. She also launched a successful nightclub act, recorded several songs, and appeared in TV, radio, and theatrical productions. From the 1960s until her death in 1989, Christine lectured at college campuses, discussing gender identity and advocating for transgender rights.

Christine published her autobiography, Christine Jorgensen: A Personal Autobiography, in 1967, and went on to sell over 400,000 copies. She was also the subject of a biopic, The Christine Jorgensen Story (1970). Her 1957 interview with Nipsey Russell has been depicted in the 2005 Off-Broadway production, Christine Jorgensen Reveals. Recently she was portrayed by Jamie Clayton in Equal (2020).

Christine died of bladder and lung cancer in 1989. She was inducted into Chicago's Legacy Walk celebrating LGBT history in 2012, honored in San Francisco's Rainbow Walk in 2014, and included in the National LGBTQ Wall of Honor at Stonewall National Monument in New York City in 2019.

Carmen Carrera is a trailblazer, performing artist, actress and fashion Muze. Getting her start on RuPauls Drag Race as a drag performer before transitioning into the woman she is today, she became the first openly trans model to be signed to the prestigious modeling agency, Elite Model Management of New York City and became the first model in history to be petitioned by the public to walk the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show. She made her television acting debut along side Gina Rodriguez on the CW's hit show, Jane the Virgin, and made her silver screen debut alongside Meryl Streep in Jonathan Demme's Ricki & The Flash. Since then she's been an outspoken activist for trans inclusivity and body diversity being featured in the pages of Vogue, W Magazine, Glamour Magazine, Time Magazine, and Elle Magazine to name a few. Most recently she has started her own digital marketing agency called CC3 Entertainment which focuses on creating opportunities for LGBTQ influencers in the digital space. She continues to be an ally for women's issues and an inspirational for all of us to be who we truly are.

Alexis Arquette (born Robert Arquette) (death: September 11, 2016) was an American actress. Arquette was born in Los Angeles, the fourth of five children of Lewis Arquette, an actor and director, and Brenda Olivia "Mardi" (Nowak), a Jewish actress, poet, theater operator, activist, acting teacher, and therapist. Lewis's family's surname was originally "Arcouet"; Lewis's father was comedian Cliff Arquette, who went by the stage name of Charley Weaver. Arquette was distantly related to American explorer Meriwether Lewis. Actors Rosanna, Richmond, Patricia, and David Arquette are her siblings.

Laverne Cox is a four time Emmy-nominated actress, Emmy winning documentary film producer and a prominent equal rights advocate. Laverne's role of Sophia Burset in the critically acclaimed Netflix original series "Orange is The New Black" brought her to the attention of diverse audiences all over the world. This role led to Laverne becoming the first openly transgender actress to be nominated for a Primetime acting Emmy.

An artist and an advocate with an empowering message of moving beyond gender expectations to live more authentically, Laverne is the first openly transgender person to appear on the covers of TIME Magazine, Cosmopolitan magazine, British Vogue and Essence magazines among others. She was named one of Glamour magazine's 2014 Women of the Year. Laverne also proudly holds two SAG Awards winning them with her Orange Is The New Black cast mates.

Laverne's Emmy winning documentary "Laverne Cox Presents: The T Word" helped lead her to Executive Producing two powerful documentaries. Available on Netflix, "Disclosure: Trans Lives on Screen" is an unprecedented, groundbreaking look at the depiction of transgender characters throughout the history of film and TV and "Free CeCe" which tells the story of CeCe McDonald, a transgender woman who was controversially sentenced to 41 months in a men's prison for second degree manslaughter after defending herself against a racist and transphobic attack. The documentary focuses on McDonald's case, her experiences while incarcerated and the larger implications of her case for the transgender community and for communities of color at large.

Upcoming in 2024 : Clean Slate a Laverne Cox Production in Collaboration with Norman Lear's Act III Productions, Sony Television Studios & Amazon Prime.

Woodlawn was born Haroldo Santiago Franceschi Rodriguez Danhakl in Juana Díaz, Puerto Rico. Her mother, Aminta Rodriguez, married the baby's father, a German-American sailor in the U.S. Navy stationed in Puerto Rico, but they divorced when his military service ended. When Woodlawn was nine, her mother moved to New York and remarried, to Joseph Ajzenberg, a Polish Jewish immigrant whom she met while waiting tables at a resort in the Catskills Mountains. The new family eventually relocated to Miami Beach, Florida.

Calpernia Addams was born on 20 February 1971 in Nashville, Tennessee, USA. She is a producer and actress, known for Transamerica (2005), Transproofed (2009) and Casting Pearls (2007).

Erika Ervin, known professionally as Amazon Eve, tours the world modeling and making public appearances. At 6'8" without heels, Amazon Eve has been recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records as the tallest model in the world in 2011. She grew up in a small town in central California and was discovered in 2009 by the editor of Zoo Weekly while in Australia. Amazon Eve is best known for her roles in "Hemlock Grove" and "American Horror Story: Freak Show", and stars in the films "Chimera Strain" and "Falling South".

Rebecca Root was born in Woking, Surrey, England in 1969 and was assigned male at birth. She moved to rural Oxfordshire when she was 11 and attended Bartholomew School, Eynsham. As a young person she performed with local drama groups as well as the prestigious National Youth Theatre of Great Britain, where she was a contemporary of Lucy Briers, Jonathan Cake, and Daniel Craig. In 1987 she moved to London full time in order to train as an actor at Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts.

Upon graduation in 1990, Rebecca began work in a range of television and theatre productions, notably Keeping Up Appearances (1990), Casualty (1986), The Lady's Not For Burning, Hamlet, and Tartuffe.

As Rebecca Root neared the age of 30, having always struggled with her gender identity, she realized she needed to transition to female and consequently took a hiatus from her performance career, during which time she gained her MA in Voice Studies at Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, University of London, and developed her practice as a voice teacher.

Root never closed the door completely on acting however, and the BBC2 sitcom Boy Meets Girl (2015) (2015) marked a significant moment in her career when she became the first trans actor to appear in a trans role in a British television comedy. The same year she made her feature film debut alongside Eddie Redmayne and Alicia Vikander in The Danish Girl (2015). More film, TV, radio, and theatre appearances followed and Rebecca quickly became a popular face in the performance industry.

She is a passionate advocate for LGBT rights and social acceptance, and is Patron of the charities Diversity Role Models and Liberate Jersey.

Rebecca continues to practice as a voice coach, working principally with trans clients, alongside an increasingly busy acting schedule. She lives in Sussex with her partner Bee Menabney.

Alexandra Billings is an American actress, singer, and teacher. Billings, a trans woman, played one of TV's first openly transgender characters in 2005 made-for-TV movie Romy and Michele: In the Beginning. She is also known for portraying the recurring character Davina in the Amazon series Transparent and has played transgender characters in ER, Eli Stone, How to Get Away with Murder, Never Have I Ever, Grey's Anatomy and The Conners.

Candy Darling was born on 24 November 1944 in Long Island, New York, USA. She was an actress, known for Women in Revolt (1971), The Death of Maria Malibran (1972) and Flesh (1968). She died on 21 March 1974 in New York City, New York, USA.

Andrea James was born on 16 January 1967 in the USA. She is a producer and director, known for Transproofed (2009), Transamerica (2005) and Casting Pearls (2007).

Adèle Anderson was born on 14 June 1952 in Southampton, Hampshire, England, UK. She is an actress, known for Company Business (1991), Hotel Babylon (2006) and Lady Jane (1986).

Erica Andrews was born on 30 September 1969 in Allende, Nuevo León, Mexico. She was an actress, known for Ticked-Off Trannies with Knives (2010), Jennifer Lopez: Do It Well (2007) and Misperceptions (2013). She died on 11 March 2013 in Chicago, Illinois, USA.