LGBTQ

Jazzmun has one of the most extensive filmographies out of any trans actor working in Hollywood today. She started off with a recurring role on The John Larroquette Show in 1994 and has appeared on everything from NYPD: Blue to Roseanne and The 40-Year-Old Virgin. Most recently, she portrayed trans activist and minister Bobbie Jean Baker on ABC’s When We Rise.

If you look back on the history of transgender characters in film and TV, you’ll find few depictions of trans men. Besides Hillary Swank in Boys Don’t Cry, there was Daniela Sea’s Max on The L Word, Glenn Close and Janet McTeer in Albert Nobbs, and a few minor TV roles here and there. The one thing all those roles have in common? They weren’t played by trans actors. But Elliot Fletcher is swiftly changing that and paving the way for a better future on the small screen.

To celebrate June’s Pride Month, ScreenCrush ranked the best LGBTQ movies of the past 25 years.

It doesn’t take a media critic to know that film and television have long mistreated and misunderstood the transgender community. Whether painting trans people as something to be reviled and shamed (think Ace Ventura: Pet Detective), as villainous monsters (remember Buffalo Bill?), or using their identities as plot twists (we’re talking to you The Crying Game), Hollywood has continued to perpetuate dangerous and offensive stereotypes. And when a film or series does finally tell an authentic trans narrative, those characters have historically been played by cisgender1 actors – from Chris Sarandon in Dog Day Afternoon (who got the part over trans actor Elizabeth Coffey Williams, who was told she didn’t look “trans enough”) to Eddie Redmayne in The Danish Girl. As Hollywood history shows, most of the time those actors end up earning Oscar nominations and wins for their performances of trans people.

The ‘Looking’ and ‘Transparent’ actor didn’t get to grow up seeing trans people of color on TV, but he’s helping to change that.

'Transparent' and 'Drunk History' actress Alexandra Grey discusses the importance of showing an abundance of trans actors onscreen and how her real-life experiences have informed her characters.

‘Transparent’ star Alexandra Billings recounts the time she was cast in the lead role of ‘Transamerica,’ the film that earned Felicity Huffman an Oscar nomination.

‘Transparent’ actor Ian Harvie talks about growing up without seeing positive trans characters on screen, and how he’s changing that today.

Alexandra Billings, Elliot Fletcher, Trace Lysette, D’Lo, Rain Valdez, Alexandra Grey, Jazzmun and Ian Harvie talk about what it means to be a trans actor in Hollywood today.

The majority of Hollywood’s biggest franchises have already been supplied with ample amounts of queer characters, thanks to comic book writers and novelists. Marvel Comics has featured at least 25 characters who’ve been revealed as openly lesbian, gay, bisexual, or gender non-conforming, while DC Comics has had at least 12 out LGBTQ superheroes and villains. Here’s a look at all the queer superheroes waiting patiently on the page, and the franchises they could be adapted for.