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  • 25 non trans actors who have played trans parts in films and TV

    Some of the most memorable trans characters have been played by cis-gender actors… here are 25 of the most famous roles.

    List of cisgendered actors who play trans characters

    Here are just some of the mainstream films and television shows where a trans character wasn’t played by a trans actor. The argument against non-trans actors taking these parts have made headlines once again after a clip of Matt Bomer in his forthcoming film, Anything was released.

    Warning this article may contain spoilers to various films.

    The 1950s – 70s

    Daniel Davis, Glen or Glenda, 1953

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    Glen or Glenda was released in 1953 starring Ed Wood – who was actually credited as Daniel Davis in this film. It’s a semi-autobiographical film, considered one of the worst films of all time. However, it is considered a plea for tolerance.

    Chris Sarandon, Dog Day Afternoon, 1975

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    Dog Day Afternoon is based on a real-life story, where a bank robber (Al Pacino) holds up a bank in New York’s Manhattan to pay for his girlfriend’s (Chris Sarandon) gender confirmation surgery. Chris Sarandon’s portrayal of a trans woman was applauded for its consideration of dysphoria.

    Tim Curry, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, 1975

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    Probably one of the most famous films to feature a “sweet transsexual”. TRHPS has gone on to become a cult hit and recently had a remake filmed and it starred Laverne Cox in Tim Curry’s part of Dr Frank N. Furter.

     

    The 1980s – 90s

    Michael Caine in Dressed To Kill, 1980

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    In 1980 Michael Caine played a murderous trans woman in this erotic thriller. For his part in the film, Mr Caine was nominated for a Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Actor.

    Jaye Davidson in The Crying Game, 1982

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    A drama which explores themes of race, gender, nationality and sexuality with the troubles of early 80s Northern Ireland as a backdrop. The trans character in this film is actually one of its great surprises, which is considered a “shocking twist”. Jaye Davidson was nominated for a Best Supporting Actor for the role.

    John Lithgow, The World According to Garp, 1982

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    The World According to Garp based on the book of the same name by John Irving which is the story of T.S. Garp. In the book his mother, who runs a home for abused women gives shelter to a former footballer, now a transgender woman, Roberta Muldoon.

    Ted Levine, The Silence Of The Lambs, 1991

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    Ted Levin played a trans serial killer who skins his female victims. In the story, Ted’s character, Jame Gumb, applied for a sex-reassignment operation but was unsuccessful in gaining in their cause.

    Terrence Stamp in Priscilla Queen of the Desert, 1994

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    One of the most successful LGBT films of all times was released in 1994 is in the top 40 grossing gay and lesbian films of all times. Terrence Stamp’s Bernadette Bassinger is a carefully studied character, played respectfully.

    Mary Sean Young, Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, 1994

    Possibly one of the most offensive portrayals of a trans person in film – which uses the trans character as a comedy mimic.

    Julie Hesmondhalgh in Coronation Street, 1998

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    Coronation Street made history in 1998 when they introduced the first trans character to a British soap. It wasn’t until 2015 that EastEnders made further history by having a trans actor play a trans character. Julie Hesmondhalgh has been praised for her portrayal of a trans person and she is a huge advocate for the LGBT community. In 2017 she called on TV companies to employ trans people in trans roles.

    Hillary Swank in Boys Don’t Cry, 1999

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    One of the most tear-jerking LGBT films of all time. Hillary Swank was truly remarkable in the film which was based on the true story of murdered trans man Brandon Teena. The film was nominated for 57 awards and won 37 of them including, Best Actress (Oscars and BAFTAs) for Swank.

     

    The 00s to 10s

    John Cameron Mitchell in Hedwig and the Angry Inch, 2001

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    One of the only musical films featuring a trans character in the central role. John Cameron Mitchell wrote and directed this film. It features in the top 100 LGBT films.

    Felicity Huffman in TransAmerica, 2005

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    Felicity Huffman was widely praised for her role in TransAmercia as a pre-operative male to female transgender person. This was an unusual casting decision as usually male to female trans parts are played by males rather than females.

    Daniela Sea in the L word, 2006

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    When Daniela joined The L word in 2006 she had the role of Moira Sweeney, an androgynous computer technician who moves from the Midwest with Jenny (Mia Kirshner). Over the course of the season, Moira comes out as a trans man, adopting the name Max Sweeney.

    Rebecca Romijn in Ugly Betty, 2007-2008

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    Rebecca Romijn was another female who was cast in an M2F role in the comedy TV series, Ugly Betty. She appeared midway through the first season and left in season 3.

    The 10s to 20s

    Seth MacFarlane, Family Guy, 2010

    Derided by Glaad for the way in which Family Guy deals with transgender issues, Seth MacFarlane voices the character of Quagmire’s parent, Ida who goes through sex-reassignment surgery in the episode, “Quagmire’s Father”.

    Chloe Sevigny in Hit And Miss, 2012

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    Hit And Miss was a TV series which followed the life of a transgender contract killer. It ran for one series.

    Jared Leto in Dallas Buyers Club, 2013

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    Jared was awarded an Oscar for his role in Dallas Buyers Club, however, his casting in this film and subsequent acceptance of the Oscar with a full beard was criticised by some in the trans community. Laverne Cox recently said, “as brilliant as Jared Leto is, and all these actors who play trans women, when people who don’t know anything about trans folks and trans women see the very sexy Jared Leto and his beard accepting an Oscar for playing a trans woman, the message that it sends is that trans women are really men”

    Jeff Tambor in Transparent, 2014

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    Amazon was praised for the production of Transparent starring Jeff Tambor who plays a trans person coming out as trans later in life. The show has won awards and much love from the critics for its sensitive portrayal of a family dealing with and accepting transition.

    Eddie Redmayne in The Danish Girl, 2015

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    Eddie Redmayne played the part of Lili Elbe, acknowledged as the first trans woman to go through sex reassignment surgery. Despite it being widely praised there was only one Oscar win out of four nominations. The film was banned in a number of countries including Qatar, the UAE, Oman, Kuwait and Malaysia.

    Jonny Beauchamp and Otoja Abit Stonewall, 2015

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    Stonewall was much derided when it was released in 2015. It also stars two actors in trans roles who are not trans. Otoja Abit who played Marsha P Johnson and Jonny Beachamp who played the fictional character, Ray/Ramona.

    Benedict Cumberbatch, Zoolander 2, 2016

    The shiz really hit the fan when it appeared that Benedict Cumberbatch, considered by many as a true LGBT+ ally took on the role of “All” in Zoolander 2. Many in the non-binary community took offence to the portrayal of “All” and over 7000 people called for a boycott against the film.

    Elle Fanning, 3 Generations, 2017

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    Fanning plays a character who pursues his true identity as a male. Its release date was pulled in 2015 and pushed back until 2017.

    Matt Bomer in Anything 2017

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    The film has already received criticism, even before its release for having a cis male actor play the part of a transgender person.

    The film is about a transgender woman falling in love with a straight man. Mark Ruffalo is an executive producer on the film. Defending the decision to cast a cis-male in the role of Freda, Mark said that he had a “profound experience” working with Matt in The Normal Heart.

     

    Have we missed something? Is there an error? Please use the comments below to help expand this article.

  • Benedict Cumberbatch’s bum is out and it’s glorious

    Benedict Cucumber has been giving his fans an eyeful in his latest project, Patrick Melrose.

    Cumberbatch, who is probably most famous for his role as the gay genius, Alan Turing in The Imitation Game has excited many of his viewers in the five-part drama, Patrick Melrose with this completely naked scene.  Of course, the show is more than just a glimpse of Benedict naked body…

    Patrick Melrose is described as a critical humourous dive into the upper class from a deeply traumatic childhood, through substance abuse and towards recovery.

    You can catch up with the show on NowTV… or on Sky Atlantic.

    Check out the cheeky (NSFW) pictures here

  • OPINION: Why the boycott of Zoolander 2 is wrong

    OPINION: Why the boycott of Zoolander 2 is wrong

    All it took was a few short seconds and two lines of dialogue from Benedict Cumberbatch in a film trailer for several thousand people to scream “boycott”.

    I have written before about being offended, and I shall stick to my thoughts on that, that taking offence achieves absolutely nothing other than you being offended. But first I’ll look at what exactly has got people up in arms.
    Benedict Cumberbatch plays a character called All in the film, who appears to be a cartoonish over exaggerated example of the proliferation of androgynous models in the fashion industry. From the trailer, it is nearly impossible to tell exactly how the character is going to be played because we see so little of him. But from the small scene we do see, it actually takes the mickey out of male models and their perceived stupidity rather than someone who is androgynous.
    It basically involves Stiller’s stupid character asking if All is a male model, or a female model and All replying “All is All” while Owen Wilson’s character says Stiller’s character is asking if All has a “hotdog or a bun”. So, two characters who are meant to be parodies, and walking jokes themselves, say something crass that only two idiots would say, and that is all.
    They are not words of hate, they are words of ignorance, yes, but they are ignorant characters who say them. We do not know yet how big this storyline is or how it’s written. But even this complete lack of full storyline or character arc hasn’t stopped the activists from screaming out. But judging a film 2 months before its release off of a few seconds of footage of a character that may only appear in a short scene that has little or no relation to the rest of the film is ridiculous. For all we know the character may be completely sympathetic towards people of non-binary gender identity. None of the viewing public know yet, but if the scene is an obviously gross and deliberately offensive example that has no humour behind it then I would certainly change my stance on the issue. But it’s really far too early to tell yet.
    The first Zoolander and its sequel are comedies and comedy is meant to be a mockery of literally everything, nothing should be sacred in comedy. Comediennes like Lisa Lampanelli will mock the stereotypes of black people, Mexicans, Jews, gays, disabled people and literally any kind of person you can think of, which what makes comedy what it is, it’s that no one is or should be safe or above being lampooned with obviously inaccurate examples of how they are. But what makes the reaction to the Zoolander 2 trailer so telling is that trans or non-binary people are not seen as “punching up” when it comes to comedy. By punching up I mean people seem to be OK with relentlessly taking the piss out of Christians, politicians, Royalty, reality TV stars, sports stars, and the wealthy, people with perceived “lucky breaks” They can take it, they are more fortunate than the rest of us so they deserve to be taken down a peg or two so we can all laugh at them.
    How many of the people who signed the petition have seen an episode of Family Guy, American Dad, The Simpsons or South Park and laughed at the jokes that mock celebrities like Paris Hilton, Britney Spears or Tom Cruise to name but a few. I don’t believe for a second thanks to South Park that any of Paris Hilton’s dogs have committed suicide to get away from her, or that she’d steal child to turn into a pet, but I still laughed at the absurdity of it.
    I am not heartless though, and I appreciate the fact that the trans community is still very far from acceptance, and that every day trans men and women go though hell trying to find their place in the world and to not be scared for their lives, and they fear that misrepresentation of their community damages the image that they want to get across.
    Many trans people have vocally said Caitlyn Jenner doesn’t represent them because she has an easy life, and yes that is true, she really doesn’t have a clue how it feels to be an everyday normal trans person because she has it so relatively easy. That’s fine, she doesn’t represent the trans community, but why should a character in a film who so far hasn’t even been marketed as trans somehow be any different.
    That character doesn’t represent the trans community any more than Derek Zoolander represents male models, but it’s OK to take the piss out of male models because they are rich and pretty, they can take it right? This isn’t me going down the route of saying no one should be mocked because it’s unfair, I say everyone should be mocked humorously to make it fair. Either you pick on everyone or no one, never laugh at anything again, or feel free laugh at everything. Obviously, not everyone is going to appreciate every single joke ever told, so what? If you don’t laugh you don’t laugh. I didn’t find Friends funny, yet there’s several million people who will disagree with me and find it the funniest thing to have ever been on TV, and did Chandler Bing’s drag queen father, played by completely cis-woman Kathleen Turner cause the kind of outrage All has caused because an androgynous character is played by a cis-male actor, not that I can remember. No one seemed that bothered by the fact Chandler’s dad was played by a woman rather than an actual drag queen.
    But comedy in TV and Film land isn’t meant to be an accurate version of people, if that were true, all people who wear glasses would be spotty nerds, all ginger people would have no souls, all sci-fi fans would be lonely virgins and the list goes on of these kind of things. Zoolander is very obviously about mocking the fashion industry and presenting funny yet inaccurate versions of the people who inhabit that world.
    However, if you really are offended or bothered by the character of All, then don’t watch the film, but don’t try and foist your views on others and whip a group of people up into a frenzy. The Twitter/Facebook mentality these days means people can feel like they are part of something as it happens, by signing an online petition based off a knee-jerk reaction to something that has in all probability been taken out of context of the whole film. If the trailer was to be taken at face value, Justin Bieber is not only dead, but also some kind of fighting superhero, both of which are plainly untrue.
    I’m not using my views here to try and change the mind of anyone, or to even make them stop and think for a moment, these are just my views and I don’t expect everyone to agree with me, but nor do I want people lambasting me for allegedly being insensitive towards the trans and gender fluid groups out there. Life is meant to be laughed at and people should stop taking things so seriously. Plainly there is a difference between being outright mean and nasty with no humour behind it, but light-hearted mockery isn’t meant to be taken seriously. A vast majority of people will know that the character of All isn’t a true representation of gender fluid or transsexual individuals and will just see the film as a film lambasting all different types of people. Zoolander 2 will probably be a bit of dumb fun…How about you just enjoy it?

    Opinions expressed in this article may not reflect those of THEGAYUK, its management or editorial teams. If you’d like to comment or write a comment, opinion or blog piece, please click here.

  • Zoolander Facing Boycott For Its “Offensive Representation Of Non-Binary Individuals”

    Zoolander two has become the latest film to get a boycott notice after activists have slammed the film’s portrayal of an androgynous model as “offensive.”

    The forthcoming Zoolander movie due to open in theatres next year, has been blasted by activists as “offensive” with one petition calling for a boycott of the Paramount film starring Ben Stiller and Benedict Cumberbatch.

    The petition has so far garnered just over 7,700 signatures.

    The film has been slammed for the androgynous fashion model character played by Cumberbatch who is asked by Ben Stiller’s character Zoolander, if he is a ‘‘male or female model’ and whether he has a hot dog or a bun’.

    Sarah Rose, the petition’s creator also claims that,

    “Cumberbatch’s character is clearly portrayed as an over-the-top, cartoonish mockery of androgyne/trans/non-binary individuals.”

    She then went on to compare the character to “blackface”, saying,

    “This is the modern equivalent of using blackface to represent a minority.”

    Roland Emmerich’s film Stonewall faced harsh criticism earlier this year and had a terrible reception at the box office after activists claimed that the film was “whitewashing” history, because the film lacked credible trans or black characters.

  • Benedict Cumberbatch Celebrates Diversity In The UK

    Benedict is joined by other national treasures including The Beatles, William Shakespeare, Arctic Monkeys and Banksy.

    CREDIT: S. Buckley
    CREDIT: S. Buckley

    (more…)

  • Benedict Cumberbatch Married Judge Rinder And His Husband

    Now there are three amazing things about this story: they include Benedict Cumberbatch, Ibiza and a certain marriage between Judge Rinder and his partner.

    It’s not every day you can claim to be married by a superstar like Benedict Cumberbatch, but TV’s own Judge Rinder can say just that.

    The Imitation Game actor Benedict Cumberbatch married the larger-than-life Robert Rinder, who is ITV’s darling of afternoon TV. For those who aren’t in the know, Judge Rinder is the frontman of a hugely successful reality courtroom show, very much similar to Judge Judy, with a little more bite in it.

    Last year the real-life barrister married his long-term boyfriend Seth Cumming at a sun-drenched ceremony on Ibiza. The marriage was officiated by Cumberbatch who is an old friend of Rinder’s from Manchester University.

    In an interview with the Daily Mail, worries for his career were posed to the judge, who quipped,

    ‘It’s very sweet of you to be worried about my career,’ he says, ‘but I’m not sure anyone who knows me well will be surprised to find me doing something like this, and obviously I’ve told all my clients. I thought about it carefully before I dipped my toe in the water of entertainment. As long as I’m not bringing the bar into disrepute – which I don’t think I am – then it seems I’m on safe ground.’

    Along with Benedict, Rob shared his big day with Ivan Massow, who is planning to run for London Mayor this year.