Netflix’s new class of nonbinary and transgender rising stars are breaking boundaries across genres.
Nearly a decade since TIME announced the “Transgender Tipping Point” by putting Laverne Cox, star of Orange Is the New Black, on its cover, transgender actors have never been more numerous, more talented, or more diverse. Now, with filmmakers and showrunners including trans and nonbinary characters in their worlds, these actors have become more visible, stealing scenes and making audiences feel, laugh, and cry — today they are some of the most sought-after faces in Hollywood.
While progress remains slow, trans and nonbinary artists continue to put in the hard work and hustle for opportunities they were never given. These rising stars are blazing their own trails, playing heroes, magical beings, royalty, love interests, and lead characters. Gone are the days of playing only victims, jokes, or monsters. Not only are these actors some of the hottest talent out there today, they’re also lifting representation and trans inclusion to unprecedented heights.
Netflix’s roster of talented and diverse trans and nonbinary actors are making names for themselves in everything from science-fantasy epics and teen romances to anime and graphic-novel adaptations, and showing everyone else how it’s done. Class is officially in session.
All interviews included in this piece were completed prior to July 14, 2023.
Photograph by Amber Pinkerton
ARSEMA THOMAS
Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story
At 29 years old, Arsema Thomas is just beginning their acting career as the young Lady Danbury in Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story. Before the breakout role, the gender-fluid actor worked in a mobile health clinic for mothers and children in northern Kenya; founded enki, a women’s health app; co-founded a startup to help refugees provide for themselves; and worked with the United Nations. Now, they’re earning fans as the clever and ambitious Agatha Danbury in Shonda Rhimes’s Bridgerton spin-off series.
Photograph by Rafael Martínez
YASMIN FINNEY
Heartstopper
For the last two years, Yasmin Finney has been delighting us as fan-favorite character Elle Argent, a trans student at Higgs Girls School in Heartstopper. She’s won multiple awards for the role and landed a coveted spot in the upcoming season of the iconic series Doctor Who. She’s also a growing voice for trans rights in her native U.K. On- and offscreen, teens across the country have people like Finney as role models.
Photograph by Jason Hetherington / Trunk Archive
BELLA RAMSEY
Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget
Despite being only 20, British nonbinary actor Bella Ramsey is one of the hottest stars in all of Hollywood. After breaking out as the fiery Lyanna Mormont in Game of Thrones, they went on to star as Ellie in the hugely popular The Last of Us: The role earned Ramsey an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series, making them the first nonbinary actor to be nominated in the category. Next up, Ramsey brings their skill to the highly anticipated animated sequel, Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget, voicing Molly, the daughter of the first film’s main characters.
Photograph by David Needleman / August Image
PEPPERMINT
Survival of the Thickest
Millions were introduced to Peppermint when she appeared on the ninth season of RuPaul’s Drag Race, and even more became fans when she became the first trans woman to originate a lead role in a Broadway play in the Go-Go’s-inspired musical Head Over Heels. Now, we’re all falling in love with her again as she plays herself in Michelle Buteau’s hilarious series Survival of the Thickest. If you’re looking for star power, Peppermint has it, and she shows it by leaping off the screen in every single scene.
Photograph by Thomas Brunot
MORGAN DAVIES
One Piece
After playing a teen whose mom is infected by a sinister demon in Evil Dead Rise, Morgan Davies is one actor who can handle anything. He began his career as a child actor, winning acclaim for several roles in film and television, but when he realized he was trans, he started experiencing anxiety and stage fright. Now, as a proud trans actor, he’s taking control of his life and roles. In ONE PIECE, he plays Koby, a marine sailing the seas in the fantastic world of the live-action adaptation of the best-selling manga. After this, anything’s possible.
Photograph by Olivia Richardson
BEL PRIESTLEY
Heartstopper
Bel Priestly might be new to acting with her role as trans teen Naomi on series Heartstopper, but she’s far from new to the spotlight, thanks to her popular YouTube and TikTok channels, where over a million people have watched her document her transition. Now, she’s spreading her wings, joining fellow trans actor Yasmin Finney in Heartstopper. Her character and Finney’s become buddies, showing something that’s incredibly common in real life, but almost never seen in media: a friendship between two trans people.
Photograph by Hick Duarte
NILA
Back to 15
Nila, a fun and fashionable
actress from Brazil, gets to go on her own transition journey while playing a character — César, on Back to 15 — who’s going through the same journey. As she plays the young version of a trans woman, discovering a community of trans women and beginning to embrace her own identity, Nila is doing the same: She changed her own name just earlier this year.
Photograph by Erik Carter
DUA SALEH
Sex Education
Dua Saleh, who was born in Kassala, Sudan, is already a successful, critically acclaimed musical artist, and now they’re winning our hearts as the effortlessly smart and cooly anti-establishment Moordale student Cal in Sex Education. Like their onscreen character, Saleh is nonbinary and politically active, having participated in protests and organizing walkouts in their hometown of Minneapolis, Minnesota. Now, they’re giving Black, nonbinary people a chance to see themselves onscreen.
Photograph by Anika Larsen
E. DUFFY
Rebel Moon
It doesn’t get much bigger in Hollywood than Zack Snyder, which makes E. Duffy’s motion-picture debut in the director’s hugely anticipated science-fantasy epic Rebel Moon all the more impressive. Snyder himself has said that Duffy’s character, the nonbinary warrior Milius, brings “heart” to the group of rebels fighting against the oppressive Imperium. Nonbinary people will gain a new action hero when the movie comes out; it’s about time.
Photograph by Alec Vierra
MASON ALEXANDER PARK
The Sandman
Bringing one of The Sandman’s most ineffable characters, Desire, to life is a huge task, but for nonbinary actor Mason Alexander Park, it was a dream. Park, who started acting at summer camp while growing up in Texas, is known for playing iconic trans and gender-bending characters on stage — they’ve played the title role in Hedwig and the Angry Itch, The Rocky Horror Show’s Dr. Frank N. Furter, and Cabaret’s Emcee, all to critical acclaim. Park is now becoming known for their bewitching and beguiling performance in The Sandman, a role they’ll reprise in Season 2.
