Who Gets to Play the Transgender Part?

[stephaniec]

Who Gets to Play the Transgender Part?

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/04/movies/who-gets-to-play-the-transgender-part-in-hollywood.html?_r=0

The New York Times/By BROOKS BARNES SEPT. 3, 2015

"LOS ANGELES — More than at any time in its history, Hollywood is under enormous pressure to find performers who match the racial and ethnic traits of characters."

[HoneyStrums]

Those that portray it the best.

I think focusing on broadening the role horison for trans actors is a better focus.

But above all ells? I think Id like to see a CIS actor perform an accurate portrayal, along side a trans actor playing a cis "suporting character"

The point needs to be made, that acting is about ability, aswell as that trans parts dont need trans actors, just accurate portrayal, and cis parts shouldnt exclude trans actors

[Jill F]

There are approximately 50 available trans actresses worldwide and as far as I can tell, MAYBE a handful of actors.

If I were casting a film and needed a trans actress today, filtering for age, nationality, ethnicity, talent and screen presence- depending on the part, I would probably find myself with two, one or even zero candidates from central casting.  Let's face it, the pool isn't exactly overflowing with transgender talent.  I should ask my producer friends how many they can find with SAG/AFTRA cards.

Producers in Hollywood don't like taking big risks, and limiting yourself to only a couple of possible choices is a huge risk, as is auditioning an unknown party.   It's still much easier to find a cisgender actor with serious chops than it is to teach a transperson to act.

If we want to buck the trend of having lead trans roles being portrayed by cis actors, we all need to work on our acting, and fast.

[Laura_7]

There are approximately 50 available trans actresses worldwide and as far as I can tell, MAYBE a handful of actors.

If I were casting a film and needed a trans actress today, filtering for age, nationality, ethnicity, talent and screen presence- depending on the part, I would probably find myself with two, one or even zero candidates from central casting.  Let's face it, the pool isn't exactly overflowing with transgender talent.  I should ask my producer friends how many they can find with SAG/AFTRA cards.

Producers in Hollywood don't like taking big risks, and limiting yourself to only a couple of possible choices is a huge risk, as is auditioning an unknown party.   It's still much easier to find a cisgender actor with serious chops than it is to teach a transperson to act.

If we want to buck the trend of having lead trans roles being portrayed by cis actors, we all need to work on our acting, and fast.

Well I'm of the opinion its much of the same... a lot of glamour but somehow the same known people...

I personally prefer much B movies (if movies at all). Fresh characters, surprising stories, often authentic emotions.

According to a survey there are 700 tsd transgender people in the us alone.
And there are only a handful actors ? Really ? Maybe it takes a bit more looking around... or sponsorship...   

hugs

[Jill F]

In the Hollywood system, you must be a member of SAG/AFTRA in order to act in any capacity.   To become a member, you must be invited to become one by the powers that be (still not sure exactly how that works).  This basically ensures that the families of insiders get to work before you do.

So, yes, there are is probably a huge untapped pool of trans actors out there that will never find work until they are offered SAG cards.

One day I was in a post-production studio when voice actors' dialog for a cartoon was being edited.   The producer was searching thought the day's samples of the actors mooing like cows.  I thought it was kind of amusing and started mooing along. The producer was much more impressed with my mooing that he was with any of the actors' (including a couple of really famous ones- go figure), and asked me if I had a SAG card.  The answer was "no", but he said that he could get me one if I wanted it.  Unfortunately I couldn't have had it in time for that particular project, and it would have cost me a lot more than the moo job would pay (one hour at scale).   Many of my friends have them, but most work on the other side of the camera or sound board and the rest aren't working much.  Probably 1 in 5 SAG/AFTRA members are "working actors" and of those, most still need supplemental income.  In my part of town, we have a lot of waitstaff and bartenders that you've probably seen on TV.  It is always fun to point at the TV at the bar and tell the bartender that their commercial is on.