Susan's Place Transgender Resources

Laverne Cox opensup about how difficult it was to get acting roles as a blacktrans woman

https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2018/02/24/laverne-cox-opens-up-about-how-difficult-it-was-to-get-acting-roles-as-a-black-trans-woman/

Pink News/by Meka Beresford       02/24/2018

It's hard for cis actors to get cast also, and even harder for us; when a talent agent gets notified about a role, they are sent what is called a "Breakdown" of the character, the breakdown is basically a description of the character, and it's very specific, and includes information such as age range, race, gender, build, etc., so the talent agent notifies their clients that best match the criteria and sends them to the casting call, so when you show up at a casting call, everyone who is auditioning for the role fits the physical description of the character (and you must be able to act well enough to accurately portray the character!) the casting director is looking for.  And you have to be a member of a union (screen actors guild for film) to even be considered in most cases; which is why it's so important to land a commercial when you are new to acting, since it's one of the easiest ways for beginning actors to get their SAG card, but if you are trans it will be even harder to get cast in a commercial, so we definitely have our work cut out for us if we want to become working actors, however Actresses such as Laverne Cox, have shown us that it can be done, and as the saying goes; if one person can do it so can others! We just need our Will and Grace moment, and then more doors will be opened for trans actors.

good to know