When it comes to the depiction of the transgender experience onscreen, trans actress Hari Nef says that “some recognition is always better than no recognition,” but that’s not enough.
“I feel like the clock is ticking in terms of how long can these studios and these producers really get away with casting cis people in trans roles when like, I’m here,” she said in a HuffPost Live conversation on Friday.
“Laverne [Cox]’s here. Trace Lystt’s here. Alexandra Billings is here. We’re all here — and we’re trans,” she emphatically continued. “We can come to set with years, months of lived experience that a cis actor would have to study! For months and months and months.”
Which she said isn’t to take away from the stellar performances actors have given in trans role as of late in film.
“Yes, Jeffrey Tambor kills this role [in ‘Transparent’]. Eddie Redmayne’s a great actor and is fabulous in ‘The Danish Girl,’ and I feel like these are roles that are being given to great actors,” the “Transparent” actress explained. “But, at the end of the day, trans people deserve the opportunity to tell our own stories, and I hope, moving forward, we can see more of these castings.”
Watch more from Hari Nef’s conversation with HuffPost Live here.
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