9 Rising Trans Stars Ready to Dominate Screens in 2023

While Laverne Cox broke new ground in the 2013 prison drama Orange is the new black Jamie Clayton led as Sophia Burset Hellraiser Rebooted and dominated the sci-fi genre as Nomi in Netflix sense8and the entire cast of pose was full of Black Trans Excellence, Generation Next is hot on their heels.

By age or by budding fame, these are the nine trans actresses to keep an eye on for International Women’s Day and where they’ll be starring next.

Yasmine Finney – Heartstopper Season 2/Doctor Who

Yasmin Finney, 19, has already starred as Elle in a tender coming-of-age romance heart stopperand it doesn’t stop there.

While she has already completed the show’s second series, created by Alice Oseman, she has also been announced as the newest companion for Ncuti Gatwa’s upcoming tenure as the eponymous Doctor Who, which marks the return of Russell T. Davies as showrunner. Her character, Rose, is confirmed to be trans.

With an Emmy nomination for her role as Elle, the rising star is sure to garner more nominations for us when season two hits our screens. It’s Yasmin Finney’s world and we all just live in it.

hunter shepherd – The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Serpents

Hunter Schafer became a household name, appearing alongside Zendaya and Jacob Elordi in the first two seasons of the HBO hit series euphoria.

Alongside her character Jules, with whom Zendaya’s Rue has a tumultuous relationship, Schafer is also credited as executive producing the series – trans excellence if we’ve ever seen it.

In 2023, Schafer is poised to rise to movie stardom with an appearance hunger games franchise prequel The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakesalongside other projects such as And, starring Emma Stone and Willem Dafoe. Like I said, movie star.

Josie Totah- The Buccaneers

Although only 21 years old, Josie Totah already has a long and illustrious filmography. Appears on Joy Prior to the transition in 2015, she published an article in Time magazine saying, “My name is Josie Totah — and I’m ready to be free.”

Since then, Totah’s joyful embrace of her gender identity has drawn her to star in Marvel’s Spiderman: HomecomingNetflix Big mouth and spin-off human resourcesas well as Saved by the bell reboot, to name a few.

She is also set to star in the upcoming TV show The Buccaneers, which is streamed on Apple TV. The series follows a group of American women who arrive in 1870’s London.

Patti Harrison- theater camp

Another trans pioneer with a Marvel credit is comedian Patti Harrison, who recently appeared in 2022 She Hulk.

While Harrison’s filmography is extensive, including a role in the (tragically) canceled animated queer spy Maneuver Q Force, a Marvel role is a surefire way to catapult anyone into full-on screen stardom. As well as She HulkHarrison’s voice actor for American dad! has ensured that it is now an integral part of the cultural zeitgeist. She also starred in Raya and the last dragonone of the first known trans actresses to voice a character for Disney.

Her upcoming roles include a star turn-in theater camp alongside Ben Platt, a comedy which premiered at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival and has since been acquired by Searchlight Pictures.

Zion Moreno – gossip Girl

As the main character Luna La, Zión Moreno appeared with the gossip Girl revival series.

While the series ended in January, Moreno and the rest of the cast made great strides to be featured on the show, with showrunners saying, “We decided as writers that this wasn’t a show about how she became her authentic self. It’s just not our story. Luna is Luna to these people, and that’s it.”

Details on Moreno’s upcoming projects are few and far between, although it’s always possible gossip Girl was saved from cancellation and brought Luna back for the third round.

Nicole Maines – Yellow jackets

Prior to her acting career, Nicole Maines was best known as a then-anonymous plaintiff in a court case in which she argued that her school district could not deny her access to the women’s restroom.

She won the case and continued to be a superhero as an actress, playing Nia Nal super girl – not only becoming the first person to portray a transgender superhero on television, but also writing the character’s comic book debut for DC’s line of Pride comics.

Maines will guest star as Nia Nal/Dreamer The Lightningbefore appearing as Lisa in the second season of the survival drama Yellow jackets when the series airs later this month.

Hari Nef – Barbie/the idol

Appeared as literature student Blythe in the first season of the psychological thriller YouHari Nef was the first trans woman signed to model agency IMG Models.

Nef’s upcoming roles include an unspecified role in Greta Gerwig’s highly anticipated film Barbieand a starring role in the controversial series the idol.

Before that, however, Nef continues on her way to pop culture dominance by starring in the lead role extrapolations, an anthology series on Apple TV depicting the impact of climate change on the planet from a variety of interconnected perspectives. Think love actually, but less romantic and more frightening. The series also stars Meryl Streep, Kit Harrington, Edward Norton, Murray Bartlett and Sienna Miller.

Fallon Smythe – Gotham Knights

Fallon Smythe’s upcoming role as Harper Row in the Batman spin-off Gotham Knights is expected to be her biggest yet and is sure to cement her status as one of 2023’s trans actresses to watch.

Also known as Bluebird, a wily mechanic who ends up taking on the role of Batman’s sidekick in the comics, Smythe will join a group of younger vigilantes determined to uphold Batman’s legacy and protect Gotham City after the Caped Crusader has died. The series is separate from the canceled one bat girl Film in which trans actress Ivory Aquino was to appear.

The series will premiere March 14 on The CW Network. Trans actor Tyler DiChiaria was cast alongside Smythe as Harper’s twin brother, Cullen.

Thea Raveneau A wild Christmas

After garnering multiple theatrical credits to her name, Australian actress Thea Raveneau is set to make her film debut A wild Christmas.

Described as a dark comedy, the film follows Raveneau returning home with her new boyfriend for Christmas. Expecting her transformation to be the center of attention, she is instead overshadowed by family secrets and lies that threaten not only her life but another Christmas dinner as well. Typical!

The film is particularly important because, according to Variety, it aims to reflect “the diversity of the nation.” Production has begun but no release date has been set.