Why Can’t They Let Us Act?

I have said this over and over and I know some of you don’t agree with me, it is time to end transface actors, actors who play trans parts who are not trans.

Anything, starring cis male as trans woman, to debut at LA Film Festival
Solzy at the Movies
Written by: Danielle Solzman
June 13, 2017

Anything will make its debut on Saturday during the LA Film Festival this and many of us in the trans community are not pleased about the casting of a cis actor in a transgender role.

Written and directed by Timothy McNeil, the film stars John Carroll Lynch, Matt Bomer, Maura Tierney, Margot Bingham, and Micah Hauptman.

Here’s where there is a major problem: cisgender actor Matt Bomer is playing a transgender woman post-transition.  There are many transgender actresses in the United States.  Why is it so hard to cast one of us in a trans role?  It shouldn’t be that hard to cast a trans actress in a trans role.  More so, by casting a gay actor in the role of a trans woman, it only goes on to help the stereotype that trans women are men.  This isn’t fun and it’s not something any of us love to deal with on a daily basis.  I may not speak for others but I definitely speak for myself.

And this was from a cisgender person, not a trans person; people are beginning to realize that trans actors are being shut out of acting.

Read what LGBT Nation has to say,

First look at Matt Bomer playing a trans woman in latest movie made by cis men
By Dawn Ennis
June 14, 2017

We’re finally getting a look at Matt Bomer playing a transgender woman in the movie that took a ton of heat when it was revealed that Mark Ruffalo had cast the cisgender gay actor instead of someone actually trans. The movie, Anything, is about to have its world premiere.

Bomer stars as Freda Von Rhenberg, a sex worker who lives next door to a straight man from the Deep South, Early Landry, played by John Carroll Lynch. The plot centers around the Mississippi native moving to Los Angeles after losing his wife, to be cared for by his over-protective sister, played by Maura Tierney. Landry escapes her clutches to start a new life, reported Deadline Hollywood, and eventually begins an intense relationship with Freda.
[…]
The cause of casting trans actors to play trans roles has an ally in award-winning actor Jeffrey Tambor, the cisgender star of Transparent who has publicly challenged Hollywood to “give transgender talent a chance.”

There are a number of excellent trans actors out there; Jamie Clayton from Sense8, Jen Richards, Angelica Ross, and the other actors in Her Story, and there is Michelle Hendley from Boy Meets Girl that they could have chosen instead of a cisgender actor.

One of the arguments that I hear in favor of using cisgender actors is that they have name recognition and I agree but add how is a trans woman going to get name recognition without being cast in any part? If they don’t even get hired then they are not going to be known.

 Lana and Lilly Wachowski hired a trans actress, and Jen Richards hired trans actresses it seems like the only way for trans actors to get hired is because of a trans director.