Equity Urges Casting Directors To Cast More Trans Actors In Non-Trans Roles
The actors’ union Equity urges casting directors to consider hiring trans performers to play non-trans characters.
“The fact that [a performer] is trans may be completely invisible in the role or production, but it powerfully represents diversity in the industry,” the union said. “This ‘invisible’ diversity is just as important as more physically recognisable forms of diversity.”
It added: “It is hard for trans actors to build a career out of the very small amount of trans-specific roles if these are the only roles for which they are actively sought,” according to ‘The Guardian’.
Harrison Knights, a trans actor and activist, said playing cis roles was “the holy grail” for him, because there were more of them and they were more diverse.
Knights said cis roles were “the assumed default”. “An unnamed drug addict on Casualty, we assume he’s cis. A trainee barrister on Silk, we assume she’s cis. In fact, we assume everyone is cis unless told otherwise.”
“It is not until [trans actors] are being cast in major cis roles because we are the best actors for the role, rather than because we tick a box, that we will have truly arrived,” he continued.
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