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‘Money Heist’ Criticised For Not Casting Trans Actor In Trans Role

The Spanish-speaking, critically acclaimed series La Casa De Papel (Money Heist) has been heavily criticised by fans for not casting a trans actress to portray a trans character. Instead, the series cast a cisgender actress for the trans role.


The series returned for its fourth season and features a trans character, Julia, using the code name Manila who helped the gang out with their robbery of the Bank of Spain.  Although Manila has been well received by Money Heist fans, with many praising the inclusion of a trans characteriser, many are wondering why a trans actress wasn’t cast for that role, reports ‘Metro Weekly’.




User @mjd3lacruz asked, “with the little recognition and visibility trans actors have, would it have killed the producers of the show to hire an actual trans woman to play Manila instead of having a cisgendered woman play her?”


“Is the person who plays Manila from Money Heist really a trans woman?” Caitlin tweeted. “[Because] I’d be disappointed if they used a biological female.”


“Why not cast a trans person for a trans role?” @christapata asked.


Another person countered arguments that “an actor can play anyone” by noting that transgender actors “EXIST and NEED those roles because they don’t have as many opportunities as cis actors.”


“Giving those roles to cis people conveys the idea that being trans is a performance. Spoiler: It’s NOT,” Elianor Pâtes ou Riz wrote. “A trans actor knows and lives the struggles trans people face. A cis actor does NOT. We NEED [representation] to show that trans people are REAL not just characters!”


Asked about the casting decision, Belén Cuesta told El Español that she understands the “struggle” of trans actors and said, “I support them a lot.”


Cuesta said that she was “very happy to play Julia” and noted that Money Heist‘s production company, Vancouver, “is inclined towards visibility and inclusion.”  


“A cisgender actress can play a transgender woman or a transgender woman can play a cisgender woman,” she said.




Read related myGwork articles here:


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Hollywood’s Most Famous Trans Actors Still Struggle To Find Work


Power Rangers Reboot Might Feature A Trans Ranger

Equity Urges Casting Directors To Cast More Trans Actors In Non-Trans Roles





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