10 On-Screen Roles That Exemplify Stellar Gender-Diverse Casting
Originally published on March 10, 2023 on MovieWeb.com
Transgender and gender-nonconforming people have existed since the beginning of humanity, but have only recently been legitimately and respectfully recognized and celebrated by the entertainment industry. The first portrayals of trans people in film and television were questionable depictions at best, and harmful stereotypes at worst. While Felicity Huffman, Jeffrey Tambor, and other cisgender actors no doubt had the best of intentions when they took roles portraying trans women, it is now much more widely accepted that trans characters should be played by trans actors.
When Elliot Page made history by transitioning publicly between seasons of the hit Netflix show Umbrella Academy, audiences had no choice but to consciously confront their own gender biases. In an age where queer people are represented more accurately and compassionately than ever, here are some examples of the best gender diverse casting, ranked.
10. John Roberts — Bob’s Burgers
There would be no Bob's Burgers without slightly boozy matriarch Linda exclaiming her signature "Alright!" or singing goofy songs in an enthusiastic vibrato. It would have been simple for John Roberts to simply give Linda a falsetto and call it a day, but he gives Linda a clear depth and passion that can only come from a real tender care for the character. It's not surprising that Roberts performs this character with such care; in his interview with Mashable, Roberts reveals that he's been playing an iteration of his Brooklyn-born mother since he could talk. His love for his mother translates beautifully into a mother figure audiences can all adore.
9. M Lamar — Orange Is the New Black
When the writers of Orange Is the New Black wrote a flashback for Laverne Cox's character Sophia Burset, Cox wanted to play pre-transition Sophia as well. Episode director Jodie Foster and series creator Jenji Kohan ultimately chose to hire an actor to play the character before her transition for two reasons: because they knew it was important to support Cox and avoid traumatizing her by casting her as a man, and, more frankly, because she didn't look masculine enough in the screen tests, despite her attempts to "butch it up." While it's, of course, not ideal for a man to play a trans woman, the showrunners took advantage of the rare opportunity to cast Cox's identical twin M Lamar — if Cox couldn't do it, who better to play her pre-transition self than someone who looks just like her, not to mention knew the actress before anyone else?
8. Patrick Swayze, Wesley Snipes, John Leguizamo — To Wong Foo
While queer audiences now would frown mightily upon casting three cis men to play self-proclaimed drag queens who lived primarily as women, it was more than acceptable in 1995 when To Wong Foo was released. To their credit, it's abundantly clear that Patrick Swayze, Wesley Snipes, and John Leguizamo poured their hearts into understanding their characters. Many actors in their time would have been tempted to lean into the seemingly comedic elements of the plot, but these three strapping young men portrayed the humanity in these gorgeous, somewhat hapless femmes with tenderness and affection.
7. Lucy Liu — Elementary
A traditionally male character, John Watson has been played by the likes of Martin Short, Jude Law, and many more stellar male actors. The incredible actor Lucy Liu was no exception, bringing the levelheaded toughness, wry grit, and casual sex appeal from her roles like Alex Munday in Charlie's Angels and O-Ren Ishii in Kill Bill to the character of Joan Watson, the sober companion to Jonny Lee Miller's Sherlock Holmes in the modern day adaptation, Elementary. The show explored the romantic connection between the famous duo, and Liu and Miller pulled off a lovably awkward will-they-won't-they that left fans of the iconic detectives wanting more.
6. Emily Hampshire — 12 Monkeys
While leaving her mark in the television industry for her role as Schitt's Creek's sardonic and often exasperated motel owner Stevie Budd, Emily Hampshire was also playing Jennifer Goines on Syfy's 12 Monkeys (2015 - 2018), a series adapted from the 1995 film with the same name, featuring Brad Pitt in the original role of Jeffrey Goines. A mental patient with a Cassandra complex who's the only one who knows what's going on during infinite timelines, both actors received critical acclaim for the role. Hampshire's reprisal of the role that earned Pitt his first Oscar nomination could easily have been a mirror of Pitt's performance, but she walks the line of incoherent babbling for her own entertainment to genuine attempts at communicating the world's end like a tightrope walker.
5. Helen Mirren — The Tempest
Despite the film's lukewarm reception for its CGI, Helen Mirren's performance in The Tempest (2010) is almost universally celebrated. Her portrayal of Prospera (a clever feminization of the original name Prospero, portrayed by giants like Christopher Plummer, Patrick Stewart, and James Earl Jones) is forceful, arrogant, otherwordly — in short, everything that makes the character who they are. Lauded as a line for line remake of the script with bad special effects, Mirren and her cast mates were the saving grace of the film. Having been performing Shakespeare since 1968, Mirren balanced her inherent elegant femininity with a rugged, exhausted masculinity to create a Prospera(o) audiences had never seen on screen.
4. Julie Andrews — Victor/Victoria
Looking dashing in tails and a starched white bow tie, Julie Andrews surprised and delighted audiences in Victor/Victoria, as the eponymous down-on-her-luck singer who's roped into pretending to be a man who is a female impersonator, who falls in love with a gangster. Chaos and hilarity ensue — is she a man or isn't he? Despite its queerness in a time when it was widely acceptable to ignore the existence of gender roles entirely, this piece was almost universally adored, both as a film and live performance. Andrews once again proves she can do no wrong when she sinks her teeth into a role, garnering sympathy for and breathing life into a complex, well-rounded, beautiful character.
3. Aubrey Plaza — Legion
Legion tells the story of David Haller (Dan Stevens), a young man diagnosed with schizophrenia who discovers that his mental illness is actually superpowers that he must protect from sinister forces attempting to control them. Plaza plays Lenny Busker, a friend and fellow mental patient with David. The role of Lenny was originally slated as a middle-aged man, but the show's creator Noah Hawley (of Fargo and Bones fame) cast Plaza when he met her. The show is known for its complex, interweaving plot lines, often resulting in Lenny's body and mind under the control of various antagonists, so it's sometimes difficult to even know whom Plaza is portraying at any given seemingly drug induced sequence. Her signature deadpan delivery and ability to lose herself in a role so completely allows her audience to simply sit back and enjoy the ride, made all the more enjoyable by the fact that she's one of the generation's favorite faces.
2. John Cameron Mitchell — Hedwig and the Angry Inch
The character of Hedwig is a queer legend written by John Cameron Mitchell, who also played her in the movie, Hedwig and the Angry Inch. Mitchell himself identifies as a nonbinary person using he/him pronouns, so it stands to reason that he understands and relates to his brainchild Hedwig more intimately than anyone. As with many of the roles in this film, any person who is cast as Hedwig could be considered genderbent casting, as the character herself/himself/themself uses various pronouns and presents as many genders throughout the film.
Mitchell's writing and performance not only told a story that hasn't often been told, but he also brought the existence of trans people who don't fit into the male or female box to the forefront long before it was widely accepted that trans people even existed. The film sheds light on a hero(ine) with a dream, a tragic past, and a desire to keep moving forward. Queer people can see themselves in Hedwig, as can any human with a dream and a story to tell.
1. Elliot Page — The Umbrella Academy
When Elliot Page publicly announced his transition, fans of the Netflix series The Umbrella Academy couldn't wait to see how this would affect his character. A show about superhero children in a dysfunctional family trying their damnedest to save the world and themselves, the producers took Page's transition in stride in a way that has rarely been seen in pop culture: acknowledging it in the beginning of the new season, tweak the story as needed as they went along with plenty of input from Page and other trans consultants, and keep on sharing the Hargreeves' story. Where it's easy to imagine that many huge productions would ask Page to play someone he isn't, or pretend that Viktor had always been Viktor, Umbrella Academy instead chose to lead by example and make it as much a part of the story as Page was comfortable with, resulting in a fantastic third season.
It's no secret that representation of anyone outside the cis, white, heterosexual, and male identities in film and media matters. The more people see themselves reflected in pop culture, the easier it is to accept themselves for who they truly are and start living life authentically and advocating for themselves and others.
