The Oscar-nominated "Juno" star has revealed that he was now Elliot Page. Here's more on his career.
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Transgender star Elliot Page featured in Time magazine
Oscar-nominated star Elliot Page has given his first interview since coming out as transgender. Along with the actor, here are other public figures who have contributed to breaking down barriers.
Image: Time Magazin
Elliot Page's first in-depth interview
Last December, the Oscar-nominated star of "Juno" came out as a transgender man, revealing his new name and pronouns — he/they — in a letter to fans posted on social media. In his first in-depth interview since coming out, the "Umbrella Academy" actor told Time magazine that he wants to use his "privilege and platform" to help other trans people.
Image: Time Magazin
Laverne Cox
As Elliot Page pointed out in his coming out letter, "discrimination towards trans people is rife." Just before Page made his announcement, Laverne Cox, another prominent transgender activist, detailed on Instagram a recent transphobic attack in Los Angeles. The "Orange is the New Black" star is the first openly transgender woman to be nominated for an Emmy for acting.
Image: Invision/AP/picture alliance
Caitlyn Jenner
Retired US Olympic gold medal-winning decathlete Caitlyn Jenner is one of the most renowned people to have publicly transitioned. She revealed her new name and gender on the cover of "Vanity Fair" in 2015, posing for renowned photographer Annie Leibovitz. The TV personality's announcement paved the way for new conversations about transitioning and trans rights.
Image: Reuters/Vanity Fair/A. Leibovitz
Chaz Bono
Standard advice when referring to trans people: Avoid using their birth names, since "deadnaming" misgenders the person and dismisses their identity expression. The son of singers Sonny Bono and Cher, Chaz Bono, transitioned from female to male from 2008-2010. A documentary on Bono's experience, "Becoming Chaz," came out in 2011.
Image: Ava Benjamin Shorr/Netflix/Everett Collection/picture alliance
Jazz Jennings
The activist, YouTube and TV star's shows focus on her experiences as a transgender youth. Born in 2000, Jazz Jennings was diagnosed with gender dysphoria at the age of five, making her one of the youngest publicly documented people to be identified as transgender. A year later, she started appearing on television with her family to talk about the challenges of her identity.
Image: John Lamparski/Getty Images
Andreja Pejic
Bosnian-Australian model Andreja Pejic came out as a trans woman in 2013. She was the first transgender woman to appear on the cover of GQ magazine. She also made her acting debut in the 2018 crime thriller film "The Girl in the Spider's Web."
Image: Wendell Teodoro/Getty Images for NGV
Chelsea Manning
Originally coming into the spotlight for disclosing classified information on WikiLeaks, the former Army intelligence analyst was imprisoned for several years. On the day after her sentencing in 2013, Chelsea Manning's attorney announced her gender and new name. She was released after Barack Obama commuted her 35-year sentence; Manning has remained a public figure through her speaking engagements.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/C. Owen
The Wachowski sisters
The Wachowskis are best known as the creators of the "Matrix" films. Lana (right) completed her transition by 2010. This photo is from 2012, before Lilly Wachowski also came out as a transgender woman. They have since co-directed "Sense8," a Netflix science-fiction series that explores issues related to identity, sexuality, gender and politics.
Image: Paul Buck/EPA/picture alliance
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Elliot Page announced on Tuesday on social media that he was a transgender man, choosing the pronouns he/they: "I feel so happy to write this, to be here, to have reached this point in my life," he wrote in the letter.
Asking for patience as he completed his transition, the actor said that even though he was feeling very happy about the process, he was also afraid of the hatred, ridicule and violence that goes with it. His letter referred to statistics on discrimination against trans people, as well as the high rate of suicide attempts.
Page had come out as gay back in February 2014, during a speech at a Human Rights Campaign conference. They had then said that they hoped the announcement would help other people in a similar situation: "Maybe I can make it easier for others to have a good life," they said, adding that they were tired of hiding and lying. For a long time, Page worried about how coming out would impact their career: "I suffered for years because I was afraid to be out."
Page's acting career began as a child in their native Canada. Their international breakthrough came in 2007 in Jason Reitman's coming-of-age film Juno, with the role of a teenager who unintentionally becomes pregnant, which earned Page an Oscar nomination.
In 2010 they played alongside Leonardo di Caprio in Christopher Nolan's Inception, and in 2017 they took on a lead role in the remake of the thriller Flatliners.
Page can currently be seen in the Netflix show The Umbrella Academy, which is based on a superhero comic book series of the same name. "So proud of our superhero! WE LOVE YOU ELLIOT! Can't wait to see you return in season 3!," Netflix tweeted in reaction to Page's announcement.
Page portrayed homosexual characters in Freeheld (2015) and My Days of Mercy (2017). In 2019, the actor told entertainment magazine The Wrap that they would be "thrilled" to only play queer roles.
Page has been married since 2018 to the choreographer Emma Portner, who worked on Justin Bieber videos and his world tour. "I'm so proud of Elliot Page," Portner wrote on her Instagram channel. "Trans, queer and non-binary people are a gift to this world. Elliot's existence is a gift in and of itself."
