15 Trans Actors Leading Non-Trans Storylines in the Last 5 Years
Representation keeps expanding as more trans actors step into roles where the plot is not centered on gender transition or identity. Over the last few years, film and TV have featured trans performers leading stories about survival, adventure, politics, comedy, and sci fi without making gender the point of the narrative.
This list spotlights recent projects where the character’s journey focuses on things like power struggles, haunted objects, campaign strategy, or saving the world. Each entry highlights what the actor plays, what the story covers, and where the focus of the plot really sits.
Jamie Clayton
Jamie Clayton leads ‘Hellraiser’ as the Hell Priest known as Pinhead. The film follows a young woman who solves a puzzle box that summons extradimensional beings. Clayton’s character oversees the rules of the exchange demanded by the box and shapes every trial the humans face.
The production uses elaborate prosthetics and a new design for the Cenobites. Scenes take place in a secluded mansion with moving walls and in city locations tied to the puzzle. The plot centers on grief, addiction, and the cost of desire rather than gender identity.
Morgan Davies
Morgan Davies appears in ‘Evil Dead Rise’ as a teenager who discovers a strange book and recordings in a Los Angeles apartment building. The discovery unleashes a force that targets a family during a power outage and elevator failure.
The story relocates the series from a cabin to a high rise with confined spaces and complex set pieces. Davies plays a character who triggers the crisis through music playback and must fight to protect siblings as the threat spreads.
Michaela Jaé Rodriguez
Michaela Jaé Rodriguez stars in ‘Loot’ as Sofia Salinas, the executive director of a philanthropic foundation. The series follows the foundation staff as they expand grants and outreach after its billionaire benefactor returns to work following a public divorce.
Episodes cover board meetings, site visits, and policy debates that test the organization. Rodriguez’s character manages budgets and staffing and sets performance goals while navigating media attention.
Emma D’Arcy
Emma D’Arcy headlines ‘House of the Dragon’ as Rhaenyra Targaryen, heir to the Iron Throne. The drama charts rival claims to succession inside House Targaryen with councils, betrothals, and alliances that change with each crisis.
The role involves command scenes in Dragonstone and King’s Landing and coordination of dragon riders for war planning. The arc focuses on governance, family duty, and civil conflict rather than gender identity.
Mason Alexander Park
Mason Alexander Park appears in ‘The Sandman’ as Desire, a sibling of Dream who manipulates events across realms. The fantasy series adapts graphic novels and moves between the Waking World, the Dreaming, and the realm of the Endless.
Park also stars in ‘Quantum Leap’ as Ian Wright, a lead physicist on the time travel team that supports field missions. The episodes concentrate on mission logistics, code breaking, and moral decisions during jumps.
Bella Ramsey
Bella Ramsey leads ‘The Last of Us’ as Ellie, a teenager immune to a fungal infection that changed the world. The story tracks a journey across quarantined zones and wilderness with a smuggler assigned to deliver her to a research group.
The role includes stealth travel, supply runs, and encounters with armed factions and infected. Scenes show survival training, a growing partnership with her protector, and difficult choices that shape the fate of several communities.
Hunter Schafer
Hunter Schafer headlines ‘Cuckoo’ as a young woman who takes a job at a remote resort in the Alps. Strange incidents around the grounds draw her into a local mystery linked to a wealthy family.
The film uses wooded trails, locked rooms, and medical facilities to escalate tension. Schafer’s character gathers evidence, evades surveillance, and confronts authority figures as the truth comes to light.
Indya Moore
Indya Moore co leads ‘Escape Room: Tournament of Champions’ as Brianna, a travel vlogger who becomes trapped in a new series of engineered rooms. Each location presents a hazard tied to electricity, sand, or subway systems.
The group decodes clues under time pressure while a hidden organization observes the outcomes. Moore’s character contributes skills with navigation and quick decision making as the survivors link the rooms to earlier games.
Hari Nef
Hari Nef appears in ‘Barbie’ as one of the Barbies who live in Barbieland. The film follows Stereotypical Barbie as she leaves with Ken to explore the real world and returns to address changes in her home.
Nef participates in musical numbers, council scenes in the Dreamhouse, and group sequences that reorganize the community. The plot uses toy design references and fashion sets to frame a story about work, friendship, and choice.
Jinkx Monsoon
Jinkx Monsoon guests in ‘Doctor Who’ as Maestro in the Fifteenth Doctor era. The episode involves a recording studio, the creation of a pop hit, and a threat that feeds on music.
Scenes include performance spaces, a London neighborhood, and the TARDIS control room. The script builds a mystery around sound waves and rhythm that the Doctor and Ruby Sunday must solve.
Liv Hewson
Liv Hewson stars in ‘Yellowjackets’ as Van, a member of a high school soccer team stranded in the wilderness after a plane crash. The narrative alternates between the survival period and the present day lives of the survivors.
Hewson’s storylines include hunting parties, signal fire planning, and group rituals that emerge over time. In present day segments, adult characters manage secrets and investigations that tie back to the original incident.
Theo Germaine
Theo Germaine appears in ‘The Politician’ as James Sullivan, a strategist who manages campaign operations for Payton Hobart. The series covers a high school race and a later state senate race with debates, polling, and donor meetings.
Scenes show platform writing, rapid response teams, and staff dynamics inside campaign headquarters. The character coordinates ground game plans and crisis messaging while tracking rivals.
Elliot Page
Elliot Page returns in ‘The Umbrella Academy’ as Viktor Hargreeves, a violinist and member of a superpowered family. The season centers on alternate timelines, a new rival academy, and a countdown tied to a cosmic event.
Viktor’s tasks include mediation within the team, negotiations with adversaries, and control of energy abilities during confrontations. The plot focuses on family history and timeline repairs rather than gender identity.
Zoe Terakes
Zoe Terakes appears in ‘Talk to Me’ as Hayley, a teen who organizes gatherings where an embalmed hand allows brief spirit possession. The sessions spread online and lead to longer experiments that break the rules.
Locations include a suburban home, a hospital, and party back rooms. Hayley and friends track outcomes through phone videos while the lead character searches for a way to reverse a possession.
Suzy Eddie Izzard
Suzy Eddie Izzard stars in ‘Six Minutes to Midnight’ as a teacher recruited to work at a finishing school on the English coast that educates daughters of high ranking German figures. A death sets off an inquiry that draws the character into espionage.
The film uses seaside promenades, classrooms, and safe houses to build a prewar thriller. The plot features coded messages and competing agents while the school tries to avoid attention from authorities.
Share your favorite examples in the comments and tell us who else belongs on this list.