jessica
15. Alexis Arquette
Sister to Hollywood stars, David and Patricia Arquette, Alexis Arquette is a well-known cabaret performer and film star. She transitioned from male to female and back to male after finding being a woman was not all it was cracked up to be. However, she documented her transition in the documentary, “Alexis Arquette: She’s My Brother.” Sadly, Alexis passed away in September 2016 after a 29 year fight with HIV.
14. Carmen Carrera
Best known for her stint on “Rupaul’s Drag Race” season 3, Carmen Carrera used to live her life as a gay man before realizing she was transgender. She transitioned slowly and had a long relationship with reality star Adrien Torres. The couple broke up for a short period of time before reconciling on the reality show “Couples Therapy” where they were eventually married.
13. Caitlyn Jenner
Olympian Bruce Jenner became quite popular thanks to E’s reality series “Keeping Up with the Kardashians,” however he always felt he was living a lie. Confessing that he used to dress up as a woman and go out in public places, it wasn’t until 2015 in a Vanity Fair cover story did he reveal his transition from Bruce to Caitlyn. Caitlyn would go on to star in her own reality series “I Am Cait” for two seasons.
12. Lea T
Born as a boy named Leandro, Lea T is a model who has appeared in Vogue Paris and worked the runways of Milan. She underwent her male-to-female transition back in 2012, having the procedure performed in Thailand. According to interviews, she identifies as bisexual.
11. Chaz Bono
One of the more popular transgender celebrities, Chaz Bono was born Chastity and is the daughter/son of Cher. Chaz has revealed in many different interviews that he struggled with his gender identity for years, which led to massive weight gain and depression. However, he does have one of the coolest moms on the planet and her support helped him get through the early years of his transition. Since coming out as transgender, he’s appeared on multiple TV gigs, even competing on “Dancing with the Stars.”
10. Amanda Lepore
Amanda Lepore is a transgender performance artist who has been a model for photographer, David LaChapelle, working as his muse for years. At the age of 17, Amanda (born Armand) married a bookstore owner through a legal loophole and received gender reassignment surgery. She would eventually leave her husband and move to New York to pursue a career in show business. Amanda has modeled for M.A.C. cosmetics and worked with the likes of Elton John and Grace Jones over the years, becoming a gay icon.
9. Lana Wachowski
Born Larry Wachowski and best known for her directing of The Matrix films and most recently Jupiter Ascending, Lana is a transgender director, producer and writer and one half of what used to be known in Hollywood as “The Wachowski Brothers.” Lana transitioned in the early 2000’s completing her gender reassignment in 2008. Since she remained private, it wasn’t until 2010 that the trade magazines began referring to her as Lana Wachowski. Recently, her brother Andy transitioned into a woman and is now known as Lilly.
8. Candis Cayne
Candis Cayne is a transgender performer and choreographer who has been featured on RuPaul’s Drag Race and the docuseries “I Am Cat.” She revealed that she worked as a drag performer when she was younger in New York, not knowing what transgender meant until after she graduated from high school. She transitioned into a woman between 1998 and 2001.
7. Janet Mock
Janet Mock is the editor of People.com and came out as a transgender woman in 2011. The admission shocked people in the industry who had no idea of her past as a boy. Janet believes it’s important to understand that she does not recognize that she ever was a boy, stating she was always a girl, simply trapped in the wrong body.
6. Laverne Cox
Laverne Cox is an African American transgender actress who rose to fame with her supporting role in Orange is the New Black. She has an identical twin brother who has appeared in the show with her (playing her pre-transition) and she continues to speak out for transgender rights. Recently, she starred in the television remake of “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” and had a recurring role in CBS procedural “Doubt,” which was unfortunately cancelled after only two episodes.
5. Thomas Beatie
Thomas is a transgender man and advocate for transgender rights. He rose to fame when he became known as “the pregnant” man, giving birth to two children with his then wife. Unfortunately, they divorced in 2012 which set a new precedent legally because it was the first time a man who gave birth to his own children faced a custody battle. Thankfully, he was awarded custody of both and now lives with his new wife Amber in Arizona.
4. Marci Bowers
Marci Bowers is the first transgender doctor to also perform male-to-female sex change operations. She was born Mark Bowers and was married before realizing she was transgender. Thankfully, her wife stood by her and they are still married. She actually performed Isis King’s transition surgery, so the community definitely stays together.
3. Jenna Talackova
Jenna Talackova began her transition early at the age of 14 and had finished by the age of 19. She went on to cause controversy when competed in the Miss Universe Canada competition in 2012 and was disqualified for being transgender. She campaigned heavily to be reinstated into the competition and achieved her goal due to overwhelming public support.
2. Lilly Wachowski
Lilly Wachowski is a transgender director, producer and writer, as well as the sister to transgender celebrity Lana Wachowski. As previously mentioned, the two are known for their work on The Matrix trilogy and most recently the hit Netflix series “Sense8.” In March 2016, Lilly (who used to go by Andy) came out as transgender and began her transition into a woman. She revealed she hid that she was transgender most of her life and that for the first time ever, she felt like she could be who she was meant to be.
1. Mack Beggs
Mack Beggs is a 17-year old transgender male who rose to fame for his popularity in high school wrestling. He began taking testosterone when he was 16 and hopes to be a pro-wrestler one day. The problem is he has to compete in the girls’ category due to his biological gender, which has many of the female wrestling leagues up in arms because he has an advantage over the other girls. This is due to the fact that most schools do not have trans-exclusive policies. Beggs hopes to one day wrestle on the boy’s team, but for now is just happy to compete.
Brittany
Silvia
