15+ Celebrities That Are Part Of The Transgender Woman Community

Isis King

• Birth Name: Darris Wells, born on October 1, 1985
• Transitioned: Started her transitioning process in 2007
• Known for:
  • Her modeling career
  • Participating in The CW Network’s America’s Next Top Model in 2008
  • Staring in the Netflix miniseries When They See Us as Marci Denise Wise

Isis became the American Apparel brand’s first openly transgender model. She is a well-known transgender woman in the fashion industry. She uses her platform to raise awareness.

On the subject of trans identity, she said, “The more young trans people we get off the streets and give proper education and housing to, the more leaders and creative spirits we’re going to have.”

She also has a clear opinion about fashion, stating that, “Women have always worn men’s clothes. Now, men are circling back around. It impacts the culture because rules and regulations of what is ‘appropriate’ to wear are slowly fading, and that eliminates shock value. Wear what you want!”.

Isis King

Andreja Pejić

• Birth Name: Undisclosed, born on August 28, 1991
• Transitioned: In 2013
• Known for:
  • Modeling both masculine and feminine clothing in her career
  • Appearing on the covers of several international editions of Elle, Marie Claire, Harper’s Bazaar, L’Officiel, Fashion and GQ
  • Staring in the movie The Girl in the Spider’s Web as Sophia, Lisbeth’s lover/partner

Andreja was recognized as the world’s first entirely androgynous supermodel at the start of her career. She made history in 2017 when she became the first transgender woman to appear on the cover of GQ.

On the subject of transgender women’s relationship with beauty, she said, “All women have a complicated relationship to beauty, but as a transgender woman it’s a bit more complicated. There’s a lot of pressure to appear feminine. When I was younger, I was most insecure about my size, my angular features, my feet, my hands. At the end of the day, it’s about being comfortable in your own skin, and being able to walk down the street and not have people question your gender—and, for me, being perceived as a woman.”

Andreja Pejić

Alexandra Billings

• Birth Name: Scott William Billings, born on March 28, 1962
• Transitioned: In 1980, at the age of 19
• Known for:
  • Staring in the television movie Romy and Michele: In the Beginning as Donna
  • Staring in Amazon Studios series Transparent as Davina Rejennae
  • Staring in some episodes of series like ER, Grey’s Anatomy, How to Get Away with Murder, Eli Stone, and The Conners

With her portrayal of Donna in Romy and Michele: Alexandra was the second openly transgender woman to play a trans character on television. She is a teacher, singer, and activist in addition to being an actress.

During an interview with Alexandra Tempus of Jezebel, Alexandra discussed the information, education, and guidance for transgender people. “We have got to break out of the container of ignorance. And I don’t mean that in a gender-specific way, I mean that in a generalized way. We have got to realize that we are all students of the human experience. And if we do not start learning from each other and really listening and receiving the gift from the person across from us, we are lost.”

Alexandra Billings

Hunter Schafer

• Birth Name: Hunter Schafer, born on December 31, 1999
• Transitioned: Started to transition at the age of 14
• Known for:
  • Modeling, among others, for Prada, Dior, Miu Miu, Calvin Klein, Tommy Hilfiger, Thierry Mugler, Vera Wang, Marc Jacobs, et Versus Versace
  • Staring in HBO series Euphoria as Jules Vaughn

Hunter, in addition to being a well-known model and actress, is an advocate for LGBTQ rights. As part of the 50th anniversary of the first LGBTQ Pride parade in June 2020, the online magazine Queerty named her one of 50 heroes who are “leading the nation toward equality, acceptance, and dignity for all people.” In 2021, it was the turn of the New York Times to recognize her by including her on its Next list of “100 emerging leaders who are shaping the future.”

About hertransition, she said, “Part of surviving [that] experience was just, like, getting through shit. Letting it rest, and not addressing it. I think that’s what I had been [doing] up to that point: just going and going, fighting to be on the other side of my transition. There was so much that I was working towards, and I was so excited to [be out of] North Carolina that I don’t think I’d ever looked back on [that experience].”

Hunter Schafer

Nicole Maines

• Birth Name: Wyatt Maines, born on October 7, 1997
• Transitioned: Started identifying as a girl at age 3 and officially transitioned while in Elementary School
• Known for:
  • Being the anonymous plaintiff in the landmark case Doe v. Regional School Unit 26 in 2013
  • Being, with her family, the subject of the book Becoming Nicole: The Transformation of an American Family, written by Washington Post writer Amy Ellis Nutt
  • Staring in the CW series Supergirl as Nia Nal

Nicole, in addition to acting, is a transgender rights activist. Doe v. Regional School Unit 26 was actually her and her family suing her school district as a teenager, claiming that they could not deny her access to the girl’s restroom simply because she is transgender.

About having trans people play trans roles, she said, “When we have a trans woman playing a trans woman, then you see, ‘Oh wait, this is what trans really is. This is what it looks like: a person.’ That sends a message to trans kids that they are valid in their identities that they are allowed to exist.”

Nicole Maines

Josie Totah

• Birth Name: J. J. Totah, born on August 5, 2001
• Transitioned: In 2018, at the age of 17
• Known for:
  • Staring in Disney Channel series Jessie as Stuart Wooten
  • Staring in ABC series Back in the Game as Michael Lovette
  • Staring in the movie Other People as Justin

Josie began her acting career at a young age, playing male roles. Her performance as Michael Lovette in Back in the Game earned her Sundance Breakout Stars of the Year in Variety in 2016. She came out as a transgender woman in an article published in Time in August 2018.

Josie wrote in her Time article about coming out as a transgender woman, “In the past, I’ve halfway corrected people by telling them I identify as LGBTQ. I wasn’t ready to be more specific. I was afraid I wouldn’t be accepted, that I would be embarrassed, that the fans who knew me from the time when I acted in a Disney show would be confused. But I realized over the past few years that hiding my true self is not healthy. I know now, more than ever, that I’m finally ready to take this step toward becoming myself. I’m ready to be free.”

Josie Totah

Janet Mock

• Birth Name: Charles Mock, born on March 10, 1983
• Transitioned: Began her transition as a freshman in high school, and underwent gender confirming surgery at the age of 18
• Known for:
  • Writing the New York Times bestseller memoir Redefining Realness
  • Contributing as an editor for Marie Claire
  • Being a staff editor of People magazine’s website for more than 5 years

Janet is best known for her work as a director, producer, and author in front of the camera. She is the first trans woman of color to be hired as a writer on a TV show for FX’s Pose. She was named one of Out magazine’s “most compelling people of the year” in 2013. She was named to The Advocate’s annual “40 Under 40” list in 2014 and then to their “50 Most Influential LGBT People in Media” list in 2015.

In her memoir Redefining Realness, she wrote, “Frankly, I’m not responsible for other people’s perceptions and what they consider real or fake. We must abolish the entitlement that deludes us into believing that we have the right to make assumptions about people’s identities and project those assumptions onto their genders and bodies.”

Janet Mock

Caroline Cossey

• Birth Name: Barry Kenneth Cossey, born on August 31, 1954
• Transitioned: Began his transition as a teenager. She received her final surgery on December 31, 1974, at the age of 20.
• Known for:
  • Modeling as a glomour model for top magazines such as Australian Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar
  • Writing two memoirs under the pen name “Tula”, I Am a Woman and My Story
  • Participating in the James Bond movie For Your Eyes Only as an extra

Caroline was born with a variant of Klinefelter’s syndrome, which meant she had the XXXY genotype rather than the XY chromosome. As a result, when she reached puberty, she assumed a female appearance. She did, however, conceal her transgender identity for a long time before finally addressing it in 1982 with her first memoir, I Am a Woman. In 1991, she was the first transgender woman to model for Playboy.

About her youth, she said, “Growing up, I was a little bit of an embarrassment to my family. I was more inclined to do girly things and so I was often bullied and ridiculed at school. Boys games were alien to me. I knew something was definitely wrong when we had sex lessons at school. I realised I was attracted to boys so alarm bells started going off. Not fitting in was frightening. School is an important time—and I spent most of it hiding and feeling isolated.”

Caroline Cossey

Valentijn de Hingh

• Birth Name: d, born on May 5, 1990
• Transitioned: Started hormone replacement therapy at the age of 16, and underwent gender reassignment surgery at 19.
• Known for:
  • Modeling for fashion houses such as Comme des Garçons and Maison Martin Margiela
  • Staring in the Dutch television program Valentijn from the age of 8 until the age of 17

Valentijn is the first transgender person to be represented by IMG Models, an international modeling agency. She received the Elle Personal Style Award in 2012. She is a model, a columnist, and a DJ, in addition to being a model. The Valentijn series was actually a documentary series that followed her through her transition process.

About her transition, she told i-D, “When I was five years old, teachers started commenting more and more on how my behavior was not like other boys, and when [my parents] read an article about transgender children in a magazine, and everything sort of fell into place for them. They took me to a child psychologist when I was five and that’s where it all began.  […] It still took me a long time to fully transition — I took everything step-by-step. For instance: at first, I wasn’t allowed to wear dresses to school or grow out my hair. But then, when we would go on vacation, I would go like a girl, to try out how that felt. Later, I grew out my hair and started wearing more girly clothes. The last step for me was changing my pronouns from male to female. I did that when I was about 14. After that, I started hormone replacement therapy at 16, and underwent gender reassignment surgery at 19.”

Valentijn De Hingh

Hari Nef

• Birth Name: Hari Nef, born on October 21, 1992
• Transitioned: Began his transition during his studies at Columbia University, between 2011 and 2015
• Known for:
  • Staring in Amazon original series Transparent as Gittel
  • Staring in the movie Assassination Nation as Bex Warren
  • Modeling for Hood By Air and Eckhaus Latta

Hari is the first openly transgender woman to be signed by IMG Models, an international modeling agency. She was also the first openly transgender woman to grace an influential British commercial magazine, this time Elle.

About her transition during her degree in theater, she said, “That was one of the most powerful experiences. Finding my new voice and my new body and a new set of roles to play, which felt so much more authentic. I always joke that I’m a better actress than I am a male actor.”

Hari Nef

Candis Cayne

• Birth Name: Brendan McDaniel, born on August 29, 1971
• Transitioned: Began her transition around 1996
• Known for:
  • Wining the 2001 Miss Continental pageant
  • Staring in ABC series Dirty Sexy Money as Carmelita Rainer
  • Starred in the E! reality series I Am Cait

She is a performance artist as well as an actress. In Dirty Sexy Money, Candis became the first transgender actress to play a recurring transgender character in a prime-time series. She was also named the new global creative director of the global LGBT social network MOOVZ in 2015.
About transitioning, she said, “In the first couple of years when you’re transitioning, you don’t really fit into any gender because you’re changing over. You have to start getting electrolysis before you even start your therapy. But I think all the weird looks help to give you conviction in who you really are.”

Candis Cayne

Jazz Jennings

• Birth Name: Jaren Jennings, born on october 6, 2000
• Transitioned: Diagnosed with gender dysphoria at the age of 5, underwent gender confirmation surgery in 2018, at the age of 17
• Known for:
  • Having her story of growing up transgender covered by national television shows 20/20 and The Rosie Show
  • Staring in the Oprah Winfrey Network documentary I Am Jazz: A Family in Transition
  • Staring in TLC reality TV series I Am Jazz

Jazz is a YouTube personality, spokesmodel, and LGBT rights activist, and television personality. She is one of the most recent transgender people to be publicly documented. In 2007, she co-founded the TransKids Purple Rainbow Foundation, which aims to help transgender youth. She then founded Purple Rainbow Tails, a company that creates rubber mermaid tails to raise funds for transgender children, in 2013.
About her trans identity, she said, “If I wasn’t confident in who I am or didn’t like the fact that I was transgender, then I would not have gotten as far as I have today. Also, if you accept yourself, then you’ll find that others will accept you as well, and having that support is really reassuring.”

Jazz Jennings

Leyna Bloom

• Birth Name: Undisclosed, born on April 25, 1994
• Transitioned: Undisclosed, but we know that she began to identify as a woman at a rather young age
• Known for:
  • Staring in the movie Port Authority as Wye
  • Appearing as a model in various magazines such as Vogue and Sports Illustrated
  • Being a well respected artist in ball culture

Leyna is a model, actress, dancer, and activist. She is Vogue India’s first openly transgender woman of color to be featured. Her performance in the film Port Authority earned her the distinction of being the first trans woman of color to play a leading role in a movie shown at a major film festival, the Cannes Film Festival. She was also the first trans woman to appear on Sports Illustrated’s swimsuit issue cover in 2021.

When she announced her Sport Illustrated cover on Instagram, she wrote in the caption, “I have dreamt a million beautiful dreams, but for girls like me, most dreams are just fanciful hopes in a world that often erases and omits our history and even existence. […] I dedicate this cover to all ballroom femme queens past, present, and future. This historical moment is important to #girlslikeus because it allows us to live and be seen. Many girls like us don’t have the chance to live our dreams or live long at all. I hope my cover empowers those who are struggling to be seen, feel valued. Let me be a messenger guiding us to a future of respect and appreciation for all women in all forms and from all walks of life.”

Leyna Bloom

Kataluna Enriquez

• Birth Name: Durte Dom, born on April 26, 1993
• Transitioned: At the age of 14
• Known for:
  • Modeling for fashion brands such as H&M
  • Being crowned the 2021 Miss Nevada USA

Kataluna is a healthcare administrator who specializes in LGBTQ+ care and a fashion designer and the founder of the clothing line KatalunaKouture. She is the first openly transgender woman to compete in Miss USA. She will be the second openly transgender woman to compete in a Miss Universe pageant if she wins Miss USA in November 2021.

About being different, she says, “Don’t let your differences determine what you’re capable of. Your differences are anything that makes you unique, and you are capable of anything as long as you believe in yourself. […] Personally, I’ve learned that my differences do not make me less than. It makes me more than. And my differences are what makes me unique, and I know that my uniqueness will take me to all my destinations and whatever I need to go through in life.”

Kataluna Enriquez

Indya Moore

• Birth Name: Undisclosed, born on January 17, 1995
• Transitioned: Unclear, but it seems to be around the age of 14
• Known for:
  • Staring in the FX series Pose as Angel Evangelista
  • Modeling for luxury fashion houses such as Dior and Gucci
  • Staring in the movie Escape Room: Tournament of Champions as Brianna Collier

Indya is the first transgender actress to be signed to the William Morris Endeavor agency. In 2019, she became the first transgender person to appear on the cover of Elle magazine in the United States. The online magazine Queerty named her to its list of 50 heroes “leading the nation toward equality, acceptance, and dignity for all people” in 2020, as part of the 50th anniversary of the first LGBTQ Pride parade.

During an interview with them about being a trans woman, she said, “So much of my life, I felt left out of different events that were happening around and with my family. […] I think people want to pick and choose the parts that they think make my identity—the parts of me that they want to visualize or interpret in their own ways—and that’s not safe for me. […] wanting to go to the BBQ, wanting to go to the family night, and dealing with not having the invitation but not really wanting to ask for it because I didn’t want to be in a space where people weren’t going to want to respect me or affirm me anyways.”

Indya Moore

Valentina Sampaio

• Birth Name: Undisclosed, December 10, 1996
• Transitioned: Was identified as transgender by a psychologist at age 8, but did not start calling herself Valentina until age 12
• Known for:
  • Modeling for brands such as Dior, H&M, Marc Jacobs, Moschino, L’Oréal and Philipp Plein
  • Appearing on various magazine covers such as Vogue, Vanity Fair Italia, Elle Mexico and L’Officiel Turkiye
  • Being a L’Oréal Paris spokeswoman

Valentina became the first transgender Victoria’s Secret model in 2019. She was the first openly transgender model to appear in the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue in 2020. She is the first transgender model to grace Vogue Paris, Vogue Brazil, and Vogue Germany.

About growing up as a trans woman, she said, “Being trans usually means facing closed doors to peoples’ hearts and minds. We face snickers, insults, fearful reactions, and physical violations just for existing. Our options for growing up in a loving and accepting family, having a fruitful experience at school, or finding dignified work are unimaginably limited and challenging.”

Valentina Sampaio

Jamie Clayton

• Birth Name: Sebastián Elvira, born on January 15, 1978
• Transitioned: At the age of 19
• Known for:
  • Staring in the Netflix original series Sense8 as Nomi Marks
  • Staring in the third season of the Netflix series Designated Survivor as Sasha Booker
  • Staring in Showtime series The L Word: Generation Q as Tess Van De Berg

Jamie, in addition to being a well-known actress, is also a makeup artist. She was a cast member on VH1’s first season of the makeover show TRANSform Me. Out magazine honored her in 2011 as part of their annual “Out 100” awards.

About trans identity, she said, “I think what people need to realize is that, with trans people, we’re like everybody else. No group of people are the same. All women are not the same, men are not the same,andl children are not the same. It’s the same thing with trans people – we’re all so different, we have different goals, different dreams, and different aspirations.”

Jamie Clayton

Laverne Cox

• Birth Name: Roderick Leverne Cox, born on May 29, 1972
• Transitioned: Started the transition process in her 20s
• Known for:
  • Co-hosting and co-producing VH1 series TRANSform Me
  • Staring in the Netflix series Orange Is the New Black as Sophia Burset
  • Staring in the CBS series Doubt as Cameron Wirth

Laverne is the first transgender person to be nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award in acting. She was the first transgender person to appear on the cover of Time in 2014 and the first transgender person to appear on the cover of Cosmopolitan, South African edition, in 2018. She is also the first transgender person to have a wax statue of herself created by Madame Tussauds.

About her experience as a trans woman, Laverne explains, “I felt the opposite of cute. People misgendering me, calling me a man, and said I looked like a man got to me and made me feel insecure. It kept me from seeing myself clearly and loving what I saw. I look back on this young woman and want to give her the love I didn’t know how to back then. It’s not too late. #TransIsBeautiful.”

Laverne Cox

Caitlyn Jenner

• Birth Name: William Bruce Jenner
• Transitioned: In 2015, at the age of 65
• Known for:
  • Won the gold medal in the decathlon at the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal
  • Starred in the E! reality series Keeping Up With The Kardashians
  • Starred in the E! reality series I Am Cait

Caitlyn Jenner is widely regarded as the world’s most famous transgender woman. Caitlyn Jenner, who previously graced the cover of Playgirl, is now recognized as the first transgender woman to grace the cover of Vanity Fair.

After transitioning, Caitlyn said, “I’m so happy after such a long struggle to be living my true self. Welcome to the world, Caitlyn. Can’t wait for you to get to know her/me.”

Caitlyn Jenner