This is a list of films with transgender people and transgender fictional characters.
Film and video
Several movies feature transgender issues as a central part of the plot element, or well known movies in which a transgender character plays a minor but important role:
Boys Don't Cry (1999): A drama film based on the real-life story of Brandon Teena, a transgender man who was raped and murdered by male friends. The movie received much media attention when its star Hilary Swank, who played Brandon, won the Academy Award for Best Actress.
Strange Circus (2005): Yuji, the novelist's assistant, is a transgender man.
Itty Bitty Titty Committee (2007): A comedy about young feminists who spread their message through public art and vandalism. Aggie (played by Lauren Mollica) has gender dysphoria. He bonds with the main character, Anna, and develops an apparent crush on her.
Austin Unbound (2011): Documentary: Austin, a deaf man assigned female at birth, undergoes top surgery to complete his transition to male.
Romeos (2011): A drama and tragicomedy which revolves around the romantic relationship between Lukas, a 20-year-old gaytrans man who is transitioning from female to male, and a cisgender gay man named Fabio.
Tomboy (2011): A French drama about a 10-year-old transgender child who, after moving with his family to a new neighborhood, introduces himself to his new friends as Mikäel.
Albert Nobbs (2011): A drama about a trans man living in 19th century Dublin and working as a butler. He bonds with another trans man, who is a painter, in the same city. Film is criticized for its portrayal of trans men as "women in disguise."
Pierrot Lunaire (2014): an adaptation of Arnold Schoenberg's Pierrot Lunaire that features a trans man in the title role.
3 Generations (2015): A drama about a teenage trans boy who struggles with his mother and grandmother to get approved for hormone replacement therapy.
Adam est...Eve (1954): Likely the first French trans film, by director Rene Gaveau. A boxer is "knocked out" and wakes up decided he is a woman. The early film is extraordinary because of its happy ending.[1]
The Christine Jorgensen Story (1970): Former Army private from the Bronx undergoes surgery and hormone treatments in Denmark in 1952 to transition from male to female.
The Triple Echo (1972): A British soldier (Brian Deacon) deserts his unit during WWII. At the suggestion of a woman (Glenda Jackson) he meets while exploring the countryside nearby, he disguises himself as her sister to escape detection. Enjoying the experience a little too much, he agrees to accept the invitation of a soldier (Oliver Reed) to attend a dance at the base, risking exposure. Based on a novella by H.E. Bates.
Dog Day Afternoon (1975): Al Pacino's lover, played by Chris Sarandon, was a transgender woman. Pacino's character was robbing a bank to pay for her gender reassignment surgery.
"The Jeffersons" (1977) In season 4, George's old army buddy comes for a visit after having had gender alignment surgery.
Monty Python's Life of Brian (1979): Among Eric Idle's multiple roles is Stan/Loretta. Set in the year AD 33, Stan is strongly mocked at first, but at the end is called Loretta, with no trace of disapproval.
Dressed to Kill (1980): A film about a transgender murderer.
The World According to Garp (1982): In this film, the character Roberta Muldoon (played by John Lithgow in an Oscar-nominated role) is a transgender former football player.
Sleepaway Camp series (1983, 1988, 1989, 2008): Angela Baker (portrayed by Felissa Rose in the first and fourth installments and Pamela Springsteen in the second and third), the killer and main character of the series, is a trans woman.
Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985): Luis Molina and Valentin Arregui are cell mates in a South American prison. Luis is found guilty of "immoral behaviour" and Valentin is a political prisoner. To escape reality Luis invents romantic movies, while Valentin tries to keep his mind on the situation he is in. During the time they spend together, the two come to understand respect and care for one another. Molina is more accurately transgender, if not transsexual. William Hurt's portrayal of Molina won him the Academy Award for Best Actor.
Soapdish (1991): In this soap opera parody, Montana Morehead (Cathy Moriarty), the show's star and scheming antagonist, is revealed, on live television, as a transgender woman.
Different for Girls (1996): A British comedy film about two childhood friends who are reunited, after one of them has undergone sex reassignment surgery.
The Birdcage (1996): Directed by Mike Nichols, the Bird Cage features a cis Robin Williams with a gay, male identity, who is in a committed long term partnership with Nathan Lane's character, who at various points in the movie claims their womanhood and longs to "be" a woman. Williams' character, although devoted to Lane's, suppresses Lane's desire to be perceived as a woman, and uses he/him pronouns when referring to Lane's character, as do others.
Better Than Chocolate (1999): Features a sub-plot involving the transgender character named Judy (Peter Outerbridge), who struggles with family rejection throughout the film and who has a crush on, and ultimately begins a romantic relationship with, lesbian separatist Frances (Ann-Marie MacDonald), who owns the gay & lesbian bookstore in which the film's central character Maggie (Karyn Dwyer) works. Judy also becomes friends with Maggie's somewhat sexually repressed mother, Lila (Wendy Crewson)
Creature (1999): Documentary by Parris Patton about trans woman Stacey Hollywood; a four-year chronicle of Stacey's transformation into womanhood, life in the West Hollywood LGBT nightclub scene, and her journey from Los Angeles back home to visit her conservative Christian family in North Carolina.
Todo sobre mi madre (1999): A film by Pedro Almodóvar that tells the story of Manuela, a nurse whose son is hit by a car and killed. The son's father is transgender. Agrado, a friend of Manuela, is also transgender, and sex worker.
Hedwig and the Angry Inch (2001): An off-Broadway cult musical adapted for cinema about a transgender German glam rocker (John Cameron Mitchell) recounting the story of her betrayal by her former boyfriend.
Beautiful Boxer (2003): A Thai film based on the real-life story of Nong Thoom/Parinya Charoenphol, a Muaythai boxer who is a trans woman underwent transitional surgery.
Tom-Yum-Goong (2005): Known as The Protector in the US release, this is a foreign action film starring Tony Jaa. The main villain, Madame Rose, is a transgender women in the international versions. The actress who plays Rose, Jin Xing is transgender herself.
En Soap (English: A Soap, 2006): A Danish film about the love between a (pre-operative) trans woman and a lesbian.
Grilled (2006): A comedy film in which Sofía Vergara plays character of Loridonna, a sultry trans woman who seduces unsuspecting Maurice (Ray Romano) when he and Dave (Kevin James), two desperate meat salesmen, knock on her door. A call from a suicidal friend interrupts signing the contract, so Maurice and Dave offer to drive her to her friend's house, hoping to close the deal. There, troubles multiply as they meet an arms dealer (Kim Coates) - who outs Lori to Maurice just before they got intimate, then hit-men working for a gregarious mob boss (Burt Reynolds).
Be Like Others (2008), a documentary film about transphobia in Iran
Ticked-Off Trannies With Knives (2010): A rape/revenge "transploitation" film about a trio of trans women who avenge themselves on three men who brutally attack them and kill two of their friends.
Gun Hill Road (2011): A drama about a recently released ex-convict coping with her estranged wife and daughter, who is going through transition from male to female.
The Skin I Live In (2011) [Spanish: La piel que habito]: A Pedro Almodóvar film in which a young man named Vicente, portrayed Jan Cornet, is kidnapped by Antonio Banderas' character, undergoes forced sex reassignment surgery and becomes a woman named Vera, portrayed by Elena Anaya.
Boy Meets Girl (2014): 'Ricky' (Michelle Hendley), a transgender woman from rural Kentucky, awaiting acceptance into a New York fashion design school, learns about acceptance, friendship, sexuality and love.
The Gap (2014) [German: Der Spalt]: A movie about the core-misunderstanding of transgender women. It's about a girl named "Alex", who is born with body-parts that do not fit to her gender. The people around her do not believe that she exists.
Tangerine (2015): An independent film directed by Sean S. Baker where Kitana Kiki Rodriguez and Mya Taylor play the main protagonists, two transgender women, Sin-Dee and Alexandra respectively.
Tchindas (2015): An award-winning feature documentary with Tchinda Andrade, the most respected trans woman from Cape Verde (West Africa) as main character.
Just Charlie (2017), a film by Rebekah Fortune. Young soccer star Charlie has the world at his feet. With a top club desperate to sign him, his future is seemingly mapped out. But the teenager sees only a nightmare. Trapped in the body of a boy, Charlie is torn between wanting to live up to her father’s expectations and shedding this ill-fitting skin. Charlie’s next move will tear the family apart and threaten everything they hold dear.
A Fantastic Woman (2018), a film by Chilean director Sebastian Lelio about a trans woman (Daniela Vega) grieving the sudden death of her boyfriend.
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation: The fifth-season episode "Ch-ch-changes" focuses on illegal sex reassignment operations in the female transgender community, and features several transgender characters.
Dark Angel: Season 1 Episode 8 "Out" Back at Jam Pony, Normal has a date with a woman who is actually transgender. After he finds out, he decides that he doesn't care about her past, only to discover that Louise (Played by actress Jessica Crockett) is a lesbian. First time a trans woman was cast to play a trans character on American television.
Dead of Summer: Drew is revealed to be a transgender male. He encounters issues when he comes out to his male crush.
Degrassi: Adam Torres (played by Jordan Todosey) is a transgender character introduced into the show in the tenth season.
Dirty Sexy Money: Candis Cayne, actress and transgender performer plays Carmelita, a transgender woman who has an affair with married New York attorney General Patrick Darling, played by William Baldwin.
Doctor Who: Zoë Wanamaker voices Lady Cassandra O'Brien, a recurring character in season one and two. In season one episode, "The End of the World," it is revealed that Cassandra was assigned male at birth.
Eli Stone: In the season two episode, "Two Ministers," Dallas Malloy plays a transgender minister who needs legal help when he loses his job after transitioning.
Faking It: In season three a new character, Noah, is a transgender gay male. He starts dating Shane. He is portrayed by Elliot Fletcher who is transgender himself in real life.
Family Guy: In the episode "Quagmire's Dad", Glenn Quagmire's father, Lieutenant Commander Dan Quagmire, has gender reassignment surgery and changes her name to Ida Quagmire.
The Fosters: Tom Phelan plays a transgender boy named Cole whom the main character, Callie, meets at a group home. Cole first appears in season 1 and has a recurring role throughout the series. In season 4, Elliot Fletcher appears as Aaron Baker, a transgender guy, who works with Callie on a murder case. Callie develops a romantic interest in him and he later becomes her boyfriend.
Glee: Alex Newell plays Unique Adams, who is transgender. Dot Marie Jones plays football coach Shannon Beiste, who transitions to male (Sheldon Beiste) during the sixth season.
Golden Girls: John Schuck plays a Gil Gessler, a shy, mild-mannered man running for city council. He lies about having an affair with Blanche in order to boost opinion of him. He ultimately tells the truth, but also reveals that he is a transgender man.
Good Grief: Sheldon Feldner plays Raoul, an assistant at the Lapidus's funeral home.
Grey's Anatomy: Alex Blue Davis, a transgender male actor, appears as Intern Casey Parker in Season 14.
Gwaith Cartref: Welsh T.V show featuring series regular Macsen Issacs (previously Phoebe Issacs) played by Mabli Jen-Eustace. Macsen is a FtM character that transitioned during season 7.
Hit & Miss: Chloë Sevigny plays a transgender woman, Mia. Mia is a contract killer who finds out that her ex-girlfriend, from before transitioning, is dead and that she was pregnant and had their child.
Hollyoaks: In 2010, the character Jason Costello was introduced as the British soap opera's first character to have gender dysphoria. Subsequently, they introduced Blessing Chambers, a young trans woman, and, most recently, Sally St. Claire, played by Annie Wallace, the first trans actor to play a regular trans character in British soap.
How to Get Away With Murder, season 2, episode 3: shortly before their wedding anniversary party, transgender Professor Jill Hartford kills her husband, claiming self-defense from his abuse.
Just Shoot Me: Jenny McCarthy plays Brandi, formerly Burt, an old college friend of Finch's, in the episode "There's Something About Allison."
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit: Transgender characters are featured in episodes "Fallacy" (Season 4) and "Transitions" (Season 10).
The Love Boat: In a 1980s episode, MacKenzie Phillips portrays a trans woman who is eventually accepted as a friend by her old high school classmate, series regular Fred Grandy.
The L Word: Moira becomes Max, a transgender man. He becomes aggressive and unpredictable during his transition due to the hormones he is taking, and Jenny then dumps him because she does not want to be in a relationship with a man.
Married... with Children: In season 9's tenth episode, "Dud Bowl", Drew Pillsbury plays Thad, a former high school teammate of Al's who is now a trans woman, to Al's dismay, but who nevertheless plays football on Al's re-organized team.[3]
Married... with Children (Episode 10.16 "Calendar Girl") Beautiful calendar girl Crystal Clark comes out as a trans woman on national TV, to the horror of those who loved her for her body.
Medical Center: In the two-part Season 7 opener, Robert Reed portrays Dr. Pat Caddison, a former colleague of Dr. Gannon, who reveals his intention to transition from male to female.
My Family: Diana Weston plays Charlie Briggs, an old college friend of Ben's who is transgender.
NCIS: In the Season 1 episode "Dead Man Talking," the female person of interest in a stakeout turns out to be the male murder suspect.
Night Court: In the Season 3 episode "Best of Friends", Dan meets up with a college buddy who is no longer living as a man.
Nip/Tuck: Famke Janssen played Ava Moore in the American plastic surgery based television drama series. Jonathan Del Arco plays Sophia Lopez, whose botched surgery leads the doctors to a doctor who routinely botches surgery on transgender patients in season 1. Cherry Peck (Willam Belli) figures prominently in season 3.
Number 96: In Australia 1973, Carlotta played a showgirl revealed as transgender.
The OA: Ian Alexander portrays Buck Vu, a 15 year old Asian trans man.
One Piece: Mr. 2 Bon Kurei (better known as Bon Clay in English adaptations) is an okama, or transgender agent, of the criminal organization Baroque Works. Another character, Emporio Ivankov (aka Iva) is the "Queen" of Kamabakka Queendom (Kamabakka literally means "full of transvestites") and possess the powers of the "Horu Horu no Mi" devil's fruit, which grants the user the ability to create and control special hormones that can affect anyone they strike by however the user desires. One of his techniques is Emporio Onna Hormone (エンポリオ･女ホルモン, literally translated as Emporio Female Hormone) which are special female hormones that when injected into a male, causes said male (including Iva himself) to be transformed complete into a female (Iva uses it to change the sex of male opponents and even himself to female)
Orange Is the New Black: Sophia Burset (portrayed by Laverne Cox) is an inmate who serves time for credit card theft. Before transitioning, she was known as Marcus.
Orphan Black: Tony Sawicki (formerly Antoinette) is a clone and criminal introduced in season two. Every other known clone in his "batch" is female.
Penny Dreadful: Angelique ( Jonny Beauchamp) Encounters Dorian Gray in a cafe. After they meet Gray takes up her offer and goes to her work place. Here it is made clear that she is transgender.
Pretty Little Liars: In the summer finale of Season 6, CeCe Drake (portrayed by Vanessa Ray) is revealed to be a transgender woman. She was born as a male named Charles DiLaurentis and identified as female from an early age, eventually becoming Charlotte DiLaurentis. In the same episode, she was revealed to be the main villain "A", her motives transpiring from being sent to a mental facility at a young age due to her transphobic father Kenneth.
Queer as Folk: Later seasons featured a minor transgender character named Kiki (usually described by other characters as "Kiki the Waitress, formerly known as Kenny the Waiter").
Queen Sugar: Ralph Angel is uncharacteristically sensitive about his son Blue's affinity for a playing with a doll. It's revealed that Ralph's childhood friend, Antoinette "Toine" Wilkins, was bullied for being gender-variant growing up and Ralph came to their defense. When they reunite in Season 2, Antoinette has transitioned and is a transgender man, and goes by Antoine.[4]Toine is played by transgender actor Brian Michael Smith.[5]
The Riches: Sam Malloy, the youngest child of the family on whom the series focuses, is a possibly non-binary pre-teen who usually prefers feminine gender expression, in spite of being assigned male at birth. Sam's parents and siblings respect and accept Sam's gender expression.
Second Serve: A TV film based on the autobiography of tennis pro Renée Richards (played by Vanessa Redgrave), whose player status was challenged in 1976 when it was revealed that she was transgender.
Secret City: An Australian drama television series in which a political journalist uncovers a secret city of interlocked conspiracies, putting innocent lives in danger including her own. Her ex-husband is a trans woman.
Sense8: One of the Sensate 'cluster' is a transgender woman named Nomi Marks, played by a transgender actress Jamie Clayton.
Shameless: Trevor, played by Elliot Fletcher, is introduced as Ian's love interest in the show's seventh season.
Tales of the City: Based on Armistead Maupin's novel of the same name, this miniseries is set in a San Francisco apartment building run by an Anna Madrigal (Olympia Dukakis), an over-solicitous transgender landlady.
Wandering Son: An 11-episode anime adaptation produced by AIC Classic based on the manga by Takako Shimura. The story depicts a transgender girl named Shūichi Nitori, and her friend Yoshino Takatsuki, a transgender boy. The series deals with issues such as transphobia, gender identity, and the beginning of puberty.
Waterloo Road: In 2011, British School-based Drama Waterloo Road introduced fictional transgender character, 'Martin Dunbar' played by Matt Greenwood in Series 7, Episode 2 of the BBC Drama Series. The episode features around the 'coming out' and coming-to-terms story line of the pupil. Kacey Barry, played by Brogan Ellis, is forced to come to terms with her gender issues in series 8 (episode 18, man of the match") when Barry outs Kacey as a girl on the football pitch after Zoe kisses her/him.
Wentworth: In this Australian series set in a women's prison, Socratis Otto plays Maxine Conway, a transgender woman who is in prison for the murder of her ex-boyfriend.
^Todd W. Reeser, “Transsexuality and the Production of French Universalism: René Gaveau’s Adam est…Eve (1954),” French Review 91.2 (December 2017): 126-38.
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