Trace Lysette: Is Changing The Game for Trans Actresses

LGBTQ&A

Jeffrey Masters

Society & Culture

4.7 • 703 Ratings

🗓️ 17 September 2019

⏱️ 34 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

It wasn't until she found out her character would be returning for the second season of Transparent that Trace Lysette was able to quit her job at Scores, the infamous New York City strip club made newly famous in the movie Hustlers. Lysette was working at Scores and other clubs, taking acting classes, and booking small roles on shows like Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. She was only open to a few people about being trans because, as she says, that's just what you were told to do at that time.

"If you can pass, girl, just live your life. That's what we were taught to survive. And so it wasn't until the trans movement became a national conversation that I felt like I was doing a disservice to my community by not saying anything."

The national conversation around trans people changed in part because of shows like Transparent and characters like Trace Lysette's Shea. Trace Lysette talks on this week's episode about working at Scores, the financial realities of a being an actress, and why she's still figuring out her place in Hollywood.

LGBTQ&A is hosted and produced by Jeffrey Masters. @jeffmasters1

Transcript

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0:00.0	In both the movie hustlers and the TV show Transparent, Trace Lizette does something that you might think was impossible in Hollywood.
0:10.0	As a trans woman, she has a relationship with a non-trans man.
0:15.4	Now, this is a rarity in TV and film.
0:18.2	To see a trans person in a romantic relationship with another person,
0:21.6	trans or not, but specifically someone who's not.
0:25.6	Each time it sends the message to the viewer that dating and desiring someone who trans is normal.
0:32.6	It's okay. It is nothing different than dating anyone else.
0:36.6	And with all of the violence against trans people, most often occurring as intimate partner violence,
0:42.3	it's seeing relationships like these on screen that seem so vital, so crucial to quite literally keeping people alive.
0:51.3	We talk about all this and more with Trace Lizette today. She is in the new Jennifer
0:56.2	Lopez movie Hustlers. It is out right now, and as you'll hear, it's based on the true story
1:02.7	of the legendary strip club scores in New York City. That's a place where Trace actually worked
1:08.2	before landing her big role in Transparent.
1:16.2	From Luminary Media, I'm Jeffrey Masters, and this is LGBTQ and A.
1:24.0	Thanks for being here.
1:25.1	Thank you for having me.
1:25.7	Of course.
1:28.0	This is a big month for you.
1:30.3	Did you know everything is coming out at the same time?
1:34.1	I figured that out probably over the summer at some point.
1:36.5	And I was like, ooh, should I hire a publicist?
1:37.6	Nope, can afford one.
	...

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