Mya Taylor (born March 28, 1991) is an American actress and singer. She is best known for her role as Alexandra in the 2015 film ''
Tangerine'' for which she won the
Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Female.
Early life
Mya Taylor was born on March 28, 1991, in Houston, Texas.
She was raised by her Christian grandparents, who at first did not know that she had come out as gay (pre-transition) in school. In 2009, she came out to them, which led to a lot of tension in the home. Taylor left and moved to California in May 2009 to live with another relative, but her gender identity led that relative to kick her out on the street.
Unable to secure legal employment at the age of 18, she worked as a sex worker in Hollywood. She began going to therapy, and it was in her talks with her therapist that she decided that she was going to be true to herself. In January 2013, she came out as transgender. She has since reconnected with her mother, who coined her name, Mya. She lived in an apartment with her eventual ''
Tangerine'' co-star
Kitana Kiki Rodriguez
Kitana Kiki Rodriguez is an American actress. She is best known for her role as Sin-Dee Rella in Sean Baker's 2015 film ''Tangerine''. The first Academy Award campaigns for openly transgender actresses supported by a film producer were launched ...
. It was at the age of 23, after five years of sex work and after four arrests for prostitution, Mya was approached by director
Sean Baker and his co-screenwriter Chris Bergoch as she stood in the yard of Los Angeles' LGBT Center to star in their film ''
Tangerine''.
Career
Taylor is best known for her role as Alexandra in Sean Baker's 2015 film ''
Tangerine''. The first Academy Award campaigns for openly transgender actresses supported by a film producer were launched for Taylor and
Kitana Kiki Rodriguez
Kitana Kiki Rodriguez is an American actress. She is best known for her role as Sin-Dee Rella in Sean Baker's 2015 film ''Tangerine''. The first Academy Award campaigns for openly transgender actresses supported by a film producer were launched ...
for the film. Taylor won the
Gotham Independent Film Award for Breakthrough Actor for her performance in that film, making her the first openly transgender actress to win a Gotham Award. She also won the
and the
Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Female for the film. She was the first openly transgender actor to win an
Independent Spirit Award.
In 2016 it was announced that
ICM Partners signed Taylor and agreed to represent her for film and television acting and producing projects.
Taylor played
Marsha P. Johnson in
Reina Gosset and
Sasha Wortzel Sasha Wortzel is an artist, filmmaker, educator, and activist, based in New York City. She is the writer, director, and producer of ''Happy Birthday, Marsha!'' with Tourmaline. She and Tourmaline raised over $25,000 on Kickstarter to fund the film.
...
's 2016 short film ''
Happy Birthday, Marsha!'' She is also in the 2016 short film ''Diane from the Moon''.
In December 2017, it was announced Taylor had been cast in ''
Dietland
''Dietland'' is the debut novel by Sarai Walker that was first published on May 26, 2015 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. The novel explores the beauty industry and society's obsession with weight loss. A television adaptation of the novel by M ...
''. It began airing on June 4, 2018, on
AMC.
Filmography
Film
Television
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Taylor, Mya
1991 births
21st-century American actresses
Living people
Actresses from Houston
Actresses from North Dakota
African-American actresses
Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Female winners
LGBT African Americans
LGBT Christians
American LGBT actors
LGBT people from North Dakota
LGBT people from Texas
People from Jamestown, North Dakota
Transgender actresses
Transgender women
21st-century African-American women
21st-century African-American people