In an interview with the Sunday World, Trans actress Rebecca Root spoke about how playing one of the protagonists in BBC Two sitcom Boy Meets Girl changed her life completely. Before that role, she said, finding work in the entertainment industry had been a struggle.
Rebecca Root is a British Trans actor with Irish heritage, as her mother is from Dublin’s Clontarf. She starred in the Oscar-winning film The Danish Girl and she made history in Ireland by becoming the first Trans actor to play a Trans character in professional Irish theatre with her role in the play Rathmines Road.
However, the role that really changed her life was that of Judy, the 40-year-old Trans woman she played in the sitcom Boy Meets Girl. Aired in 2015, the sitcom is remembered for being the first BBC comedy to feature a Trans character played by a Trans actor, Root herself. Speaking about the importance of this role in her life, the actress confided that she had been struggling to find acting work as a Trans woman.
Boy Meets Girl, BBC comedy romcom is available to pre order on Amazon, Great first season; http://t.co/9hEi0zE21h pic.twitter.com/c9khCwvi7d
— TLCOnline (@TLCWebteam) October 4, 2015
“I wasn’t getting any work at all and then along came the wonderful Boy Meets Girl. I am so grateful to the people behind that show. My career has changed with it. I’m now extremely fortunate to be working quite consistently.” she said.
Her experience before arriving at Boy Meets Girl is what pushed her to become an advocate for roles featuring Trans characters in theatre or on TV to be played by Trans actors. “Being a trans person just makes the industry that much harder. There are very few roles in mainstream theatre and on TV. It was very difficult to get back into it.” she explained.
Root feels like Boy Meets Girl changed more than just her life. “Boy Meets Girl was a game-changer,” she claimed “It brought a trans character to the mainstream audiences for the first time on BBC television, played by a trans person, who was me. I think it demystified a lot of what the general public thought it was like to be a trans person.”
Today on #InternationalWomensDay we celebrate all the women who support (sometimes quite literally!) Christopher.
To all the amazing women in our #CuriousIncident company, both on and off stage, we salute you. pic.twitter.com/blTCDhihAh
— Curious on Stage (@curiousonstage) March 8, 2022
The actor also spoke about how, since 2015, a lot has changed for Trans people and how they are perceived in society. The spectrum of gender identities that are recognised today has expanded so much and people are more familiar with the diversity that it entails. “I think it’s brilliant. I think it’s wonderful that society has become so open to people living their life authentically. It’s all we ever ask of people, really… let’s live our life authentically.” she commented.
Rebecca Root is set to perform at Dublin’s Bord Gaia Energy Theatre in the play The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time from April 26 to 30. Get your tickets here!
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