I love A Success Story - Miss Benny

Miss Benny Is Glamorous—And Transgender

Mini Bio from IMDb:

 

Miss Benny is a non-binary performer born in Dallas, Texas. They began studying and professionally working as an actor at the age of eleven. Finding success in fields such as sketch comedy, improv comedy, and stand-up comedy, they created a YouTube channel in 2010 where they gathered an audience of hundreds of thousands of followers. Their music debut came in 2014 (as 'Benny'), reaching viral success with the self-produced music video 'Little Game' - they have since worked as a songwriter and recording artist by the name of 'Miss Benny'.

 

Benny - Little Game (Official Video)

 

Story by Miss Benny 
6/26/2023

It’s currently the long-awaited sunny turn of a particularly gloomy spring in Los Angeles, and I’m killing time by doom-scrolling about the future of trans healthcare in America while a controversial blue pill dissolves under my tongue. The gap is quickly closing between now and June 22: the day that my television series Glamorous will come out on Netflix. And along with it, I too will come out as the transgender woman I’ve been privately living as for the last few years.

Miss Benny

I’m a proud person, but admittedly it’s still a bit daunting to say those words publicly. To list the reasons why could sway “heavy,” and even “depressing as hell,” so in an effort to keep it light and tight… let’s just say I’m one of those girls who grew up in a religious Texas household where queerness was totally not the vibe. I was homeschooled so as to not be exposed to anything that might tamper with the Christian faith my parents raised me in. But by 8 years old I was praying every night to wake up and somehow be like my sisters. In the morning I would wake up in the same body, and cry. Over time I became highly aware of how unwelcome LGBT topics would be in my hometown. And so I kept my head down and looked for an immediate escape.

I moved to L.A. when I was 14 as a way to get out of Texas, establish my own identity, and, hopefully, make a career as an actor. But I instead endured years of rejection in auditions because it “wasn’t time for someone like me.” I entered relationships where my femininity was subject for negotiation. And over time, I learned to quiet the colorful parts of myself and make peace with my dreams remaining dreams.

When I was 19, I was stuck and figuring out what to do next with my life. I was assisting on a Madison Beer photoshoot when I got a phone call. My manager told me, “There’s this show in development called Glamorous and the producers have you in mind for it.” The show was a coming-of-age comedy about a gender-nonconforming queer Latino makeup fanatic. In a fabulous reference to Mia’s audition in La La Land, I recall thinking, “No, this one will kill me.”

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I credit transgender actors, artists, and personalities like Elliot Page, Gigi Goode, Isis King, Dylan Mulvaney, Michaela Jae Rodrigeuz, Kim Petras, Chiquitita, Tommy Dorfman, Josie Totah, the cast of Veneno, the cast of Rupaul’s Drag Race, and so many more for showing me through the years what trans excellence and celebration can look like. And I hope to contribute the same.

Related: Kim Cattrall's new Netflix show Glamorous is imperfect, but perfectly timed