From Barbie to Talk to Me, trans actors’ visibility is at a tipping point – and about time too | Caspar Salmon

Whether it's one of the many stars in this summer's blockbuster, or the bratty bully in Talk to Me, trans stars are showing up on cinema screens. And the big deal is that it's no big deal

The last few weeks have quietly seen a significant and mostly unremarked flowering of on-screen trans visibility, to the extent we might consider cinema is at a tipping point for trans acting. In Barbie, Talk to Me and Red, White and Royal Blue, three films on worldwide release at the same time offer vastly different declensions of trans representation at a time when trans rights are being rolled back around the world. This variety of depictions, from billion-banking blockbusters to breakout hits and cult concerns, has raised few eyebrows from audiences, giving a few clues as to cinema's ability to provide hope as to public views on trans people.

That hope is needed. Just last week it was reported that the A24 horror film Talk to Me, in which a crucial supporting role is taken - and brilliantly performed - by transmasculine actor Zoe Terakes, had been banned in Kuwait because of Terakes' gender identity. In an Instagram post, the actor hit out at the decision, saying: Our film doesn't actually ever mention my transness, or my queerness. I am a trans actor who happened to get the role. I'm not a theme. I am a person."