Interview by Ben Falk
Actress Rebecca Root has starred in Doctor Who, The Danish Girl and Boy Meets Girl. Here, she talks about starring in the first BBC comedy to prominently feature transgender stories, and why trans visibility on screen is so important…
Root: I’ve been an actor for 25 years and now it’s my turn to step forward. I’m making the most of it. It’s an extraordinary place [to be] for someone who’s not used to this exposure. I’m enjoying it, but also a bit breathless.
It began in the last couple of years in the States with Laverne Cox in Orange Is The New Black and then there’s Transparent. But the big thing was Caitlyn Jenner coming out and my God, didn’t she make a splash! That has rippled over to the UK. We’ve led the way in legislation and social profile, but in terms of the entertainment industry we are following along. I think it’s great that the UK is now part of that conversation in the arts.
It doesn’t bother me at the moment that [me being trans] is what’s being focused on, because it’s part of who I am and what I represent in my community.
Actors become associated with certain roles – they have qualities inherent in their own personalities like warmth or muscular strength or charisma that they bring to their roles. I think that’s what I’m doing. On the one hand I’m a jobbing actor, but at the same time, yes I am trans and that was one of the qualities that the Boy Meets Girl producers were most keen to utilise in terms of the production because they wanted that authenticity. The script I saw at the table read was a sensitive portrayal of this woman Judy and I was very comfortable in the [showmakers’] hands.
Later in the series there are some difficult moments for the main couple to confront. They resonated with me because they either happened to me or I’ve had friends who had situations like that. I’m talking about moments of abuse on the street or difficult conversations with friends and family. It’s not all love and roses but I think that’s what’s so good about the show. It’s not supposed to be a documentary, it is supposed to entertain.
I’ve played cisgender and trans but the time won’t be very far off that trans people will be playing cis roles without anyone referencing their gender identity. Just this year, I played a small cisgender part in Hollyoaks. But did they cast me because I’m Rebecca Root, or because I fitted the part? I suspect the former.
Working with Eddie Redmayne in The Danish Girl was a dream come true and I’m on record as saying I support his casting. But I think his will be amongst the last of the high-profile trans roles that go to a cisgender actor. In the same way we don’t see blackface anymore.
There are more and more trans actors coming through the ranks. At the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, where I guest lecture very occasionally, they are doing a series of Saturday workshops and they’re calling it ‘Trans Acting’. It’s for people who have had training or total novices who identify as trans and want to develop their acting skills. I’m going to go in and do a voice workshop for them.
As to what I want from Boy Meets Girl? The glib answer is I want it to do seven series, a couple of Christmas specials and a movie version! That would be my career for the next five years! But seriously, even if it does one series, it’s been made! For the BBC! It’s going out on a mainstream channel and that in itself is an amazing achievement for British society. Okay, it could have happened 10 or 15 years ago, but it’s our time now. I’m not grumbling.
I really hope that people start having a conversation about trans identity. Judy’s story is only one story.
