For so long, there has been a lack of LGBTQ+ representation in movies. While progress has certainly been made, especially considering the surge in queer stories being featured in cinema over the last handful of years, there's still a detectable emptiness around transgender characters—not cisgender people playing trans character, but transgender actors being granted the same opportunities to play trans characters onscreen.

There's an abundance of high-profile and talented transgender actors, like Laverne Cox and Elliot Page, and even more unknown talents out there, but trans characters in movies don't always get the chance for their stories to be told authentically by trans actors. That's why this list won't contain acclaimed films like Boys Don't Cry or The Danish Girl (which its lead Eddie Redmayne recently admitted fault in accepting the role of the world's first trans woman to undergo gender affirmation surgery). Instead, here's a list of the best movies about transgender characters starring actual transgender actors.

Related: Best LGBTQ+ Movies of the 2010s

8 Saturday Church

Saturday-Church-2018-2

A huge number of people are sleeping on the musical masterpiece that is Saturday Church, an LGBTQ+ themed movie with trans characters played by actual transgender people in a largely Black cast. The plot revolves around a 14-year-old teenager Ulysses (Luka Kain), who struggles with his gender identity in a conservative home environment led by religion. What finally helps him to start accepting his femininity is meeting new gay and transgender people: Dijon (Indya Moore), Ebony (Mj Rodriguez) and Raymond (Marquis Rodriguez). They properly introduce him to the trans ballroom scene and teach him how to do voguing. The movie beautifully explores the coming-of-age queerness and the rejection that queer youth faces on a daily basis.

7 Cowboys

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It's important to note that not every trans person has an identical journey of coming out and transitioning. Each and every experience is subjective and unique for the individual. Cowboys, in particular, tackles the topic of a child not feeling at home in their own body. When Joe (Sasha Knight) comes out to his parents as trans, his mother doesn't let him live as his real self. Troy (Steve Zahn), his father, takes him into the woods to escape the conservative household. Scenes such as Joe yelling, "I'm in the wrong body, okay? I'm a boy!" or when Joe watches the men around him and realizes who he is—later, trying on men's clothes—accurately capture a nuanced perspective of the trans experience.

6 Boy Meets Girl

Boy-Meets-Girl

This 2014 romantic drama is a good start if you're looking for something easily relatable starring transgender actress Michelle Hendley, who plays the character of Ricky. The plot follows her journey as she tries figuring out her sexual orientation while dealing with transphobic comments on a daily basis. People's verbal misgendering attacks and disparaging comments on her physical appearance battle with her hatred for her own body that's visible throughout the movie. What's refreshing to see is that the normalized transphobic attacks actually do get called out, despite it being set in a small town.

5 A Lovely Man

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English-speaking countries are not the only ones vying for equal representation. A Lovely Man is a 2011 Indonesian movie starring Donny Damara as Syaiful/Ipuy and Raihaanun as Cahaya. The 19 year-old teenager travels to the capital city of Jakarta to look for her long-lost father, only to find him as a woman working as a sex worker. What's beautiful about this movie is how it explores the parental relationship in an unusual setting of the city streets while they try to adjust to monumental changes. Due to Indonesia's strong religious beliefs, the movie received backlash from religious groups on its homeland, even though that's one of the main themes positively discussed in the movie.

4 The True Adventures Of Wolfboy

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Martin Krejcí's coming-of-age movie The True Adventures Of Wolfboy shows us how an allegory of being transgender can gracefully create a show-stopping fairytale. Representation really matters, and you can strongly feel the authenticity of the trans experience in this masterpiece written by trans screenwriter Olivia Dufault. The plot follows a young boy who runs away from home to find his mother. What's special about him is that he has a condition that results in hair overgrowth and always feels out of place. Not only is the movie beautifully shot, but it beautifully blends fantasy with reality.

3 Transfinite

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Transfinite is a genre-mixing omnibus feature film starring numerous queer and transgender people, like Harmony Santana, D' Lo, Ryka Aoki or Blossom C.Brown, as it compiles seven short stories. The movie plays with the sci-fi aspects almost perfectly. The plot is written by seven queer and trans writers of color, which needs to be celebrated more in today's media. The whole feature film consists of seven short parts where every character deals with regular personal matters, but they use the energy to spiritually channel it (for example: to grow a beautiful garden with their powers).

Related: Explained: How The Matrix is a Metaphor For The Transgender Experience

2 Tangerine

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Dulles's Brothers Productions

This sex worker-positive Tangerine was shot solely on three iPhone 5S smartphones. Its well-deserved critical acclaim can be owed to its amazing direction by Sean Baker and its charismatic stars Kitana Kiki Rodriguez and Mya Taylor. The film focuses on the trans LA street culture, produced in a comedic drama style. The plot itself revolves around Sin-Dee who just got out of jail. After meeting up with her friend Alexandra, she finds out her boyfriend has been cheating on her. Storming through the streets of LA, she embarks to find the heartbreaker. Its true originality is definitely worthy of its growing cult status.

1 A Fantastic Woman

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A Fantastic Woman is the first movie from Chile to receive an Oscar. Marina (Daniela Vega) dates an older man Orlando (Francisco Reyes Morandé), but he dies unexpectedly. Left alone, Marina has to face her boyfriend's family and the unjust society. A vast majority of the trans community agree that this is one of the best portrayals of a trans woman experience. Not only does it study the aspects of love and loss, but it also reinforces the idea that if people with power gave a voice and a space to express themselves to those they need it, the society would be much better off.