For those keeping up with politics in the United States, every day, news about a new bill banning healthcare, events, and other LGBTQ+-centric aspects seems to be presented or passed. Being part of the LGBTQ+ community often means being thrust into activism to protect your chosen families and communities. One group that is exclusively targeted by Republicans and Christian extremists is the trans community. Despite systemic efforts, trans people continue to be present in everyday life. Whether it’s the Marsha P. Johnson Institute celebrating Black trans women, as Advocate explains, or Zaya Wade being granted her legal name, as Huffington Post reports, trans women are here to stay.

While the anti-trans bills being introduced in the US increase almost daily, that isn't stopping trans people from fighting back. Trans women like Laverne Cox and Michaela Jaé Rodriguez are breakout stars of their respective shows who are not starring in films like the upcoming Uglies and Transformers: Rise of the Beasts. Trans women directors like Rosie “Ro” Haber and The Wachowski Sisters have made their respective marks in the independent and mainstream film arenas. Trans women make and star in films that impact the world and shift the narrative of society.

12 Harper Shecter

William Tokarsky in Five Windows
Cooper Brothers Films

Producer Harper Shecter has been making independent films and shorts for practically two decades. They have completed 35 projects and have four projects in the pre-production phase. Some of their most famous shorts are Mimesis Nosferatu and Model No. Human. Each project that Shecter works on has a unique storyline that captivates audiences. Another short that Shecter produced was Five Windows, which has a 9.2 rating on IMDb, with reviews praising its cat-and-mouse plot in a doom-and-gloom setting.

11 Ariel Mahler

Will Krisanda & Tracy Kowalski in Death & Bowling
T4T Productions

Ariel Mahler is an up-and-coming director and screenwriter in Hollywood. Façades: The Web Series follows a queer-trans couple as they learn to be themselves individually as well as a couple. The short Mahler wrote and directed was called Flock, which focused on a trans couple on a retreat in Maine. She also produced a film-within-a-film called Death and Bowling, which premiered at Outfest in 2021 (about a trans man whose lesbian bowling team leader dies), and has been nominated for a GLAAD Media Award. In April 2023, her upcoming short documentary, Evan Ever After, will have its premiere at the Oscar-qualifying Florida Film Festival.

10 Ro Haber

Isabella Fuhrman, Daniel V. Graulau, & Forrest Goodluck in Ink
Extra Credit Studios

Director Ro Haber is known for her documentary New Deep South, which shows LGBTQIA who are proud and out in Republican-dominated states. 2023 has seen 120 anti-trans bills introduced in just three months; the ACLU has introduced a database for trans activists, allied groups, and organizations to track existing and new bills. Filmmakers like Haber do more than demonstrate the power of being out and proud, they are counteracting political and societal pressures that deem anyone considered “different” as dangerous. She’s also directed a short called Ink about two friends trying to discover who they are in the world.

Related: MCU: Why Trans Actor Zoe Terakes’ Ironheart Casting Is So Important

9 Jen Richards

Jen Richards & Daniela Vega in Tales of the City
Netflix

Actress-writer Jen Richards is known for her variety of TV and documentary appearances. She has written for shows like Threads and Her Story. When Richards isn’t writing, she’s starring in series like Nashville, Mayfair Witches, and Tales of the City. According to Them, Richards is one of the many trans actresses who have advocated for better-written trans characters and speaks up on behalf of younger trans people because she knows the power of her voice in Hollywood. She was also featured in the documentary Disclosure, which discussed the history of trans representation in Hollywood.

8 Sydney Freeland

Gia Sandhu in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds
Paramount+

Director Sydney Freeland is part of the Diné Nation and her mission in Hollywood is to tell non-tragic stories of being Indigenous. She has directed a number of films and television series since her premiere in 2014 at the Sundance Film Festival. In her breakout film Drunktown’s Finest, three Indigenous people search for a way off the reservation. Despite her breakthrough film, she has focused on directing short series or TV shows like Her Story and Rutherford Falls. Additionally, she has also directed an episode of P-Valley and Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.

7 Alexandra Grey

Alexandra Grey in MacGyver
Lionsgate

Actress-writer-director Alexandra Grey has appeared in plenty of TV series and films. She has starred in shows like Empire, How to Get Away with Murder, and the reboot of MacGyver. When Grey isn’t appearing in series, she’s been in films like The Mistress and Gossamer Folds. In an interview with The Queer Review, Grey said she hadn’t seen a character like Gossamer before, making the opportunity exciting for her and for all Black trans women.

Related: Heartstopper, Doctor Who Star Yasmin Finney Wants to be First Openly Trans Bond Girl

6 Josie Totah

Josie Totah in Saved By The Bell
Universal Television

Actress-writer-producer Josie Totah is known for her appearances on the adult animated series Big Mouth and its spin-off Human Resources and the reboot of iCarly. She also starred in a reboot of the infamous 80s series Saved By the Bell. In addition to starring in the reboot alongside original cast members Elizabeth Berkeley and Mario Lopez, she also served as a producer for the show. Torah’s upcoming project, The Buccaneers, will be an eight-part mini-series about three women from London looking for rich husbands and so much more.

5 Isabel Sandoval

Isabel Sandoval in Lingua Franca
7107 Entertainment

Director Isabel Sandoval has directed one feature-length film, one short, and several episodes of two separate series. Her feature-length film, Lingua Franca, focuses on a Filipina trans woman trying to remain in the U.S. The short she made, called Shangri-La, is about an interracial couple in California, who cannot legally marry. Her films focus on the struggles immigrants must overcome in the US in the past and present.

4 Michaela Jaé Rodriguez

Pose
20th Television
Disney
ABC Domestic Television

Known for her role in the trans and queer-led drama Pose and the AppleTV+ comedy Loot, actress Michaela Jaé Rodriguez has been a household name for half a decade. She starred as Carolyn in musical extraordinaire Lin-Manuel Miranda’s tick, tick… BOOM! Rodriguez is starring in two more films set to release within the next few years. The first film is in the continuing Transformers saga and the other is in an independent film about a trans woman called Wildfire.

3 Indya Moore

Indya Moore in Pose
20th Television

Actress-writer Indya Moore made her debut in J. Views' music video, featuring Milosh, for their song “Don’t Pull Away.” She has since starred in feature films like Saturday Church, Queen and Slim, and Escape Room: Tournament of Champions. Moore has lent her voice to animated series like Steven Universe and the more recent Marvel’s Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur. Moore is starring in a Marvel Studios project and is set to star in Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, a DC Comics feature. Like Rodriguez, Moore rose to prominence in Pose.

2 The Wachowskis

Sense8-Via-Netflix-Birthday-Episode (1)

Possibly the most well-known trans directors in Hollywood are Lana Wachowski and Lilly Wachowski. Their saga The Matrix has been hailed by the trans community as a beautiful allegory. As The Pink News explains, the saga's use of the red pill points to the hormone therapies using a red pill for estrogen. In addition to their allegorical saga, The Wachowskis wrote and directed Cloud Atlas, and Jupiter Ascending, and created the hit series Sense8.

1 Laverne Cox

Laverne Cox in Promising Young Woman
LuckyChap Entertainment

Another TV-to-silver-screen trans icon is Laverne Cox. Known for her role on the popular Netflix series Orange is the New Black, Cox has used their platform to create new opportunities in Hollywood for trans people. In the documentary, Disclosure, she served as executive producer, where a total of seventeen trans people working in Hollywood were able to share their experiences in and out of Hollywood. Cox has acted in the most recent Charlie’s Angels, Jolt, and Promising Young Woman. She has one upcoming film called Uglies.