Bookmark our October cover interview with Angelica Ross for your weekend reading—you'll be happy you did.
and I are meeting—where else?—on Zoom. We’re here to talk about work and politics and identity, but the conversation ultimately flows in many directions. Alone in her gorgeous home, she shows me the contents of her refrigerator, raving about a new vegan delivery service. That’s because talking to Ross feels like connecting with a friend who has known you all your life, picking up where you left off, no matter how long it’s been since you last spoke.
Angelica Ross: I struggled in the beginning. Everything was changing. I had plans just like everybody else had plans.I had jobs lined up all year, honey. But you can’t plan for a pandemic. I honestly have been in deep, deep, deep prayer. I feel like I was born for this moment. I’ve had to grapple over the years with my relationship to chaos and challenges. Being a Black trans woman, all I’ve known is challenge.
I’m clear about my humble beginnings and my history as far as struggling as a Black trans woman having to go through survival sex work. For some folks, they find that’s their calling. For others, it’s survival. There’s levels to this. What’s so dangerous about being a woman in today’s society is that you just never know what’s going to happen when you reject a man. I am so concerned for Black women, cis and trans, because it’s so radical and revolutionary for Black women to love themselves more than they love these men. You know what I mean?Seeing all these Black trans women dying or the violence that happens, I sometimes worry about being out and about. Then, in this weird sense, I feel spiritually protected.
Everyone—and when I say everyone, I mean everyone—needs to come to the table ready to talk about accountability. If you ain’t got nothing nice to say, go back to the books, go back to Google. There needs to be less gatekeeping for people—trans people, Black people, immigrants—to access the very lifesaving resources and opportunities that we need. We need to look at decriminalizing the intersections of Black trans identity, and what that means is also decriminalizing sex work and not putting trans women in men’s prisons.
There's nothing like experience. And what Hollywood has not had is a lot of experience with trans people. Though they have a lot of poor experience of telling trans stories. So there has been this learning curve on both sides of the situation. People don't hear me talk often about my experience of working onThe trauma I experienced on that set is a drastic difference from the support that I felt on the set ofI had a scene that was dropped on me.
When you’re trans and you go back and you’re watching some of your favorite movies, it just hits you in the stomach to see these moments you thought was really, really funny. Like inRight. I was like, How did we think this was the funniest movie? You have to take some pride in the fact that the work that you are doing helps other trans people to see themselves as people. You get to be that light to people who did not have that.
The joy is just radiating off of you. Your team said that cutting your hair wasn’t just about hair, but having new skin revealed. What does that mean for you? Do you feel like you’re coming out of your cocoon in a way? Absolutely. Now when I remove a wig or makeup, I only feel more beautiful, not less. I could not always say that in the beginning of my transition. I needed the hair. I needed the makeup in order to make me feel like I belonged in the ranks with women in society and that I was enough of a woman. I eventually realized that cis women and trans women doing the same damn thing, trying to fit into unreasonable standards of womanhood.
I feel like so many people are afraid of taking that first step and choosing themselves because they know that sometimes means starting over or letting go of certain things. We’re looking at now a good 12 years since I gave my fiancé the ring back and I chose myself instead of living a stealth relationship with him and not telling people we were engaged.
Careerwise, I feel like I’m on cruise control. I’m not frantic running after every opportunity. I just had an audition for a major television show that I missed. And it was no sweat off my back because I am booked and busy already.Go ask Ryan Murphy how I work. And I don’t mean that in a really light sense. I was so touched when he tweeted about that because he knows how I show up to. These are long-ass days.
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