GLAAD is honoring “Pose” star Michaela Jae Rodriguez with its prestigious Stephen F. Kolzak Award, the organization announced Wednesday.
The Emmy-nominated actress is being recognized by the LGBTQ media advocacy group for helping to increase visibility as a transgender woman of color.
The award, named after a casting director who devoted his life to raising LGBTQ awareness in the entertainment industry, is presented annually to a media professional “who has made a significant difference in promoting LGBTQ acceptance.”
Rodriguez joins such previous winners as Laverne Cox, Jim Parsons, Melissa Etheridge and Sir Ian McKellen.
“Michaela Jae Rodriguez is an undeniable talent who is changing the way audiences understand trans people while breaking down barriers for the trans community and LGBTQ people of color within the entertainment industry,” GLAAD CEO Sarah Kate Ellis said in a statement shared with the Daily News.
Earlier this year, the Newark, New Jersey-born actress and singer made history by becoming the first transgender actor to win a Golden Globe Award, for her role as Blanca Evangelista in the FX series “Pose.”
In the critically acclaimed show, which ended after its third season last summer, Blanca is a young woman who takes care of her chosen family after receiving a positive diagnosis for HIV during the height of the epidemic in the late 1980s.
Rodriguez’s performance “was one of the most important and impactful roles in the history of LGBTQ representation on television,” said Ellis. “And she continues to spearhead the future of trans visibility and inclusion in entertainment through her talent on screen, in music, and as a passionate activist.”
The 31-year-old film, TV and stage performer — the first openly trans person to be nominated for an acting Emmy Award — was most recently seen in the Netflix musical “Tick, Tick … Boom!”
In June, she released her first single, “Something to Say,” hoping to also expand on transgender representation in the music industry.
Last year she was named “person of the year” by The Advocate. The magazine’s editor-in-chief, Tracy Gilchrist, called her “a rare talent who has created a path for others to follow. And she’s helped change trans visibility on TV and in film for the better forever.”
Rodriguez, who previously went by a shortened version of her name, Mj, said that she’s still trying to understand her role in expanding the LGBTQ conversation.
“I’m still grasping and wondering and even perplexed that I got this far being a Black Latina trans woman. That just has not happened for us,” Rodriguez told the publication. “So when it did, it really lit a fire underneath to just keep going and to also know that there are people watching me.”
The GLAAD Media Awards ceremonies will be held in Los Angeles on April 2 and in New York on May 6. Rodriguez will receive her honor in Los Angeles.
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