“I feel proud that we made a piece of art that trusts the audience,” Trace Lysette told me about her new film Monica, in which she plays the title character, a trans woman who returns home after decades of estrangement to reconcile with her dying mother. “I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve seen a film with a trans person as the lead. It’s not lost on me that this is special.”
It’s been a long road for Lysette to her first role as a leading lady. The actor first gained attention for a role on Transparent as a trans yoga teacher in 2014, which led her to come out publicly as trans shortly thereafter. It was eight years between that role and the premiere of Monica last year at the Venice film festival, where Lysette received an 11-and-a-half-minute standing ovation for her performance.
