Out Actress Emily Rios On Why LGBT Actors Should Play LGBT Characters: "It's important. We should advocate for that because...we’re always going to respect those characters because we lived the life personally"

with out actress Emily Rios

Last night I was particularly excited to attend the National Hispanic Foundation for the Arts Annual Gala because one of my favorite actresses, California native Emily Rios, was being honored. This summer she came out publically as lesbian

With the current controversy of Amazon’s new online TV show Transparent capitalizing off ‘transface’, where men humiliatingly play the roles of trans* woman characters, which further misgenders, others and dehumanizes our community, I thought I would interview Emily about the importance of LGBT actors having the opportunity to play LGBT characters, especially since her trailblazing character on FX’s ‘The Bridge’ is also a lesbian Latina.

Trans Forming Media:

“Why do you think it’s important for LGBT actors to play LGBT roles?”

Emily Rios:

“I think it’s important that we need to do it [openly LGBT actors playing LGBT characters on TV and in film] and the reason why we should advocate for that is because we come from a level of respect and we’re always going to respect those characters because we lived the life personally.

I would love that we won’t get typecast in that sense and only have to play those characters forever, but as far as us I feel like we shouldn’t stay closeted, you know, I feel we should come out and feel comfortable playing those roles because I feel those are the roles that are really going to set our careers forth because this is who we are and this is what we live in a daily basis.

 And really, when you come from a place with any character when you can relate on a personal level it showcases on TV and I feel the audience is always going to respect us more when we show respect to the character”

Rios’ acceptance speech: