Shakina Nayfack
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Shakina Nayfack | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | December 8, 1980 Ventura County, California, U.S. |
| Education | University of California Santa Cruz (BA) University of California Riverside (MA, PhD) |
| Occupations |
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| Years active | 2013–present |
| Website | shakina.nyc |
Shakina Nayfack (born December 8, 1980) is an American actress and transgender activist. She is most notable for her series regular role as Lola, a "trans-truther", on the second and third seasons of the Hulu television program Difficult People, on which she was also a writing consultant.[1] In 2020, she became the first trans person to have a starring role on a major network comedy show, Connecting.[2]
Education[edit]
Nayfack attended University of California Santa Cruz where she received a B.A. in Community Studies with a minor in Theater Arts as well as a Graduate Certificate in Theater Arts. She went on to pursue an MFA in Experimental Choreography and Ph.D. in Critical Dance Studies at University of California Riverside.
Career[edit]
She previously appeared on the show The Detour, and in the 2014 film Death Drive.
Nayfack was a founding member and artistic director of New York's Musical Theatre Factory, and her one-woman show Manifest Pussy was highly regarded by the Manhattan theater scene. In 2016, she took Manifest Pussy on tour in North Carolina in response to HB2.[3]
In 2015, she received the Lilly Award, which supports women in the theater and promotes gender parity for theatrical productions, in the "working miracles" category.[4] Nayfack has also received the TRU Humanitarian Award from Theatre Resources Unlimited (2016)[5] and the Beatrice Terry Fellowship Award from the Drama League (2017).[6]
She plays the role of Ava in the 2019 musical finale of Amazon show Transparent, directed by Joey Soloway. Nayfack also served as a writer and producer on the finale.[7]
She is the voice of Hana in the English dub of Tokyo Godfathers.[8]
She played the role of Ellis in NBC's Connecting... in 2020. This makes her the first trans person to have a starring role on an American network comedy.[9]
Personal life[edit]
In 2013, Nayfack crowd-funded her gender confirmation surgery through a "Kickstart Her" campaign.[10] She is Jewish.[11] In June 2021 she came out as non-binary and uses she/her pronouns.[12]
References[edit]
- ^ Zhu, Danielle. "Difficult People: Transgender actress Shakina Nayfack joins case". ew.com. Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 11 August 2017.
- ^ Lambe, Stacy (15 October 2020). "Shakina Nayfack on the Power of 'Connecting' and Breaking Barriers for Trans Visibility (Exclusive)".
- ^ Clement, Olivia (17 May 2016). "Shakina Nayfack Heads to North Carolina to Protest HB2". Playbill.com. Playbill. Retrieved 11 August 2017.
- ^ McBride, Walter. "2015 Lilly Awards Ceremony". thelillyawards.org. The Lilly Awards. Archived from the original on June 28, 2017. Retrieved 11 August 2017.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) - ^ Resources Unlimited, Theatre. "TRU Love Benefit". truonline.org. Retrieved 11 August 2017.
- ^ Drama, League. "Beatrice Terry Residency". www.dramaleague.net. Retrieved 11 August 2017.
- ^ "Shakina Nayfack Wants to Change How We Talk About Confirmation Surgery". www.advocate.com. 2019-09-04. Retrieved 2020-10-21.
- ^ Sherman, Jennifer (2020-02-13). "GKIDS Announces New English Dub Cast for Satoshi Kon's Tokyo Godfathers Film". Anime News Network. Retrieved 2020-02-15.
- ^ Langston, Keith (8 October 2020). "Shakina Nayfack Makes History in NBC'S 'CONNECTING…'". passportmagazine.com. Passport. Retrieved 8 October 2020.
- ^ Dziemianowicz, Joe (18 July 2015). "Shakina Nayfack Tells of Transition Life". nydailynews.com. NY Daily News. Retrieved 11 August 2017.
- ^ "Manifest Pussy: Why don't we just let Shakina Nayfack speak for us all?". 30 January 2017. Retrieved 13 August 2018.
- ^ "Difficult People star Shakina Nayfack has come out as non-binary". GAY TIMES. 2021-05-30. Retrieved 2021-06-18.
External links[edit]
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| National | |
| People | |
