Pose superstar Mj Rodriguez has opened up about her acting aspirations and expanding career in a brand new interview.
Sitting down with The Guardian, the 30-year-old actress revealed that she doesn’t want to be put in a box in regards to her future acting roles.
“I want to be able to play anything. It’s about whether I’m the right person to tell the story of this character, whether she’s trans, cis, gender non-conforming, a monster, a superhero or alien,” she explained.
“I want to be seen as a human being first. What comes after is my being African American, Latina, a trans woman. I just want people to see me as a performer. An actress.”
Rodriguez went on to say that she wants to be celebrated for more than just her trans identity.
“When you keep reading, ‘She’s the first trans performer to do this, the first trans woman to be nominated for that’, I wonder how people start to perceive me,” she explained. “I would love it if my trans-ness was not always the leading cause of why I am celebrated.
“When people watch me singing on stage I don’t want them to be thinking about my trans-ness. I want them to be thinking: ‘Who’s that girl up there? She’s turning it.’ That’s what I wish, but I also know this world.”
Later in the interview, Rodriguez opened up about her burgeoning music career and described it as something she “always dreamed of doing.”
Last month, the songstress dropped her first music video for her single Something To Say – which showcased her vocal and dance ability to the fullest.
When asked how she navigates within the music industry, Rodrguez said: “It’s all about how you demand your space.
“I made it very clear the kind of dancers I wanted [in the video] and the team around me. For so long it’s been nerve-racking within my community, because you never know how the specific forms of oppression are going to be deflected on you.
“Honey, I tell you I’ve been surprised, especially by the music industry, because I could have been in spaces that were misogynistic and controlling, but these strong men of colour are loving on me in a way I never thought I would be loved on.”
Alongside her upcoming acting roles and emerging career as a singer-songwriter, Rodriguez is also making LGBTQ+ history.
Earlier this year, the Pose actress became the first trans lead to ever be nominated at the Emmys.
In an interview with People, she elaborated on her historic first time nomination, stating: “I feel like this moment in time has never ever happened for a girl like myself and I feel like it’s time and it’s time to keep showing up. It doesn’t stop here.
“Just because I got a nomination, doesn’t mean the work stops here and possibly if there’s a win, it doesn’t mean the work stops here.
“It has to continue because there are next generations out there who are looking not only to me, but to many other trans women out there who are pushing the needle forward.”
We love to see Mj Rodriguez thrive.
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