List of fictional trans characters
This is a list of fictional characters that either self-identify as trans or have been identified by outside parties to be trans. Listed characters are either recurring characters, cameos, guest stars, or one-off characters.
For more information about fictional characters in other parts of the LGBTQ community, see the lists of lesbian, bisexual, gay, non-binary, pansexual, asexual, and intersex characters.
The names are organized alphabetically by surname, or by single name if the character does not have a surname. If more than two characters are in one entry, the last name of the first character is used.
Animation
| Characters | Show title | Character debut date | Notes | Country |
| Alice | Superjail! | September 28, 2008 | A hulking and muscular head prison guard of Superjail. She is a trans woman who regularly engages in sadomasochistic rituals with the prisoners, and rebuffs The Warden's constant advances as shown in episodes like "Jailbot 2.0." She may have dated women before, and has sex with The Mistress, a series antagonist who is proprietor of Ultraprison, an all female prison as shown in the episode "Stingstress." | United States |
| Megumi Amatsuka | Cheeky Angel | June 4, 2002 | Megumi is a physically attractive trans woman who retains her masculine mannerisms and fighting abilities, which she uses very often, attracting the 'Megu-chan Protection Club', a group of misfit admirers. Nobody else knows she used to be a boy but was transformed into a girl. Initially, only Megumi's best friend, Miki, knew her secret, however the protection club quickly finds out. | Japan |
| Makoto Ariga | Wandering Son | Makoto, known as Mako for short, was assigned male at birth like Shuichi, expressing a desire to be a straight trans woman primarily due to her love of men and crossdressing like Shuichi. She dreams of entering into a relationship with a cool adult man. | Japan | |
| Rachel Bighead | Rocko's Modern Life | September 25, 1994 | In the special Rachel is revealed to be a transgender woman when Rocko, Heffer, and Filburt find her. | United States |
| Cha-Cha | Bob's Burgers | Cha-Cha is a transgender sex worker who appears in the episode, "Sheesh! Cab, Bob?" | United States | |
| Candy Caramilla | Space Goofs | 1997 | Candy is the uptight homosexual neat freak. They get in touch with their feminine side by sometimes disguising themselves as a woman as shown in episodes like "Heavy Metal Madness" and "Back to School blues." In many situations, Candy is the first to worry, as shown in the episode "Snoutra." Candy flirts with men and is implied to be transgender. This implication is confirmed by the game, "Stupid Invaders" with Candy planning a gender reassignment surgery with the best specialist in the universe. | France |
| Ida Davis | Family Guy | May 9, 2010 | The "father" of Glenn and Brenda Quagmire and the ex-"husband" of Crystal Quagmire. Ida was a war hero in the Vietnam War, and was thought to be a homosexual by Peter. When Glenn asked his "father" if this was true, Ida claimed that she was a woman trapped in a man's body and came to Quahog for a sex reassignment surgery, taking the name Ida Davis afterward as noted in the episode "Quagmire's Dad." From Season 17 onward, she became a recurring character, and some criticized her role in the show, stating that her character was previously the "butt of many transmisogynistic and transphobic "jokes,"" and that the show does not promote inclusivity. | United States |
| Aoi Futaba | You're Under Arrest | November 12, 1996 | Aoi Futaba was initially male but once had to go undercover as a woman in a sting operation to catch some male molesters targeting women as shown in the episode "The Beauty, His Name is Aoi." However, she went "native" and has since considered herself and has been treated by her colleagues as a trans woman. Though her romantic preferences are made unclear, she seems to prefer men, as shown in episodes like "Aoi-chan has a White Rose." | Japan |
| Herbert Garrison | South Park | August 13, 1997 | Originally presented as a closeted homosexual, the storylines have featured Garrison coming out as a gay man, then having a gender reassignment surgery to become female, becoming a lesbian, and then changing back a man. It is shown he still has feelings for his ex-boyfriend, Mr. Slave as shown in the episode "Follow That Egg!" | United States |
| Glitter | Bob's Burgers | Glitter is a transgender sex worker who is said to be going under gender reassignment because she mentions the town being full of "Doctors who refuse to cut off your penis," who appears in the epiosde "Sheesh! Cab, Bob?" | United States | |
| Seiko Kotobuki | Love Com | April 28, 2007 | Seiko was assigned male at birth, but is actually a girl and even develops a crush on Atsushi Ōtani and Kazuki Kohori. With her petite stature and fashionable mind, Seiko is arguably the most feminine character in the series, and struggles with her gender identity. | Japan |
| Marbles | Bob's Burgers | Marbles is a trans female sex worker who appears in the episode "Sheesh! Cab, Bob?" and describes pursuing sex reassignment surgery. | United States | |
| Marshmallow | Bob's Burgers | Marshmallow is a trans female sex worker. | United States | |
| Miiko | Shangri-La | April 6, 2009 | Miiko is the younger trans woman who often gets teased by Momoko. Miiko seems to tend to cry a lot and tends to be picked on by other members of the group. She sacrifices herself and Hiruko to save Sayoko and Mikuni by shielding them during the bombing of Neo Akihabara presumably using all of Hiruko's power to accomplish this. | Japan |
| Miyuki | Yu Yu Hakusho | Miyuki is a character from both the manga and the anime. She is a trans girl and a member of the Demon Triad, a group of demon warriors that work for the Toguro Brothers. Her trans status is discovered in her fight against Yusuke, in episode 24, "The Deadly Triad." Miyuki's "coming out" was censored in the edited version of the Funimation English dub. | Japan | |
| Momoko | Shangri-La | April 6, 2009 | Momoko is a trans woman with a flamboyant personality. Her weapon of choice is a whip that is coiled around her arm until she activates and uses it. She has a liking towards men, and often attacks them by forcing upon them kisses or other uncomfortable encounters. | Japan |
| Shuichi Nitori | Wandering Son | Shuichi Nitori, otherwise known by Shu and Nitorin, is a lesbian transgender woman and often dresses to assume the role of the female gender, and is often described as cute, able to appear as a girl while cross-dressing, which is encouraged by their friends Yoshino Takatsuki and Saori Chiba. Later on, they exhibit signs of gender dysphoria and displays an outward attraction to two characters in the series—Yoshino, a transgender man, and their female classmate, Anna Suehiro. The latter date for a shirt time, until the relationship is broken off, and later resumed. | Japan | |
| Hibari Ōzora | Stop!! Hibari-kun! | Assigned male at birth, Hibari looks and behaves as a girl, expresses interest in having breasts, and has become more feminine after Kōsaku starts living at her household. She has demonstrated romantic interest in Kōsaku and is implied to have zero interest in women. | Japan | |
| Brunella Pommelhorst | The Simpsons | November 21, 2001 | Mrs. Pommelhorst is the gym teacher who announced his intention to take time off and return as "Mr. Pommelhorst, the shop teacher" in the episode "My Fair Laddy" although she later returned as the same. | United States |
| Stephanie | Sorcerous Stabber Orphen | February 27, 1999 | Stephanie, also known as Steph, was Orphen's old partner and initially a man but was severely injured and while using the rest of his magic to cast a healing spell, made some "modifications", and became the trans woman Stephanie, as shown in the episode "Snake in the Temple." She falls in love with and marries her boyfriend the florist Tim but continues to help Orphen and his friends, although she later becomes their foe. | Japan |
| Ranma Saotome | Ranma 1/2 | Ranma, protagonist of this anime, is cursed to transform from a boy into a girl whenever dowsed with cold water, and back into a boy when dowsed with hot water. Ranma is attracted to Akane Tendo in the anime, despite a rocky start to their relationship. Despite turning biologically female, Ranma considers himself male. Ranma is also attracted to Akane in the manga the series was based on. | Japan | |
| Grell Sutcliffe | Black Butler | October 9, 2008 | Grell is a Grim Reaper, sometimes known as Grelle, part of the Retrieval Division of the Grim Reaper Dispatch. Grell initially posed as Angelina Dalles's butler and conspired with her as Jack the Ripper. In their confessional describes her as a "self-declared lady," uses she/her pronouns, and she wants gender reassignment surgery, while other manga chapters note her desire to get breasts and show her dedication to a female appearance when she debuts in the manga. In the show, Grell flirts with Sebastian Michaelis as shown in the episode "His Butler, Chance Encounter," a male demon, even trying to kiss him in the episode "His Butler, Forlorn" and tries to collect the soul of a female killer, in the episode "Wench Butler." There is much fan debate as to whether Grell is a "drag queen or a problematic portrayal of a trans woman." | Japan |
| Ruka Urishibara | Steins;Gate | Ruka is a trans girl. She states, in the episode "Chaos Theory Homeostasis I," that she has always felt trapped in the wrong body. Rintaro, the protagonist, is initially shocked to learn that Ruka is a "guy", because he thinks she has great feminine grace and beauty, as indicated in the episode "Time Travel Paranoia. Ruka is in love with Rintaro, but feels ashamed of it due to being a "guy" as indicated in the episode "Fractal Androgynous." In the eighth episode, she changes the past, causing herself to be born as a cis girl, but she changes this back by the 18th episode, becoming a trans girl again. | Japan | |
| Isabella Yamamoto | Paradise Kiss | October 20, 2005 | Isabella was assigned male at birth, but lives as a female as revealed in the episode "Rose." Robin Brenner calls the character "one of the most realistic and accepting portrayals of a transgender character in anime," with the same applying to the manga. | Japan |
| Alluka Zoldyck | Hunter x Hunter | July 15, 2014 | Alluka is part of the Zoldyck family, a well known family of assassins. Alluka is referred to as the son of the Zoldyck family and is referred to by her siblings as their brother as shown in the episode "Request × And × Wish." In addition, the official data book states Alluka's gender as male, but she uses she/her pronouns. However, the data book was not written by the author, who refers to her exclusively as a girl. Alluka tends to dress and act as a trans girl, while she is referred to as a sister and girl by her brother Killua whom she loves dearly and vice versa. | Japan |
| - | - | - | - | Japan |
Comics
| Characters | Name of comic | Years | Notes |
| Alain | Shutter | 2014-Present | In the third issue of this urban fantasy series, the protagonist Kate Kristopher's lifelong friend, Alain, is revealed to be a trans woman. |
| Blaze | Jem and the Holograms | 2015-2017 | Sophie Campbell, the artist for the series, came out as a trans woman in March 2015, and she created a new character for the series named Blaze, who is also trans. |
| Braga | Rat Queens | 2013-Present | In January 2015, this punk rock comic revealed that Braga, a "fearsome orc warrior," is a trans woman, in an issue about her titled "Rat Queens Special: Braga #1." Due to a number of personnel changes, trans artist Tamra Bonvillain became the colorist of the comics in the fall of 2015, making the comic series "another book with both a trans character and a trans person on the creative team." |
| Bruno | Bruno | 1996–2007 | In this comic by Christopher Baldwin, the titular character is bisexual and a minor character is transgender. |
| C Allison Heidi Amy | ' | 2002-present | This comic by Jenn Dolari features several transgender characters, like C, Allison, Heidi, and Amy. |
| Cassandra/Urdr | The Wicked + The Divine | 2014-2019 | This comic features various queer characters, like a gender non-comforming character named Inanna, and a trans woman named Cassandra/Urdr. Reviewers have noted that not only is Cassandra/Urdr a well-developed character, but that it serves as "one of the best portrayals of a trans character so far in comics" due to the way it handles her "being trans, and other people’s transphobia." |
| Claire | Questionable Content | 2003-present | This comic by Jeph Jacques includes characters of various sexualities, transgender woman Claire, as well as various other themes of sexuality. |
| Doll | Storm Dogs | 2013 | Although she is a futuristic sex worker with a fully functional womb, some have said that her depiction of Doll as trans is still "pretty realistic." |
| Eve Adam | ' | 2008-2013 | This webcomic, by Christie Smith focuses on intimacy and dating from a transgender perspective, centers on a gay, and overweight, trans woman, Eve, and has "some very frank discussions about physical intimacy." The story was well received by the trans community, while Smith added that Alison Bechdel’s webcomic "Dykes To Watch Out For" was a big influence on her. This comic also includes Eve's crush, and best friend, Lucy, while her lesbian friend, Lilith, has a crush on Eve, along with other LGBT characters, like a trans man named Adam, and two estranged lovers, Candace and Abelle. |
| Lord Fanny | The Invisibles | 1996 | Fanny, a shaman from Brazil, was assigned male at birth, but raised as a girl. Some have said that you could categorize Fanny as "not-quite-trans" however. |
| Fenic | ' | 2015-present | This comic by Valerie Halla features a trans girl protagonist named Fenic and a queer cast, like two presumably gay characters, a lesbian named Fran with a girlfriend, and two characters who use they/them pronouns. Fenic, a "20-year-old trans lesbian" from Skyport, has been living in the "run-down queer district of Market Square" for five years, and has a magic ability to "manipulate any object from a distance," even though this magic is "temperamental." |
| Rain Flaherty | Rain | 2010-present | This comic by Jocelyn Samara and DiDomenick features a trans girl, Rain, as the main character and other LGBT+ characters, like a bisexual woman named Fara Byer, a lesbian woman named Maria Strongwell, a gay man named Ruby Strongwell, an asexual girl named Chanel Montoya, and a number of others with an "unknown" sexuality. Additionally, this comic features two bisexual man, an asexual man named Arthur Feltman, and a gay couple. |
| Gimel | ' | 2012–present | In this comic by Blue Delliquanti main characters include gay men and a MtF trans robot named Gimel. |
| Kate Godwin/Coagula | Doom Patrol | 1993 | Kate, otherwise known as Coagula, is a trans woman, and part of a superhero team known as Doom Patrol, with the comic itself was written by Rachel Pollack, a trans woman. Kate has the power to "coagulate and dissolve liquids at will," and is bisexual, entering into a relationship with a character who has the body of a robot and a human brain. Pollack said this was wonderful because Kate "brought together the story and its implicit themes — body issues and extreme outsiders learning to accept themselves and embrace life." |
| Janis | Dykes to Watch Out For | 1983-2008 | This webcomic by Alison Bechdel features multiple LGBTQ characters, including a drag king named Lois MacGiver who dates Jasmine and the mother of a trans teen named Janis, and a lesbian feminist named Mo Testa, among others. |
| Jo | Lumberjanes | 2014-present | This series, by Grace Ellis and Shannon Watters, features various LGBTQ characters. Jo is a trans woman of color with two dads, and acts as an "expert on what it means to be a Lumberjane" to the fellow campers. One reviewer described Jo as "the first trans protagonist of an all-ages comic." |
| Julia | ' | 2013-present | More recent comics focus on the Julia Kaye's experiences of transitioning from male to female, with the character also named Julia. |
| Kylie | Trans Girl Next Door | 2013-present | This autobiographical comic by Kylie Wu is about the author's transition as a transgender woman. |
| Leo | Help Us! Great Warrior | 2015 | Beginning as a webcomic, this fantasy, adventure, and humor series features Leo, an openly trans woman of color, confirmed to be "the first character confirmed to be trans in an all-ages comic." |
| Luna Lion unnamed trans man | Acception | 2015-present | This ongoing Dutch teen dramedy romance webcomic by Coco “Colourbee” Ouwerkerk, who was inspired by "manga genres such as shojo and shounen," focuses on a rainbow-haired male protagonist named Arcus McCarthy, a high school student who faces some hostility for his appearance. The comic also features various LGBT characters. This includes Luna Lion, a trans woman who is introduced in the 23rd comic, who is transitioning, and Casper, a gay guy, both of whom have crushes on Arcus. The comic also features Bo, an asexual woman, introduced in the 78th comic, along with gay, trans male, lesbian, bisexual, characters in other comics. |
| Tiffany Mara | ' | 2005-present | Gag strips by Matt Nishi about the daily life and struggles of an FtM transsexual named Tiffany Mara. |
| Masquerade | Blood Syndicate | 1993-1994 | Although he is a shapeshifter, he is a trans man, making him the first trans male superhero, with Fade finding out his assigned gender in another issue of the comic, but he works as a "male superhero because that is his idealized version of himself." |
| Marisa Rahm | ' | 1994-1995 | She is a police lieutenant who has a relationship with a trans female sex worker named Dini. She faces discrimination and disgust because her transition, and ultimately "defeats a serial killer who is targeting trans women." This comic series was written by a trans woman named Maddie Blaustein who voiced Meowth "in the American version of the Pokemon cartoon" among other voice acting roles. |
| Max | ' | 2018–present | This comic by Vincent Kao features a trans man named Max as protagonist who comes out to his mom, and has to face the obstacles of becoming a magical girl. |
| Mia | ' | 2014-present | Autobiographical webcomic by a trans woman, Mia Rose. |
| Oscar | ' | 2008-present | This comic by Elena Barbarich and Ash Barnes includes transgender nun Oscar, and other LGBT characters. |
| Porcelain | Secret Six | 2014-Present | In this comic, Gail Simone introduced another trans character in Secret Six #4 on July 15, 2015, with Porceline starting to present in a masculine way, whether than a feminine way, explaining to their team that "some days they feel more like a man, some days they feel more like a woman." |
| Prill | Witchy | 2014-Present | This comic by Ariel Ries features a trans girl named Prill, a witch who is Nyneve’s class, a bully at first, but then later becomes an ally. |
| Rosemaster | Cucumber Quest | 2011-present | This comic by Gigi D.G. features two girls, Peridot and Almond, who have crushes on each other, and a complex trans woman character named Rosemaster, who is a villain in this story. |
| Sam | Baker Street | 1989-1991 | In this "punk rock take on Sherlock Holmes," Sam is revealed to be trans in the second volume of this comic. |
| Sarah | ' | 2010-present | This webcomic, by Christine Smith, tells the story of a trans girl, Sarah, has a cast of other LGBT characters, and her struggles as she faces transphobia. |
| Sera | Angela: Asgard’s Assassin | 2013-Present | In Angela: Asgard’s Assassin #3, Sera notes she was born into an all-male group in the home of angels, and is portrayed as a "likable character who is a trans woman of color." She later appeared in two other series, 1602: Witchhunter Angela and Angela: Queen of Hel where she and Angel share two "on-panel kisses." |
| Stephie | ' | 2014-present | This comic by Sophie Labelle follows life through the eyes of a middle schooler named Stephie who alternately makes light of, and chafes under the realities of growing up a transgender child in a cisgender world. |
| Alexandra Stripes Nat Mint Lark Stripes Lynette Mercier | ' | 2014-2015 | Slice of life comic by Valerie Halla is about trans childhood friends, Alexandra Stripes, Nat Mint, Lark Stripes, and Lynette Mercier. It is implied that Lynette has a crush on Lark. |
| Tong | FF | 2012-2014 | This young Moloid, is not human, but humanoid, showing up wearing a pink dress, and reveals herself as trans in FF #6, with her brothers embracing her. Unfortunately, FF only ran for 16 issues, coming to an end in January 2014. |
| Two bosoms | ' | 2010-present | One panel gag strips by Jiro Ghianni about two bosoms that came from a trans man's chest. |
| Unnamed | ' | 1990 | In issue #14 of comic, there is a killer standing over a dead trans woman, and says "there’s something about preoperative transsexuals that makes The Connoisseur uncomfortable. Something brittle and bright in the back of their eyes. He loves them. But he always feels they’re laughing at him. He’s only ever found eight that he’s been able to talk to." |
| Wanda | ' | 1993 | In issue #35 of comic, Wanda is living with Barbie, the book's protagonist, and she demands recognition that she is a woman despite the witch declaring she is a man. Later in the series, she is killed and her parents disrespect her wishes, bury her as a man, but Barbie crossess off the name on her tomstone, writing Wanda in red lipstick over it. She is said to be one of the "earliest and best examples of an actual trans person in comics," but her representation gives some trans people mixed feelings about this representation. |
| Alysia Yeoh | Batgirl | 2011-2016 | In Batgirl #19, on April 19, 2013, the Singaporean-American, and bisexual, roommate of Batgirl, Alysia Yeoh, came out as trans, with some calling it "probably the biggest moment in American trans comics history." Before this point, Alysia had ben a close friend of Babs. Alysia coming out as trans was described as the "most prominent" trans character in comics up to that point with writer Gail Simone working on Alysia's character "with input from trans friends and writers." Later on, Alysia, after announcing she was engaged to Jo in issue no. 42 and rescuing her in issue no. 44, she walks down the isle and gets married to Jo, becoming the "first major trans character in a mainstream comic" to be "smiling in a wedding dress." |
| Ystina | Demon Knights | 2011-2013 | In the 2005 series, Seven Soldiers a character, Shining Knight, was changed from a cisgender man to a woman named Ystina. This was expanded in this comic series, which takes steps toward better representation, with Ystina saying they are male and female, with Cornell later labeling Ystina as trans. One reviewer said its not clear if Ystina is "a trans man, bigender, intersex or some combination of those identities." |
| Zhen Chenglei's Uncle | Trees | 2014-2016 | In this science fiction series, there are two trans characters introduced. In issue no. 6, released in October 2014, Cenglei falls in love with a woman named Zhen who tells him she is a trans woman, and he realizes he has no problem with that, finding out his uncle is "actually a trans man." |
| Zoe | 2001-2014 | This comic by Erin Lindsay, features MtF transsexual character , whose birth name was Alex, adjusting to school life as a girl. Also features an FtM transsexual and a lesbian as characters. S. Belmar later wrote a spin-off of this comic with a "trans gag strip" named Venus Ascending |
Games
| Characters | Title/Series | Year | Notes | Developer |
| Hainly Abrams | Mass Effect/' | 2017 | Hainly Abrams leads scientific research on one of the Andromeda Initiative's outposts. When the game initially released, Abrams would readily inform the player that she is transgender and the masculine name she was given at birth. She tells the player that she left the Milky Way galaxy searching for greater acceptance of her gender identity. The abruptness with which she shares this information received criticism from fans, and the game was later patched so that Abrams would only reveal this information if the player developed a supportive relationship with her. | BioWare |
| Krem | Dragon Age/ | 2014 | Cremisius "Krem" Aclassi is a former Tevinter soldier and currently works for the mercenary company Bull's Chargers, led by The Iron Bull. Krem is the first transgender character to appear in a BioWare video game. | BioWare |
| Erica Anderson | Catherine | 2011 | In this Japanese puzzle-platform and adventure game, Erica, the waitress at The Stray Sheep, is a trans woman. | Atlus |
| Erica Anderson | Catherine: Full Body | 2019 | In this Japanese puzzle and platform game, Erica, the waitress at The Stray Sheep, is revealed to be a trans woman in one of the endings. | Atlus |
| Angof | RuneScape | In this MMORPG game, Angof is a female character in "The Light Within", a quest released on 24 August 2015, and at some point after the quest, the player can show her a wedding ring, prompting her to tell the player she was born male, but "corrected" herself to female once she could shapeshift. | Jagex | |
| Birdo | Mario/Super Mario Bros. 2 | 1988 | In the first-edition manual for the North American release of this NES game, Birdo is referred to as a "male who believes that he is a female" and would rather be called "Birdetta", making her the first transgender character for Nintendo. Birdo's name was also mistakenly switched with another Super Mario Bros. 2 enemy, Ostro, both in the manual and in the end credits. The Japanese manual originally referred her as Catherine, a "man who thinks of herself as female", adding that she would rather be called "Cathy." In this version, three "Super Catherines" were voiced by gay men and transgender women. In later printings, mention of Birdo being male was omitted, and further not included in most later games with the character. However, in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, it is said that Birdo is of indeterminate gender. Her identity was only further explored in the Wii Japan-only video game Captain Rainbow, which delves into her gender and how she was imprisoned for using the woman's bathroom, with her asking the player to find proof of her being female so she could be set free. | Nintendo |
| Damien Bloodmarch | ' | 2017 | In this visual novel and dating sim, Damien Bloodmarch is a gay trans man. | Game Grumps |
| Ella | Magical Mystery Cure | 2018 | In this visual novel, when Ella, a trans woman, accidentally ingests a magical potion ahead of her birthday party, it's up to players to combine the right combination of ingredients in order to reverse the effects. | Dotorriii |
| Bob Hickman | ' | 1993 | This adventure game features a gay bar, with the player, a police officer trying to track down the murderer of his police partner, with his quest leading him to discover that his partner had a double life as a cross-dresser at a West Hollywood transgender bar. | Sierra On-Line |
| Ladiva | Granblue Fantasy Versus | In this Japanese fighting game Ladiva, a trans woman, is a wrestler, a "muscular fighter with a prominent goatee", and one of the game's multiple playable characters. | Arc System Works | |
| Max Lao | Technobabylon | 2015 | In this adventure game, Max Lao, Regis' partner, is a woman eventually revealed to be transgender. | Technocrat Games |
| Mizhena | '/Baldur's Gate | 2016 | Mizhena is a transgender woman who explains to the main character that she picked her strange name after transitioning. The character, among other aspects of the game's writing, was met with significant criticism. Beamdog later announced that they would be expanding the character's story a week after the expansion pack released, saying in part, "In retrospect, it would have been better served if we had introduced a transgender character with more development." | Beamdog |
| Nova | Pokémon X and Y | 2013 | In this Japanese Role-playing game, Nova is a trans female Pokémon Trainer found at the Battle Maison, who is a Beauty, an exclusively female trainer class, stating that she used to be a Black Belt, an exclusively male trainer class. In the Japanese version of the game, she explicitly credits her transformation to medical science, but this was cut from the English version. | Game Freak |
| The player character | Dys4ia | 2012 | In this abstract autobiographical game, the player controls a character transitioning and undergoing hormone replacement therapy. Journalists for The Guardian and the Penny Arcade Report observed that the game featured observations of the politics and personal development of those experiencing gender dysphoria. | Anna Anthropy |
| Tyler | Tell Me Why | 2020 | In this French adventure game, Tyler and his twin sister Alyson travel to their childhood home in Alaska and must come to terms with their childhood. The game will also deal with how Tyler, who has transitioned from female to male, since leaving home, is being affected. Dontnod worked with GLAAD to help create the character. | Dontnod Entertainment |
| V | Cyberpunk 2077 | 2020 | In this Polish role-playing video game, the character creator will allow V to be transgender or non-binary. | CD Projekt Red |
| Venus | We Know the Devil | 2015 | In this visual novel, Venus is a trans girl, with her pronouns in the narration changing from "he" to "she" as she comes to terms with her identity. | Date Nighto |
| Vivian | Mario/ | 2004 | In this GameCube title, the player encounters a Shadow Siren named Vivian. In the Japanese version of the game, Vivian is heavily implied to be a transgender girl. Other characters, as well as narrative text, describe Vivian using masculine terms such as otoko "man", and otōto "little brother". However, Vivian initially describes the shadow sirens as san shimai "three sisters", and routinely uses the feminine first person pronoun. This continues in Super Paper Mario ; Vivian's catch card describes her using the term otoko no ko "boy". In the English and German localizations of the game, all masculine descriptions of Vivian are removed, and she is referred to with exclusively female pronouns. However, all other localized versions of the game explicitly retain the transgender portrayal. | Intelligent Systems |
| Ned Wynert | Assassin's Creed/Assassin's Creed Syndicate | 2015 | Ned Wynert is a minor non-playable character and a trans man. | Ubisoft Quebec |
| Yasmin | Circuit's Edge | 1989 | This DOS Interactive fiction and role-playing game includes a variety of gay and transgender characters, including a trans woman named Yasmin with a gay man named Saied alleged to be Yasmin's former lover. | Westwood Studios |
| Zoe | Monster Prom | 2018 | Zoe is one of the two main love interests introduced in the Second Term DLC. She is officially stated to be transgender and several of her events involve her discussing transitioning and dealing with trans specific struggles such as deadnaming, and misgendering. | Beautiful Glitch |
Literature
| Characters | Work | Author | Year | Description |
| Patrick "Kitten" Braden | Breakfast on Pluto | 1998 | Braden is an Irish trans woman, with "transvestism...a defiant rejection of bigotry, labels, and borders" as one reviewer put it, with Braden refusing to confirm to sexual stereotypes and even flirting with a cop. Later turned into a motion picture, another reviewer noted the prevalence of the "Irish Troubles," with Kitten wrongly arrested and charged after a "bombing in a London disco." | |
| Brandon Angel | Freakboy | 2013 | The protagonist of the story, Angel is struggling to find their identity and where they fit in. | |
| Emily Christina | Being Emily | 2012 | Never comfortable with being seen as a boy, they originally hide themselves as a girl, until they can no longer stand it anymore, with a psychologist later helping them in the coming-out process. | |
| Click | Roving Pack | 2012 | This is a story of "transgender gutterpunks" as one reviewer calls it, with Click, and the other young protagonists fighting for "the right to have a future, and, furthermore, the future they themselves choose." This story focuses on youth near Portland, many of which are parentless, homeless, and "without mooring." | |
| David/Daniela | The Adventures of Tulip, Birthday Wish Fairy | and Suzy Malik | 2012 | David is granted a wish by the story's protagonist, Tulip, to live as a girl named Daniela. |
| David/Kate Leo | The Art of Being Normal | 2015 | David is a 14-year-old kid who struggles with their gender identity which most of his fellow students do not understand, and neither do his parents, becomes isolated until he meets Leo Denton, who becomes one of his fast friends. | |
| Gabe | Beautiful Music for Ugly Children | 2012 | A DJ and lover of music, he hides his true identity as a trans boy in public, only being himself on air. He is forcibly outed, dealing with much backlash, but is supported en masse by his listeners. | |
| Ella | Just Girls | 2014 | lla is a fully-transitioned, but closeted, trans woman who deals with a lot of transphobia while she explores her gender identity with a cisgender lesbian named Jess Tucker. | |
| Emily | The Butterfly and the Flame | 2005 | This book focuses on Emily, a trans girl in her teens, who is in a relationship with a boy, the son of the person who owns the farm their family lives on. | |
| Stone Butch Blues | Jess Goldberg | 1993 | The narrative follows the life of Jess Goldberg, who grows up in a working class area of upstate New York in the 1940s to 1950s, and explores her gender identity as a trans woman. | |
| Sage Hendrix | Almost Perfect | 2009 | This story follows the relationship between Sage, a trans girl in her teens, and Logan, a straight man, who becomes more accepting and supportive of her. | |
| J | I Am J | 2011 | J, who lives with his parents in a Manhattan apartment, and struggles with his gender identity. | |
| Josh | Holding Still For As Long As Possible | 2009 | Josh is a trans man and EMT who struggles with his identity. | |
| Kade | Every Heart a Doorway | 2016 | Kade is a classmate of Nancy, who has an asexual crush on them. | |
| Grady Katz-McNair | Parrotfish | 2011 | Grady, a teenage trans girl, transitions from a man to a woman, deals with a bully who wants to humiliate them, and struggles with their new identity. | |
| Anna Madrigal Jake Greenleaf | Tales of the City series | 1978–2014 | Anna is a trans woman, and Jake is a trans man. | |
| Maxine | Maxine Wore Black | 2014 | Maxine is lesbian trans girl who is a high school dropout who is a babysitter, and cannot afford gender reassignment surgery, while in a romance with a cisgender woman. | |
| Melissa | George | 2014 | Melissa is a transgender girl whom the world sees as a boy named George. | |
| Roberta Muldoon | The World According to Garp | 1978 | One of the story's main characters is Roberta, a trans woman and former player for the Philadelphia Eagles, and has a gender re-assignment surgery, becoming the bodyguard of Jenny and one of the best friends of Garp. | |
| Myron | Myra Breckinridge | 1968 | An attractive young woman, Myra Breckinridge is a film buff with a special interest in the Golden Age of Hollywood, and still in the process of transitioning and unable to obtain hormones, Myra transforms into Myron, and due to a car accident, is forced to have their breast implants removed, later deciding to settle down with Mary-Ann. | |
| Luna O'Neill | Luna | 2004 | The story follows the life of Luna, who keeps her trans identity secret originally, pretending to be an average 16-year-old senior boy named Liam in the daytime. Later she considers transitioning and fights for her right to be the person she feels that she was meant to be, helped by her sister, Regan, in the process. | |
| Oshima | Kafka on the Shore | 2002 | Oshima is a 21-year-old intellectual gay trans man who is a librarian and owner of a cabin in the mountains near Komura Memorial Library. He becomes the mentor of Kafka as he guides him to the answers that he's seeking on his journey. | |
| Scratch Winc | Nearly Roadkill | and Caitlin Sullivan | 1996 | Scratch and Winc are two lovers of an ambiguous gender identity, with the plot is told through cyberchats and emails between each other, while the FBI is engaged in a nationwide manhunt to find them. |
| Sophie Lisa Lizzy Adrienn Carla Zoe others unnamed | A Safe Girl to Love | 2014 | Angela, a teenage trans girl, transitions from a man to a woman, deals with a bully who wants to humiliate her, and struggles with her new identity. | |
| Dana Stevens | Trans-Sister Radio | 2000 | Dana, the protagonist of this book, is a Vermont professor who is prepared to have a gender reassignment surgery to transition from male to female, leading Allison Banks, a teacher who has been divorced, to be even more attracted to Dana. | |
| Danielle Tozer | Nemesis series | April Daniels | 2017-present | Danny is a 15 year old trans girl who upon gaining the powers of Dreadnought, the world's greatest superhero, has her body transformed into that of a girl and has to navigate the struggles it caused as well as deal with the super villain who killed Dreadnought |
| Various | The Collection: Short Fiction from the Transgender Vanguard | and Riley MacLeod | 2012 | This book brings together 28-eight stories which focus on the experiences of trans people. |
| Diana Wrayburn | The Shadowhunter Chronicles | 2007–present | While the author implied Diana to be trans in one post, leading some to call her the first trans character to appear in this book series. |
Live-action television
| Characters | Actor | Show | Year | Notes |
| Aaron | Elliot Fletcher | The Fosters | 2013-2018 | Aaron is a trans man. |
| Candy Abundance | Angelica Ross | Pose | 2018-Present | Candy is a trans woman in this series. |
| Elektra Abundance | Dominique Jackson | Pose | 2018-Present | Elektra is a trans woman in this series. |
| Lulu Abundance | Hailie Sahar | Pose | 2018-Present | Lulu is a trans woman in this series. |
| Unique Adams | Alex Newell | Glee | 2009-2015 | Unique is a trans woman in this series. |
| Maya Avant | Karla Mosley | The Bold and the Beautiful | 1987-Present | Maya marked the first trans female character to feature on a US daytime soap opera as a series regular and the first transgender bride to be married on a US daytime soap opera. |
| Hannah/Matty Barton | Grace Cassidy Ash Palmisciano | Emmerdale | 1972-Present | Matty is a trans man in the series. On his 2018 return, Matty is revealed as transgender, the first transgender character on Emmerdale, while he was formerly called Hannah Barton and left the serial in 2012, while he transitioned off screen before his return in 2018. |
| Sophia Burset | Laverne Cox | Orange Is the New Black | 2013-2019 | Sophia is a transgender woman played by Laverne Cox, who is trans in real life, with The Advocate suggesting that this series is the first women-in-prison series that includes a real transgender woman playing the role of a transgender person. |
| Jason Costello | Victoria Atkin | Hollyoaks | 1995-present | Jason, who appeared in the series between 2010 and 2011, experienced gender dysphoria and is a transgender man who retained an attraction to males. |
| Hayley Cropper | Julie Hesmondhalgh | Coronation Street | 1960-Present | Hayley appeared in the serial from 1998 to 2014, is a transgender woman, the first regular trans character to be introduced into soap opera, with the portrayal praised by British Parliament and later marries a man. |
| Charlotte DiLaurentis | Vanessa Ray | Pretty Little Liars | 2010-2017 | Charlotte is Alison's transgender sister. |
| Angel Evangelista | Indya Moore | Pose | 2018-Present | Angel is a trans woman in this series. |
| Blanca Evangelista | Mj Rodriguez | Pose | 2018-Present | Mj is a trans woman in this series. |
| Mackenzie Hargreaves | Georgie Stone | Neighbours | 1985-Present | Mackenzie is the serial's first transgender character. |
| Jill Hartford | Alexandra Billings | How to Get Away with Murder | 2014-Present | Jill is a transgender colleague of Annalise, a pansexual attorney, with the latter continuing to defend her friend. |
| Dolly Holloway | Maren Heary | Gypsy | 2017 | Dolly is Jean's daughter and may be lesbian or transgender. |
| Michael Hallowell | Ellie Desautels | Rise | 2018 | Michael is a trans man in this series. |
| Job | Hoon Lee | Banshee | 2013-2016 | Job is a computer hacker and confidant to the series' protagonist, Lucas Hood, and they have been described as transgender, a transvestite and a drag queen. The person who plays Job, Hoon Lee, believes that the character is "constantly evolving" and is not interested in "figuring out the label of who he is and every aspect of that." |
| Nomi Marks | Jamie Clayton | Sense8 | 2015-2018 | Nomi Marks is a computer hacktivist living in San Francisco who finds herself mentally linked to 7 other people from around the world |
| Jazmin Martinez | Hailie Sahar | Good Trouble | 2019-Present | Jazmin is a trans woman in this series. |
| Mae Martin | Mae Martin | Feel Good | 2020-Present | Mae, a recovering addict, does not initially identify her sexuality who had relationships with men and women, calling herself transgender, non-binary, and bisexual in the show's fifth episode. She is in a same-sex relationship with George, who identified as straight before she started dating Mae and tried to have sex with a man in the show's sixth episode. |
| Alexis Meade | Rebecca Romijn | Ugly Betty | 2006-2010 | Alexis is a trans woman who was initially portrayed by Elizabeth Penn Payne for the first twelve episodes of her appearance. |
| Nia Nal / Dreamer | Nicole Maines | Supergirl | 2015-Present | Nia is a transgender woman working at CatCO and is introduced in Season 4. |
| Noah | Elliot Fletcher | Faking It | 2014-2016 | Noah is a gay trans man in this series. |
| Cassandra O'Brien | Zoë Wanamaker | Doctor Who | 1963-Present | Cassandra, a villainous character, is an "incidental parody of transgender womanhood," and a "fractured mirror-image of medical transition itself" according to one reviewer, who also called her character "problematic." |
| Casey Parker | Alex Blue Davis | Grey's Anatomy | 2005-present | Casey is a transgender man and war veteran who is introduced as a first-year surgical intern in Season 14. |
| María José Riquelme | Paulina de la Mora | The House of Flowers | 2018-2020 | María José is a transgender woman that was married to Paulina before transitioning. She remarried Paulina in the final episode of season 3. |
| Kyle Slater | Riley Carter Millington | EastEnders | 1985-Present | Kyle appeared in the serial between 2015 and 2016, and is a transgender man. |
| Shannon Beiste/Sheldon | Dot-Marie Jones | Glee | 2009-2015 | Sheldon is a trans man in this series. |
| Trevor | Elliot Fletcher | Shameless | 2011-Present | Trevor is a gay trans man in this series. |
| Jules Vaughn | Hunter Schafer | Euphoria | 2019-Present | Jules is a trans woman in this series. |
| Buck Vu | Ian Alexander | 2016-Present | Buck is a trans man. | |
| Whiterose | BD Wong | Mr. Robot | 2015-2019 | Whiterose, the leader of a hacking collective, is a trans woman. |
| Ysela | Daniela Vega | Tales of the City | 2019 | Ysela is a trans woman in this series who is the first friend of Anna Madrigal, a recurring character, when she moved to San Francisco. |
| Zoe | Jeffrey Carlson | All My Children | 1970-2011, 2013 | Zoe is a trans woman in this series. |
Theatre
Plays
| Character | Playwright | Name of play/show | Year | Description |
| Herman Amberstone | Kate Bornstein | Hidden: A Gender | 1990 | This play brings together the stories of an intersex person, Herculine Barbin, living in Paris, and a fictional trans woman named Herman Amberstone based loosely on Bornstein herself. This play introduced audiences to the idea of "gender blur," and began the career of Justin Vivian Bond who plays Barbin. |
| Candy Darling | Jackie Curtis | Vain Victory | 1971 | Candy Darling, a trans female performer, originally played the part of the mermaid in this play and was replaced by another trans woman, Holly Woodlawn, with the play a celebration of gender non-comformity. |
| Grace | Sarah Kane | Cleansed | 1998 | In this play, set in a university which has been converted into some form of bizarre institution under the rule of the sadistic Tinker, Grace, the sister of the protagonist, wears her brother's clothes and undergoes a gender reassignment surgery in the hospital. |
| Jamie Angela Terrence | Pia Scala-Zankel | Street Children | 2016 | This play is about three trans youth in New York city streets in the 1980s who live near Christopher Street, named Jamie, Angela, and Terrence, who will do anything to get by. The play, as a whole, addresses the struggles trans youth had to undergo at the time, and problems that remain. |
| Christine Jorgensen | Bradford Louryk | Christine Jorgensen Reveals | 2005 | In this docudrama-like show, stretching an hour long, Louryk channels the life of Christine Jorgensen who became the "first celebrity transwoman" in the U.S., when interviewed about her life and her gender identity by R. Russell, played by Nipsey Russell who uses a pseudonym. |
| Lola | Philip Ridley | Mercury Fur | 2005 | In this play, set against the backdrop of a dystopian London with a narrative focusing around a party at which the torture and murder of a child is the main entertainment, Lola is a 19-year-old trans woman who is skilled at designing costumes and make-up, which she makes for the parties. The play influenced other playwrights like Lou Ramsden. |
| Max | Taylor Mac | Hir | 2015 | This is play, produced by Playwrights Horizons, about a dysfunctional family including a mad housewife, a transgender child named Max, a son that spent three years in combat in Afghanistan, and a husband who had a stroke that left him nearly speechless. Max is a young trans male character, with gender being only "one piece of hir personality puzzle" in this play. |
| Multiple characters | Julia Vivian Bond | Lustre | 2008 | In one of the play's performances, Bond invited trans artists like Taylor Mac, Glenn Marla, and Our Lady J, to share the stage in a revue of "glamour, genderqueer cabaret and sexy provocation." This genderqueer play allowed Bond to break from their role as Kiki DuRane, which they had been known for previously. |
| Paul Lucas | Trans Scripts, Part I: The Women | 2018 | Premiering the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, this play showcases the words of trans women who transitioned from male to female from across the world, building from Lucas's collection of stories from "more than 75 trans women" based on his interviews, and limited the show to "stories from English-speaking, western or westernized cultures" in order to prevent cultural misunderstandings. | - |
| Donnie Cianciotto | Trans Voices Cabaret | 2019 | This show attempts to feature "top-tier trans musical theatre performers," while working to highlight the talent of "marginalized performers who are often overlooked by the entertainment industry." | - |
| Shikhandi | Faezeh Jalali | Shikhandi: The Story of the In- betweens | 2017 | This play, which began as a one-woman show in 2010, became, seven years later, a "full-length play with eight actors who show a fluidity of genders," focusing on a character in the Hindu epic, the Mahabharata named Shikhandi. |
| Timothy | David Harrison | FTM | 2003 | In this play, Harrison represents himself in his acting as Timothy, taking male hormones like his mother, who is struggling with breast cancer during the play. Harrison formerly collaborated with Kate Bornstein. |
| Evan Cabnet | Plot Points in our Sexual Development | 2018 | This play featured Jax Jackson, a trans actor. | |
| Charlotte von Mahlsdorf | Doug Wright | I Am My Own Wife | 2003 | Based on Wright's conversations with the German antiquarian Charlotte von Mahlsdorf, this play examines the life of Charlotte, born Lothar Berfelde, who killed her father when she was a young child and survived the Nazi and Communist regimes in East Berlin as a trans woman. |
| Vicky | Nicola Bland and Stacey Bland | Call Me Vicky | 2019 | This play tells the story of their mother, Vicky, her trials and tribulations in transiting from male to female, with Vicky ultimately transitioning by the end of the play. |
Musicals
| Characters | Playwright | Name of musical | Years | Description |
| La Cienega | Jeff Whitty | Bring It On the Musical | 2011-Present | Bring It On was the first Broadway musical to feature a transgender high school character, La Cienega, originally played by Gregory Haney. |
| Hedwig | John Cameron Mitchell | Hedwig and the Angry Inch | 1998-2017 | Although Hedwig, a survivor of abuse, a failed gender reassignment surgery, and abandonment, is one of the most famous roles of a trans woman in a musical, Mitchell said that they are not "traditionally transgender" but rather a "gender of one," and are a "man and woman, top and bottom." |
| Bianca Leigh | Bianca Leigh | Busted: The Musical | 2012 | In this play, Bianca, a trans woman, plays multiple characters of different genders and ages, with the performance featuring songs by Taylor Mac and Jeff Whitty while telling the story of how a guy from Jersey ends up as a woman the audience sees before them. |
Operas
| Characters | Playwright | Name of opera | Year | Description |
| Hannah | Laura Kaminsky | As One | 2014 | The story follows Hannah, a transgender woman portrayed by two singers, Hannah Before and Hannah After, as she discovers her gender identity and learns to love herself in a world where she's not accepted. The organization of the opera is composed of two parts as representing essential moments of Hannah's coming of age through a series of episodes. |
| Sarah | Mark Campbell | Stonewall | 2019 | This is an American opera about the 1969 Stonewall riots, the spark of the modern LGBTQ rights movement, which received its world premiere June 2019 in conjunction with Stonewall 50 – WorldPride NYC 2019, projected to be the world's largest LGBTQ event.Stonewall is the first opera to feature a transgender character, Sarah, written for an openly transgender singer, mezzo-soprano Liz Bouk. |
Background
The presence of LGBT themes in Western mythologies has become the subject of intense study. The application of gender studies and queer theory to non-Western mythic tradition is less developed, but has grown since the end of the twentieth century. Myths often include being gay, bisexual, or transgender as symbols for sacred or mythic experiences. Devdutt Pattanaik argues that myths "capture the collective unconsciousness of a people", and that this means they reflect deep-rooted beliefs about variant sexualities that may be at odds with repressive social mores. The creation myths of many traditions involve sexual, bisexual or androgynous motifs, with the world being created by genderless or hermaphrodite beings or through sexual congress between beings of the opposite or same apparent gender.The celestial creator deity of Dahomey mythology is Mawu-Lisa, formed by a merger of the twin brother and sister gods Lisa and Mawa. In combined form, they presented as intersex or transgender. Other androgynous gods include Nana Buluku, the "Great mother" that gave birth to Lisa and Mawa and created the universe, and contains both male and female essences. The mythology of the Shona people of Zimbabwe is ruled over by an androgynous creator god called Mwari, who occasionally splits into separate male and female aspects. Additionally, an important Mayan deity best known from the Classical period, the so-called Tonsured Maize God, is often depicted in Maya art as an effeminate young man associated with art and dance, and is thought to have constituted a 'third gender'.
Also, Hindu mythology has many examples of deities changing gender, manifesting as different genders at different times, or combining to form androgynous or hermaphroditic beings. Gods change sex or manifest as an Avatar of the opposite sex in order to facilitate sexual congress. Non-divine beings also undergo sex-changes through the actions of the gods, as the result of curses or blessings, or as the natural outcome of reincarnation. Furthermore, in ancient Mesopotamia, some gala took female names, and the word itself means "penis+anus", hinting at their androgynous status. At the same time, the indigenous population of Australia have a shamanistic religion, which includes a pantheon of gods. The rainbow serpent god Ungud has been described as androgynous or transgender. Shaman identify their erect penises with Ungud, and his androgyny inspires some to undergo ceremonial subincision of the penis. Angamunggi is another transgender rainbow-serpent god, worshipped as a "giver of life". Third gender, or gender variant, spiritual intermediaries are found in many Pacific island cultures, including the bajasa of the Toradja Bare'e people of Celebes, the bantut of the Taosug people of the south Philippines, and the bayoguin of the pre-Christian Philippines. These shamans are typically biologically male but display feminine behaviours and appearance.
When it comes to theater, it is a mixed bag for trans people. Trans performers have been struggling to break into the musical theater genre despite the fact that theater has "been such a crucial place for the exploration of gender fluidity," and continuing questions over whether cisgender people should play trans characters or not. Webcomics are different. According to a study by Erik Melander in 2005, at least 25% of webcomic creators were female. This percentage was significantly larger than the number of successful women creating print comics at the time, and the number may have been even higher, as a certain percentage of contributors were unknown. In 2015, 63% of the top 30 comic creators on webcomic conglomerate Tapastic were female. In 2016, 42% of the webcomic creators on WEBTOON were female, as was 50% of its 6 million active daily readers. Girls with Slingshots creator Danielle Corsetto stated that webcomics are probably a female-dominated field because there is no need to go through an established publisher. Noelle Stevenson, creator of Nimona and Lumberjanes, noticed that webcomics predominantly feature female protagonists, possibly to "balance out" the content of mainstream media. Corsetto noted that she has never encountered sexism during her career, though Stevenson described some negative experiences with Reddit and 4Chan, websites outside of her usual channels.
However, there exist a large amount of openly gay and lesbian comic creators that self-publish their work on the internet. These include amateur works, as well as more "mainstream" works, such as Kyle's Bed & Breakfast. According to Andrew Wheeler from Comics Alliance, webcomics "provide a platform to so many queer voices that might otherwise go undiscovered," and Tash Wolfe of The Mary Sue has a similar outlook on transgender artists and themes.