Shakina Nayfack

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]

Shakina Nayfack
Born (1980-12-08) December 8, 1980
Ventura County, California, U.S.
CitizenshipAmerican
Alma materUniversity of California Santa Cruz (BA)
University of California Riverside (MA, PhD)
Occupation
  • Actress
  • activist
Years active2013–present

Education

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

She previously appeared on the show The Detour, and in the 2014 film Death Drive.

Nayfack is 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 Jill 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

In 2013, Nayfack crowd-funded her sex reassignment surgery through a "Kickstart Her" campaign.[10] She is Jewish.[11]

References
  1. Zhu, Danielle. "Difficult People: Transgender actress Shakina Nayfack joins case". ew.com. Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 11 August 2017.
  2. Lambe, Stacy. "Shakina Nayfack on the Power of 'Connecting' and Breaking Barriers for Trans Visibility (Exclusive)".
  3. Clement, Olivia. "Shakina Nayfack Heads to North Carolina to Protest HB2". Playbill.com. Playbill. Retrieved 11 August 2017.
  4. McBride, Walter. "2015 Lilly Awards Ceremony". thelillyawards.org. The Lilly Awards. Retrieved 11 August 2017.
  5. Resources Unlimited, Theatre. "TRU Love Benefit". truonline.org. Retrieved 11 August 2017.
  6. Drama, League. "Beatrice Terry Residency". www.dramaleague.net. Retrieved 11 August 2017.
  7. "Shakina Nayfack Wants to Change How We Talk About Confirmation Surgery". www.advocate.com. 2019-09-04. Retrieved 2020-10-21.
  8. 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.
  9. Langston, Keith. "Shakina Nayfack Makes History in NBC'S 'CONNECTING…'". passportmagazine.com. Passport. Retrieved 8 October 2020.
  10. Dziemianowicz, Joe. "Shakina Nayfack Tells of Transition Life". nydailynews.com. NY Daily News. Retrieved 11 August 2017.
  11. "Manifest Pussy: Why don't we just let Shakina Nayfack speak for us all?". 30 January 2017. Retrieved 13 August 2018.
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