20 trans artists to watch in 2022

Trans people have been around forever, but they're just starting to get their due in entertainment. Alexandra Billings became the first transgender person to portray a trans persona onscreen when she appeared in the 2005 TV movie "Romy and Michele: In the Beginning." Candis Cayne became the first trans actor with a recurring role. in a prime time series in 2007 with her role in "Dirty Sexy Money", and Laverne Cox became the first transgender person to play a major transgender character on a network television show with her role in "Doubt" in 2017.

All of this isn't to say that trans people haven't been creative and innovative before: the truth is the opposite. In the music world, there was jazz musician Billy Tipton, who transitioned in the 1930s and hid his identity as a trans man until his death, and Wendy Carlos, who helped shape electronic music and to develop the modern synthesizer in the 1960s. In Hollywood, there was Christine Jorgensen, who in the 1950s became the first known person to undergo sex reassignment surgery, later becoming a television presenter and actress.

Not to mention that trans and non-binary people appear throughout history and ancient cultures. Researchers have uncovered evidence of ancient Sumerian priests who blurred gender norms and changed gender identities as early as 5000 BC, and evidence of gender transitions and gender fluidity ex...