Mya Taylor

Mya Taylor is an American transgender actress and singer. She is best known for her role as Alexandra in the 2015 film, Tangerine.

Taylor was born on March 28, 1991 in Houston Texas as Jeremiah James Bonner. She was raised by her Christian grandparents, who at first did not know that she had come out as gay (pre-transition) in school. In 2009, she came out to them, which led to a lot of tension in the home. Taylor left and moved to California in May 2009 to live with another relative, but her gender identity led that relative to kick her out on the street.

Unable to secure legal employment at the age of 18, she worked as a sex worker in Hollywood. She started to go to therapy, where she decided to be true to herself and be who she wanted to be. In January of 2013, Jeremiah began her transition.

At the age of 23, after five years of sex work and after four arrests for prostitution, Mya was approached by director Sean Baker and his co-screenwriter Chris Bergoch to star in their film Tangerine. In 2018, Taylor began filming Dietland, an American dark comedy drama television series aired on AMC.

Taylor is the first transgender actress to win the Gotham Independent Film Award for Breakthrough Actor for her performance in Tangerine. She also won the San Francisco Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actress and the Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Female for the film. She was also the first openly transgender actor to win an Independent Spirit Award.

Since rising to fame, Taylor has opened up about her struggles with domestic violence and abuse, enduring prostitution, overcoming homelessness, and experiencing a lifetime of LGBT-related taunts, bullying, and attacks.

“It’s time for people to know,” Taylor said. “I guess I’m trying to get more into trans-activism, and I can’t try to be an activist if people don’t know my real story.”