I had a relatively normal 1970’s childhood in Surrey, where I was born. We moved to Oxfordshire when was 10. It was like moving to a farm, a completely different pace of life, completely different accents. stood out like a sore thumb and didn’t make friends.
I had a very difficult few years, which coincided with my adolescence and increased gender dysphoria, which I’d been feeling ever since was a wee kid. didn’t really have the vocabulary for it, but at four or five years old remember feelings of incongruence and discomfort with what had, and wondering why wasn’t built differently.
I always thought that when grew up wanted to be an actor, and I wanted to be a girl. can remember very few incidences when wavered from those twin desires. So when was 18 moved to London to go to drama school and that was the next chapter of my life.
When I made the decision to transition, thought chances were that probably wouldn’t act again. As luck would have it, in 2003 the BBC was casting a trans part in Casualty and got it. filmed two episodes and about two weeks before transmission they said, ‘We’re dropping that storyline and we’re shooting your scenes again with a cis gender actor’. The world of acting is replete with stories of actors being fired or cut from movies but this particularly felt a bitter pill to swallow because it was taking something from a trans person and an opportunity for a trans storyline to be shared. never had an explanation or found out why.