Television

Pose’s Mj Rodriguez becomes first trans lead ever nominated at the Emmys

By Hollie Wong

13th July 2021

Mj Rodriguez has officially made history.

The Pose actress is the first transgender performer to be nominated in one of the major acting categories at the Emmys.

Nominated in the Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series category for her role as Blanca Evangelista on FX’s critically-acclaimed drama, Pose, the prestigious television awards have historically attracted criticism for snubbing trans talent from the trailblazing series.

Although Pose continues to make history with the largest cast and crew of trans actors, producers and writers a drama series has ever seen, the only alumni to receive a nomination at previous ceremonies has been cisgender actor Billy Porter.

The lack of nominations for Pose’s trans stars Angelica Ross, Indya Moore, Dominique Jackson and Rodriguez have long caused uproar on social media.

Finally, this year Rodriguez joins fellow Pose performer Billy Porter (who was also nominated in this year’s Leading Actor category) on the nominees list.

Laverne Cox became the first transgender person ever to be nominated for an acting Emmy in 2014 for her role as Sophie Burset on Orange Is the New Black, but was nominated in the Outstanding Guest Actress category, rather than the Leading Actress category.

Cox went on to be nominated again four times in the Guest Actress category for her role as Sophia.

In 2020, both Cox and trans actress Rain Valdez were nominated in different categories, marking the first time ever two trans performers had been nominated in one year at the Emmys.

Elsewhere, LGBTQ+ shows and performers continued to conquer at the 2021 Emmy nominations.

Queer actress Emma Corrin was nominated in the Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series category for her role as Princess Diana in The Crown.

Samira Wiley has been nominated for her performance in The Handmaid’s Tale in the Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series category.

A slew of LGBTQ+ performers were nominated for their role on SNL, with Bowen Yang, Kate McKinnon and guest host Dan Levy all receiving noms.

RuPaul’s Drag Race will be going for its 20th win on the Emmy stage, as both host RuPaul and Drag Race collected nominations in the Outstanding Host category and Outstanding Competition Program category – with the latter race seeing Drag Race take on Queer Eye for the prize.

Find a full list of the 2021 Emmy nominations here.