30 trans icons who have been featured in the Out100

A long list of trans icons have been featured in the Out100 over the years!

Trans people always had (and will always have!) a huge impact on the LGBTQ+ community as a whole — and the annual Out100 has been honoring them for over three decades now.

Trans honorees featured in the Out100 include names like Janet Mock, Michaela Jaé Rodriguez, Rhys Ernst and Zackary Drucker, Quinn, Liv Hewson, Jen Richards, Kate Bornstein, Tracy Norman, Eva Reign, Shakina Nayfack, Gigi Gorgeous, Josie Totah, Joey Soloway, Violet Chachki, Gottmik, Bamby Salcedo, Jennicet Gutierrez, Kortney Zielger, Mya Taylor and Kitana Kiki Rodriguez, Candis Cayne, Justin Vivian Bond, Jamie Clayton, Kye Allums, Kim Petras, Amy Schneider, Robina Asti, and Sam Feder… just to name a few!

While we're thrilled to look back at every single trans person ever featured on the list, here's the tea: there's a truly endless list of notable trans people who have been featured on the Out100 list, prompting us to highlight 30 standout honorees who represent the growth of trans visibility in mainstream media, make history, and are the embodiment of trans joy.

Scroll through to see 30 trans celebrities who have been honored on the Out100, which celebrated its 30-year anniversary in 2024!

John Cameron Mitchell

John Cameron Mitchell is one of the earliest trans people to grace an Out100 cover (December 2006). The writer, director, and star of Hedwig and the Angry Inch came out as nonbinary in 2022. The groundbreaking filmmaker, actor, playwright more recently played Jo Exotic in Peacock’s series Joe vs. Carole and appeared in Netflix’s The Sandman.

Andreja Pejic

Model Andreja Pejic was one of the first trans women to be honored in the Out100, having made the list in both 2011 and 2015. In 2015, she became the first out trans model to be profiled by Vogue and to sign a cosmetics contract. The next year, she became the first trans woman to appear on the cover of GQ.

Elliot Page

Actor Elliot Page's first Out100 cover came in 2014, before he transitioned. He was put on the cover again in 2021 after he publicly came out as trans. Since coming out, he has been a vocal trans activist and is pushing trans representation forward in Hollywood.

Chelsea Manning

Activist and whistleblower Chelsea Manning made the Out100 cover in 2017. She was arrested and imprisoned after leaking classified information to WikiLeaks in 2010.

Jonathan Van Ness

The entire Queer Eye team were cover stars for the 2018 Out100, including grooming expert Jonathan Van Ness. Van Ness is nonbinary, and through Queer Eye, has helped people feel more comfortable in their bodies.

SOPHIE

The late, great musician and producer SOPHIE was honored with an Out100 cover in 2018. In that year, she was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Dance/Electronic Album for Oil of Every Pearl’s Un-Insides. Despite sadly passing away in 2021 at the age of 34, she has been one of the most influential musicians of the 21st Century.

Sam Smith

Oscar- and Grammy-winning singer Sam Smith has been on the Out100 cover twice: in 2014 and again in 2019, when they were named Evolution of the Year. They are the first out nonbinary musician to have a song hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and to win a Grammy Award.

Raquel Willis

Writer, activist, and journalist Raquel Willis has been featured in the Out100 on her own, but also as the creator of the Trans Obituaries Project, which detailed the lives of over 20 trans people who lost their lives due to violence, and offered solutions to how to end the epidemic.

Janelle Monáe

The nonbinary singer and actor is one of the best and most influential musicians today. Monae has been nominated for eight Grammy Awards and has starred in movies like Moonlight, Harriet, Antebellum, and Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery. She was on the cover of the Out100 issue in 2020.

Sara Ramirez

Nonbinary Tony winner Sara Ramirez was an Out100 cover star in 2021. The bisexual actor starred in Grey’s Anatomy, where they played bisexual doctor Callie Torres, and has played bisexual, nonbinary characters Kat Sandoval on Madam Secretary and Che Diaz in And Just Like That….

Angelica Ross

Actor, producer, activist, and entrepreneur Angelica Ross has broken ground for trans actors in Hollywood by starring in Pose and American Horror Story. She has recently announced that she’s leaving Hollywood to move back to Atlanta, where she will continue producing film and TV projects and other ventures.

Laverne Cox

Actress and TV host Laverne Cox broke into the spotlight when she was cast as Sophia Burset on Orange Is the New Black, a role she became the first out trans actor to be nominated for an Emmy Award. She was also the first trans person on the cover of Time Magazine and Cosmopolitan, and was the first trans person to have a wax figure at Madame Tussauds. She was on the 2013 Out100.

Hari Nef

Nef, a model and actress has appeared in shows and movies like Transparent, Assassination Nation, and The Idol. In 2023, she starred as one of the Barbies in the year's biggest film, Barbie. She was on the Out100 list in 2015.

Trace Lysette

After breaking out playing Shea in Transparent, Lysette has made a name for herself in smaller roles in things like Drunk History and Hustlers. This year, she got a chance to show off what she can do with an Oscar-worthy role as a trans woman reconnecting with her ailing mother in Monica. She was on the list in 2019.

Isis King

King leapt into the public spotlight as a young, trans woman when she appeared on America’s Next Top Model, as the first trans model to compete. More recently, she’s been acting, including starring in With Love since 2021. She was featured on the Out100 in 2012.

Vico Ortiz

Nonbinary actor and 2022 Out100 honoree Vico Ortiz plays one of our favorite TV characters, the nonbinary pirate Jim on Our Flag Means Death. They are also active in speaking about trans, Latine, and polyamorous issues.

Brian Michael Smith

Smith is an actor who has starred in shows like Queen Sugar, The L Word: Generation Q, Chicago P.D., and Girls. He became the first Black out trans man to land a series regular role on network television when he joined 9-1-1: Lone Star as firefighter Paul Strickland. He made the 2022 Out100.

Miss Major Griffin-Gracy

Miss Major is a legend. The longtime trans activist and 2016 Out100 honoree was present at the historic Stonewall Riot and has been involved in the fight for equal rights since then. She served as the first executive director for the Transgender Gender Variant Intersex Justice Project. She recently became a mother.

Chaz Bono

Bono, the son of Sonny Bono and Cher, famously came out as a lesbian in the 1990s after being outed by tabloid papers, and then came out again as a trans man in 2009 when he was on the Out100. Since then, he released a documentary entitled Becoming Chaz which earned him an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Nonfiction Special and has been a proud and vocal speaker for trans rights.

Yasmin Finney

Yasmin Finney is one of the hottest young actors in the U.K. She stars as a teen trans girl in the popular Netflix series Heartstopper, for which she was nominated for a Children’s and Family Emmy Award. In 2023, she’s joining the cast of Doctor Who as Donna Noble’s trans daughter Rose. She was on our list in 2022.

Harper Steele

Steele is a former head writer for Saturday Night Live, where she met her long-time friend Will Ferrell. The two continued to work together after SNL at Funny or Die, and on several movies, including Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga. When Steele came out as trans recently, Ferrell suggested the two go on a cross-country road trip together to get reacquainted with each other and their country. That journey is chronicled in the terrific documentary Will & Harper. Steele was included in the 2024 Out100.

Nava Mau

Nava Mau had a breakout year in 2024 when she became the first out trans actor nominated for Best Supporting Actress in a Limited Series at the Emmys for the role of Teri in Baby Reindeer. The Mexican-born actress also appeared in HBO Max's Genera+ion, and was on the 2024 Out100.

Cole Escola

Nonbinary comedian, actor, and playwright Cole Escola has been making us laugh for years with roles in shows like Difficult People, At Home with Amy Sedaris, and Search Party, and more recently, won Outer Critics Circle Awards, a Theatre World Award, and a Drama Desk Award for writing and starring in the comedic stage play Oh, Mary!. They made the list in 2024.

Karla Sofía Gascón

2024 Out100 honoree Gascón has been starring in telenovelas for a decade, and this year starred in the musical crime thriller Emilia Pérez, where she plays a Mexican cartel leader who transitions to be her true self. She's already made history by being the first out trans actor nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Motion Picture, and is on pace to make similar history at the Academy Awards.

Zaya Wade

Being the daughter of NBA Hall of Famer Dwyane Wade and movie star Gabrielle Union is a lot to live up to, but for 2024 Out100 honoree Zaya Wade, it's just another day of life. The trans teen has been out for four years, bringing visibility to the trans community with a focus on the way families can support their children's transitions, something that is desperately needed right now.

Sasha Colby

This former Miss Continental Winner is the second trans woman of color to win RuPaul's Drag Race and is one of the biggest names to come out of that show, earning the title "your favorite drag queen's favorite drag queen" and becoming the official drag mother of music superstar Chappell Roan. She was named to the 2024 Out100.

J. Harrison Ghee

Along with fellow nonbinary actor Alex Newell (who won for Shucked), Ghee is one of the first two nonbinary actors to win a Tony! They originated the role of Daphne in the stage musical Some Like It Hot, and won the 2023 Tony for Best Actor in a Musical, as well as a Grammy for Best Musical Theater Album. They were featured in the 2023 Out100.

Dylan Mulvaney

Actress, singer, and influencer Dylan Mulvaney was just trying to enjoy a nice drink when she made a sponsored post with Bud Light that led to a ridiculous amount of right-wing backlash and transphobia aimed at both her and the beer company. But she hasn't let the hate diminish her shine, and the 2023 Out100 honoree is continuing to live her best life and spread trans joy.

Geena Rocero

Rocero has a brilliant resume that includes four Emmy nominations, an appearance in Playboy, visits to the White House and UN, making the 2023 Out100, and a memoir titled Horse Barbie that chronicles her journey from competing in trans pageants in the Philippines to moving to the U.S. to work as a model, and later actor and producer.

Miss Benny

Influencer, actor, and singer Miss Benny got her own show in 2023, starring in Netflix's Glamorous as a young beauty influencer who gets a job as the assistant to a legendary beauty mogul. The series came out around the same time Miss Benny came out as trans, and her transition was written into the character and the show. She made the Out100 in 2023.