DC casts Ivory Aquino as first Trans character in ‘Batgirl’

Ivory Aquino, the Filipina American actress, has been cast to portray Alysia Yeoh in the upcoming HBO Max film Batgirl. 

Alysia Yeoh is the roommate and best friend of the titular superhero also known as Barbara Gordon. Aquino’s character first appeared in a DC Batgirl issue in 2011 by Gail Simone and artist Ardian Syaf. Both Aquino and the character she is being cast for are transgender. This makes it the first time that a live-action film adaptation of a DC Comics movie will feature an openly transcharacter. Ivory Aquino is known for her role of ‘Cecilia Chung’, the transgender activist in the ABC miniseries ‘When we Rise’, which was released in 2017. 

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There have been several strides in broadening LGBTQ+ representation in superhero adaptations over the last few years. The CW series ‘Supergirl’ included the first trans superhero in Dreamer played by Nicole Maines and the hero’s sister Alex Danvers was also played by Chyler Leigh who came out as a lesbian in Season 2. Marvel Studios’ ‘Loki’ played by Tom Hiddleston revealed that he is pansexual and the feature film ‘Eternals’ included MCU’s first same sex couple, played by Brian Tyree Henry and Haaz Sleiman. The animated DC series ‘Harley Quinn’ ended its second season with Harley and Poison Ivy falling in love and even DC’s adaptation of ‘Birds of Prey’ included a lesbian police detective.

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News of Aquino’s casting first leaked online in mid-January after Grace posted a photo from the set of the film on instagram, tagging Aquino and captioning the shot with ‘Barbara and Alysia’. Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah are directing ‘Batgirl’. The film also stars J.K.Simmons (as Barbara’s father), Brendan Fraser (as the unspecified main villain), Michael Keaton (reprising his role as Batman) and Jacob Scipio (in an unspecified role).