Hilary Swank
Boys Don’t Cry (1999): What is difficult is that a lot of these LGBTQII films that cast CIS actors as trans characters were incredibly important to not only queer cinema, but the cultural conversation surrounding gay and trans rights. It is important to understand these films within their historical context of production and reception. I don’t remember there even being a talk in the mainstream about whether Hilary Swank was the wrong choice for this. That is a conversation that came into the mainstream a few years later. Hilary Swank gives a tremendous performance in a film that was a major moment for LGBTQII film, but it also is a time in queer cinema we will hopefully not head back into.