Profiles of Transgender Courage: Alexis Arquette

Alexis Arquette was an accomplished American transgender actress, underground cartoonist and activist. She was born July 28th, 1969. She is the sister of other well-known Hollywood celebrities David, Patricia, Rosanna and Richmond Arquette and the daughter of actor Lewis Arquette and Brenda Mardi.

Her first acting gig was in 1982 in the music video for "She's a Beauty" by The Tubes. She made her debut on the big screen in an uncredited role in the film Down & Out in Beverly Hills in 1986 as an androgynous character. The earlier part of her career was spent performing as female impersonator Eva Destruction. Later she appeared in a plethora of films and television shows, including Last Exit to Brooklyn, Pulp Fiction, The Wedding Singer, Threesome, Lords of Dogtown, Bride of Chucky, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Xena:Warrior Princess, Roseanne, Felicity, Californiacation, and Friends where she worked directly with her then sister-in-law, Courtney Cox. Overall, Arquette had over 70 credits in film. In 1994 she(then he) was nominated for best actor in the Fangoria Chainsaw Awards for her role in Jack Be Nimble and in 1997 won an award for Outstanding Actor in a Feature Film for her work in Never Met Picasso.

In 2004, Alexis began her transition, seeking hormone replacement therapy and gender confirmation surgery. She finally completed her transition in 2006. She documented her entire experience which was pieced together in the documentary Alexis Arquette: She's My Brother which debuted at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2007. In 2005 she was announced as one of the house guest in the sixth season The Surreal Life on VH1. That appearance was hailed by the transgender community as a triumph in terms of transgender representation in media as she was the first transgender woman cast in a reality show. Her presence on the show turned the house upside down, bringing the topic of gender into discussion in many of the episodes. (I remember watching that season and admiring her courage. She was the first exposure to another transgender person who wasn't fictionalized.)

Arquette was a supporter and advocate for transgender people, she supported Chaz Bono's transition which began in 2006. In a 2009 interview, Alexis explained that her decision to come out to the public was an effort to raise awareness saying "Coming out as transgender in America from a celebrity family is a lot easier than it can be for private individuals anywhere else in the world. In fact, if you come out as transgender in certain parts of the world, you may be murdered in the street.". Later in her life she became more gender-fluid, referring to the concept as "gender suspicious".

Alexis Arquette died on September 11th, 2016 from complications from HIV. She was 47. At her funeral she was serenaded one last time by one of her favorite songs,"Starman" by David Bowie. (That's a really good choice if I must say so myself.). In 2017 she was snubbed at the Academy Awards by being omitted during the In Memorium section of the program. Her sister expressed disappointment at  her lack of inclusion stating later in an interview, "[Alexis] was a great actor, and had 70 credits, and was really brave to live her truth as a trans woman, and they didn’t include her in the memorial. I think that was a real slight to the trans community, especially at this time, when trans kids can’t even go to the bathroom in the United States of America at school. It says a lot about the lack of inclusion. Trans kids can really never look at anyone and see their heroes, and I think that was a big mistake. The reality is, trans people are ignored all the time in our culture and our community. They have their civil rights taken away. They’re a very disrespected community."