NextSharkNextShark.com
Latest Newsletter🍵 Biden awards Asian artistsRead

Article

‘Batgirl’ casts Fil-Am actress Ivory Aquino as first-ever trans character in DC Comics film

  • Ivory Aquino, a Filipino American trangender actress, was cast as DC’s first trans character “Alysia Yeoh” in the film “Batgirl.”

  • Her portrayal as Batgirl’s best friend marks the first live-action film adaptation of a DC Comics property to feature an openly trans character.

Asian America Daily - in under 5 minutes

Get our collection of Asian America's most essential stories, to your inbox daily, for free!

Unsure? Check out our Newsletter Archive

Filipino American actress Ivory Aquino has been cast as DC’s first transgender character “Alysia Yeoh” in the upcoming 2022 DC film “Batgirl.”

Ivory Aquino will portray the best friend of the titular superhero, whose alter ego is Barbara Gordon, played by Leslie Grace. The actress, who is also transgender, is making history for her part starring in the first live-action film adaptation of a DC Comics property to feature an openly trans character. 

The DC character Alysia Yeoh first appeared in a 2011 issue of “Batgirl” that was written by Gail Simone and illustrated by Ardian Syaf, according to Variety.

The casting was first leaked on social media when the American actress Leslie Grace posted a photo of ​​two women crossing the street in what appears to be the film’s set on her Instagram story. Grace tagged Aquino and captioned the post, “Barbara and Alysia 😍🦇.”

Aquino, who is the niece of former Philippine president Corazon Aquino, was born in the Philippines and moved to the U.S. when she was a teenager, according to Rappler. She is best known for her role in ABC’S 2017 docudrama “When We Rise.” Aquino has also appeared in Netflix’s 2019 drama miniseries “When They See Us” and “Tales of the City” and in the 2019 film “Lingua Franca.”

Other cast members of the upcoming “Batgirl” film include J.K. Simmons, Brendan Fraser, Michael Keaton and Jacob Scipio.

HBO Max’s “Batgirl,” which is produced by DC Films and Burr! Productions, is being directed by Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah and features a screenplay by Christina Hodson. The film is currently slated for a 2022 release date on the streaming platform. 

Featured Image via @msivoryaquino (left), DC Comics (right)

Support our Journalism with a Contribution

Many people might not know this, but despite our large and loyal following which we are immensely grateful for, NextShark is still a small bootstrapped startup that runs on no outside funding or loans.

Everything you see today is built on the backs of warriors who have sacrificed opportunities to help give Asians all over the world a bigger voice.

However, we still face many trials and tribulations in our industry, from figuring out the most sustainable business model for independent media companies to facing the current COVID-19 pandemic decimating advertising revenues across the board.

We hope you consider making a contribution so we can continue to provide you with quality content that informs, educates and inspires the Asian community. Even a $1 contribution goes a long way.  Thank you for everyone's support. We love you all and can't appreciate you guys enough.

Support NextShark

Mastercard, Visa, Amex, Discover, Paypal