Elliot Page

Elliot Page’s brilliance first struck my high school besties and me with his performance in Juno in 2007. His brand of anxious teen nihilism felt raw and oh-so-millennial in a way few actors had pulled off for our generation by then. In time, Elliot became a queer Hollywood icon, and I saw him in other productions, like The Umbrella Academy. But I didn’t meet Elliot, the person, until early 2023. We bonded as transgender figures completing our debut memoirs. Elliot’s Pageboy ultimately landed at a time when conservatives were—as they still are—threatening trans people’s bodily autonomy and self-determination. But Elliot remains undeterred, letting down the shield that his platform and privileges afford, and championing grassroots activist efforts like the Gen Z–guided Trans Prom at the U.S. Capitol. In whatever he does, Elliot is aware that his truth and power serve as a light in which others can see their own.

Willis is an activist and the author of The Risk It Takes to Bloom

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