When she first auditioned for Netflix’s “Glamorous,” Miss Benny knew she’d found a once-in-a-lifetime project that would showcase her broad range of talents as a performer.
Still, the Texas-born actor and singer ― who publicly reintroduced herself as a transgender woman last week ― feared she couldn’t play the part of Marco Mejia on the series, given that the character was originally written as a gender-nonconforming gay man.
Shortly after her transition, Miss Benny met with series creator and showrunner Jordon Nardino to share her concerns. She expected to be dismissed from the role before filming on the show’s 10 episodes commenced. But, as she explained in an essay for Time magazine, she found herself pleasantly surprised when Nardino agreed to reimagine Marco as a young trans person on a journey toward self-acceptance.
“I remember thinking I would be such a big fan of this even if I wasn’t a part of it, so I had to at least try, because I’d never read a script with such a full display of someone like me,” Miss Benny told HuffPost in an interview. “We’ve been spoiled with amazing, campy, raunchy queer characters over the years, who get the funny one-liners and add color to the stories we watch. But we rarely get to see those people go home and take the makeup off, see the battles that they go through.”
“It felt unique to see someone like Marco at the center of so much adoration, and be seen as completely valuable,” she added. “For me, that was very healing and important, and I hope it does the same for other people.”
Even without that update, “Glamorous” would be one of the most LGBTQ-inclusive shows on mainstream television. The coming-of-age comedy, which premiered June 22, follows Marco, an aspiring makeup artist and social media influencer who lands a job working for Madolyn Addison (Kim Cattrall), the founder of a global beauty empire.
“Glamorous” is pleasantly bingeable and, as its premise suggests, borrows elements of “The Devil Wears Prada” and “Ugly Betty.” There are also a number of clever winks to Cattrall’s portrayal of Samantha Jones on “Sex and the City.” At Cattrall’s request, longtime “SATC” costume designer Patricia Field joined the show’s creative team as the actor’s personal stylist.
But unlike those film and TV predecessors, “Glamorous” is set in a world where queer and gender-nonconforming characters ― portrayed by an ensemble cast that includes Graham Parkhurst, Jade Payton, Zane Phillips and Michael Hsu Rosen ― are in positions of authority and vastly outnumber their heterosexual counterparts.
Miss Benny said Nardino was adamant that those characters not encounter any anti-LGBTQ+ sentiments or behavior from the outside world. Of course, that isn’t to say that they don’t encounter adversity or internalized homophobia from other members of the queer community.
Phillips, for instance, plays Madolyn’s hunky adult son Chad, who sees Marco as a professional rival and attempts to thwart his new colleague’s achievements at the office on more than one occasion.
Fortunately for Marco, the character becomes Madolyn’s protégé and, despite some early setbacks, maintains her steadfast support throughout the show. Like her character, Miss Benny is still pinching herself over the “trippy” experience of working with Cattrall, describing it as a professional dream come true.
“When I watch the show now, I can’t believe it’s us in the same frame together, because her portrayal of Samantha was so impactful to my own comedic persona,” she explained. “I think people who love Samantha will be very satisfied with her portrayal of Madolyn. There are some amazing one-liners that I’ve been waiting for people to see for months.”
Miss Benny shares other similarities with Marco, having risen to prominence on YouTube before moving to Los Angeles to pursue an acting career. Prior to “Glamorous,” she parlayed her viral fame into a handful of supporting roles on shows like “Fuller House” and “Love, Victor.”
As a musician, she’s also released a number of pop singles and last month unveiled a six-song EP, “Swelter.”
“Up until now, I had only released music about partying and kissing boys,” she said. “This EP is about what happens after the party ends and after you’ve kissed the boys. You’ve had your heart broken and you’re left with feelings of sadness, anger and resentment, and you’re processing that in real time.”
Miss Benny views “Swelter” as a musical complement to “Glamorous” in that both projects treat queerness as a “superpower” rather than a source of embarrassment or shame. Though she’s still awaiting word on whether “Glamorous” will be renewed for a second season, she expects her future projects to maintain this intent.
“It’s a scary time to be queer, to be under the trans spectrum, politically and socially,” she said. “For years, the feedback I always got was that it wasn’t time for someone like me yet. But my queerness has always felt like a superpower. I’ve always felt that being queer is not something I have to work around; it’s something I get to experience. I feel like this moment in my life is a kicking off point for all of the things that I want to do.”
Watch the trailer for “Glamorous” below.
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