Indya Moore is such a role model. She went from years of bullying, misgendering, discrimination and even abuse to becoming the star of Pose, one of Luis Vuitton’s faces and becoming one of the most influential people in the world and just an all-time brilliant transgender non-binary actor – what a life and they’re only 25. Despite this incredible story of success, there are still so many things you probably don’t know about Indya Moore. So we’re here to fix that now and give you some Indya Moore facts.
1.Indya Was Raised In A Jehovah’s Witness Family
Both Indya’s
parents were practising Jehovah’s Witnesses and that meant that
they had completely no understanding what it’s like to raise a
genderqueer child. When Indya didn’t act with their assigned gender
their parents would use punishment to try and change that behaviour.
That must’ve been one hell of a trying and difficult time for
Indya. These days Indya chooses to interpret that not as cruelty,
even though that’s how it felt at the time, but more as a lack of
understanding. Their parents have never experienced what it’s like
to have a child who’s genderqueer so they had no frame of
reference, they just couldn’t understand.
2.Indya Left Home When They Were Just 14
Living with
parents who don’t understand you is not easy, add a religious
element to that and it can become quite unbearable. Indya knows that
their parents loved them, but just couldn’t accept them for who
they are, so at the age of 14, Indya made a decision to leave home
and enter the world of foster care. That wasn’t much easier.
They’ve lived in multiple foster homes all over the city facing a
lot of problems and abuse on the way.
3.Indya First Tried Hormone Replacement In Foster Care
One of Indya’s foster parents was a transgender woman and she allowed Indya to try hormone replacement by giving them some of her own. Indya says it was a great feeling, they felt happier, more beautiful and more comfortable in their own body. But eventually said foster parent cut them off from their supply and Indya was forced to do some pretty questionable things that included trading sexual favours for money in order to be able to access hormone replacement therapy.
4.Indya Moore Never Had Acting Lessons
Yup, that’s
right, it’s all pure talent and lots of work. Indya has never taken
a single acting lesson in their life. So landing the role of Angel
Evangelista was an incredible opportunity that gave them the chance
to show their abilities as an actor. Indya says that it’s not easy
putting yourself in the state of mind of their character, but you
learn to do it and live each scene as that character. They don’t go
full method, but there’s definitely a bit of that going on because
they find it’s the best way to get into the character.
5.Indya Hopes For More Opportunities For Trans Actors
While Indya loves
the opportunity to bring more trans characters onto the small and big
screen, they hope that in the future they will have more
opportunities that aren’t just about acting out the painful parts
of their life. Indya says that right now it feels like trans actors
are only used to show the hardships of their gender identity and the
pain that comes with the society ostracizing them. They hope that one
day it’ll be different and they’ll get to play parts that show
off their multifaceted talent. In fact, in one of the interviews,
Indya said that they’d like to play a superhero one day, someone
like She-Hulk.
6.Indya Wants To Study Biotechnology
They’ve had to
drop out of school at the age of 15 to find a job. They got into
modelling and then acting, and have managed to juggle that with
getting their GED. They’ve gone into full-on work mode since but
they’d love to be able to study biotechnology and learn more about
the possibilities of hormone replacement therapy and the more
scientific ins and outs of how that works. They just need their
career to get more stable so that they can manage all the bills.
7.Indya Has Reconnected With Their Parents
Even thought Indya has chosen to leave home when they were just 14 they have since reconnected with their parents. Indya says they’re very grateful to have parents who managed to learn and accept their differences and choose to be in their life. Indya’s mother learned to use their pronouns over time, but at the time Indya was using female pronouns. Now it’s a bit of a funny situation where Indya constantly reminds their mother that it’s “they/them” and not “she/her”, and their mother huffs and is like “oh just make up your mind”. But it’s a work in progress and Indya knows that progress is made one step at a time.
