Shakina Nayfack (born December 8, 1980) is an American actress and transgender activist. She is most notable for her series regular role as Lola, a "trans-truther", on the second and third seasons of the Hulu television program Difficult People, on which she was also a writing consultant.[1] In 2020, she became the first trans person to have a starring role on a major network comedy show, Connecting.[2]
Education
Nayfack attended University of California Santa Cruz where she received a B.A. in Community Studies with a minor in Theater Arts as well as a Graduate Certificate in Theater Arts. She went on to pursue an MFA in Experimental Choreography and Ph.D. in Critical Dance Studies at University of California Riverside.
Nayfack was a founding member and artistic director of New York's Musical Theatre Factory, and her one-woman show Manifest Pussy was highly regarded by the Manhattan theater scene. In 2016, she took Manifest Pussy on tour in North Carolina in response to HB2.[3]
In 2015, she received the Lilly Award, which supports women in the theater and promotes gender parity for theatrical productions, in the "working miracles" category.[4] Nayfack has also received the TRU Humanitarian Award from Theatre Resources Unlimited (2016)[5] and the Beatrice Terry Fellowship Award from the Drama League (2017).[6]
She plays the role of Ava in the 2019 musical finale of Amazon show Transparent, directed by Joey Soloway. Nayfack also served as a writer and producer on the finale.[7]
She played the role of Ellis in NBC's Connecting... in 2020. This makes her the first trans person to have a starring role on an American network comedy.[9]
^McBride, Walter. "2015 Lilly Awards Ceremony". thelillyawards.org. The Lilly Awards. Archived from the original on June 28, 2017. Retrieved 11 August 2017.
^Resources Unlimited, Theatre. "TRU Love Benefit". truonline.org. Retrieved 11 August 2017.
