Transgender models have been surging in popularity over the past few years. As a result, more and more models are opening up about their transgender identity and pursuing a career in modeling. This post explores some of the most famous transgender models who have captivated audiences with their beauty.
The world of modeling can be tough to break into. But for these 36 women, it’s not the industry they were born to break into – it’s their own. From trans beauty Jennie Klay to drag star Nicole Paige Brooks, these are the models making history by both “wearing” and embracing their womanhood. Check out this list of inspirational individuals who are defying categorical norms and looking darn good doing it.
1. Carmen Carrera
Carmen Carrera was born in 1985 in the U.S. She is a reality television star, model, burlesque performer, and actress from the United States. She is known for making history in the modeling industry with her more feminine look and artistic inclination. Carrera is openly transgender, which adds to her celebrity. Additionally, Carrera is a transgender activist and a transgender lady.
| Date of birth | April 13, 1985 |
| Place of birth | Elmwood Park, New Jersey, U.S. |
| Occupation | Model, actress, showgirl |
2. Amanda Lepore
Amanda Lepore was born in 1967 in U.S. She is a transgender American model, singer, and performance artist. In addition, she is known as a transgender activist and an author, social critic, and theorist. Lepore is credited as being a frequent subject in the work of David LaChapelle and numerous other photographers, including Terry Richardson and Ruben van Schalm. She took part in the New York City exhibition Artists and Prostitutes 1985-2005 by David LaChapelle, where she “lived” in a voyeuristic life-sized set.
| Date of birth | 1967 |
| Place of birth | Cedar Grove, New Jersey, U.S |
| Occupation | MModel, singer, and performance artist |
3. Andreja Pejić
Andreja Pejić Was born in 1991n in Yugoslavia. She is an Australian model and actress. She has become the most recognizable transgender model in the world since coming out as a trans woman in 2013. Pejić has been featured in Vogue, Elle, and Harper’s Bazaar and on the cover of French Vogue. Peji made history by becoming the first openly transgender model to be profiled by Vogue in its May 2015 issue and the first trans woman to ever sign a deal for cosmetics. Peji received the “Best International Female Model” award from GQ Portugal in 2016 and made history the following year by becoming the first transgender woman to appear on the cover of GQ.
| Date of birth | 28 August 1991 |
| Place of birth | Tuzla, SR Bosnia and Herzegovina, Yugoslavia |
| Occupation | MModel and actress |
4. Isis King
Isis King is a model, actress, and fashion designer from the United States born in 1985. Isis King is best known for her roles on the reality television show America’s Next Top Model’s eleventh and seventeenth cycles. She was the first trans woman to compete and became one of the most visible transgender individuals on television.King appeared in the September 2008 issues of Us Weekly, Seventeen (December 2008/January 2009), Out, Mallard International, and the Spring 2010 cover of Swerv magazines.
| Date of birth | October 1, 1985 |
| Place of birth | Prince George’s County, Maryland, U.S |
| Occupation | Model, actress, and fashion designer |
5. Candy Darling
Candy Darling was born in 1944 in New York City, U.S and died in 1974. She was an American actress and transgender icon best known as a Warhol Superstar. She was a muse of The Velvet Underground and appeared in Andy Warhol’s films Flesh (1968) and Women in Revolt (1971).
| Date of birth | November 24, 1944 – March 21, 1974 |
| Place of birth | New York City, U.S |
| Occupation | Actress |
6. Octavia St. Laurent
In 1964, Octavia St. Laurent Mizrahi was born. She was an AIDS educator and model in New York City’s Black and Latino ballroom community and Harlem’s opulent events. She became well-known after appearing in the 1990 documentary Paris Is Burning. In 1982, St. Laurent started dancing in the New York ballroom scene, and they admitted that Face was their favorite category to perform in. They frequently walked to Diana Ross’ “Swept Away,” which was one of the most popular tunes.
| Date of birth | March 16, 1964 – May 17, 2009 |
| Place of birth | Brooklyn, New York, US |
| Occupation | Model and AIDS educator |
7. Hari Nef
Hari Nef was born in Pennsylvania in the year 1992. She is a model, actress, and writer from the United States. Gittel in the Amazon original series Transparent was Nef’s breakthrough performance, for which she was nominated for a SAG award. Hari Nef made her catwalk debut at New York Fashion Week Spring 2015, walking for Hood By Air and Eckhaus Latta, and was signed to IMG Models as the first openly transgender woman.
| Date of birth | October 21, 1992 |
| Place of birth | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Occupation | Actress, model, and writer |
8. Caroline Cossey
Caroline Cossey was born in 1954 in England. She is a British model who went by the name Tula and wrote two memoirs under that identity. For Your Eyes Only, a 1981 James Bond film, featured her. After her role in the film, she was outed as transgender by the British tabloid News of the World. She was the first trans woman to model for Playboy in 1991. Since then, Cossey has campaigned for her right to marry legally and be recognized as a woman.
| Date of birth | 31 August 1954 |
| Place of birth | Brooke, Norfolk, England |
| Occupation | Actress and model |
9. April Ashley
April Ashley MBE was born in 1935 and died in 2021. She is an actress, model, and novelist from England. She was one of the first British persons known to have had sex reassignment surgery after being outed as a transgender woman by The Sunday People newspaper in 1961. Her marriage was declared null and void in a well-known court case known as Corbett v Corbett.
| Date of birth | 29 April 1935 – 27 December 2021 |
| Place of birth | Liverpool, England |
| Occupation | Model |
10. Harisu
Harisu, Lee Kyung-stage Eun’s name, is a South Korean singer, was born in 1975. She is a singer, model, and actress from South Korea. Harisu was born a boy but identified as a girl early and underwent sex reassignment surgery in the 1990s. She is the first transgender entertainer in the Republic of Korea, and she was the second person in Korea to officially alter their gender in 2002. Her stage name is a play on “hot problem” in English.
| Date of birth | February 17, 1975 |
| Place of birth | Seongnam, Gyeonggi-do, Korea |
| Occupation | Pop singer, model, and actress |
11. Jamie Clayton
Jamie Clayton was born in California in the United States in 1978. She is an actress and model from the United States. Clayton is best known for Nomi Marks’s roles on Netflix’s Sense8, Sasha Booker on Designated Survivor’s third season, and Tess Van De Berg on Showtime’s The L Word: Generation Q.
| Date of birth | January 15, 1978 |
| Place of birth | San Diego, California, U.S. |
| Occupation | Actress, Model |
12. Roberta Close
Roberta Close was born in 1964. She is a Brazilian fashion model. She was a transgender model to appear in Playboy’s Brazilian edition. She has walked the runway for a variety of fashion brands, such as Thierry Mugler, Guy Laroche, and Jean Paul Gaultier. Close has additionally appeared in editorials for Playboy and Vogue.
| Date of birth | December 7, 1964 |
| Place of birth | Rio de Janeiro, Brazil |
| Occupation | Actress, Model |
13. Parinya Charoenphol – Nong Toom
Parinya Charoenphol was born in Thailand in 1981. She also knows the stage name, Parinya Kiatbusaba, and Nong Toom nickname. Thailand’s former Muay Thai (Thai boxing) champion, model, and actress. She was a kathoey, a term used in Thai to describe transgender people or males who identify as either gender. She got sex reassignment surgery when she was 18 years old.
| Date of birth | 1981 |
| Place of birth | Chiang Mai, Thailand |
| Occupation | Muay Thai boxer,actress and model |
14. Lea T
Lea T was born in 1981 as Leandra Medeiros Cerezo. She’s a transsexual fashion model from Brazil who was reared in Italy. Her professional last name, “T,” stands for Tisci, and she has been dubbed Riccardo Tisci’s “muse.” She is the brand ambassador for Redken, a hair-care company based in the United States.
| Date of birth | February 19, 1981 |
| Place of birth | Belo Horizonte, Brazil |
| Occupation | Chief creative officer and model |
15. Jenna Talackova
Jenna Talackova is a Czech actress who was born in 1988. She is a model and television personality from Canada who rose to prominence in 2012 after winning a legal struggle to compete in the Miss Universe Canada pageant after being previously disqualified due to her. In the summer of 2013, while Talackova relocated to Toronto in order to pursue a modeling career, Brave New Girls, a reality show based on her life, was being filmed. The Peacock Alley Entertainment-produced show debuted on E! Canada in January 2014. Jenna Talackova.
| Date of birth | October 15, 1988 |
| Place of birth | Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada |
| Occupation | Model and television personality |
16. Geena Rocero
In 1983, Geena Rocero was born. She is a New York City-based transgender campaigner, TED speaker, and American model of Filipino descent. Rocero is the creator of Gender Proud, a media production business that exposes tales of the transgender population around the world to promote equality and justice. At the White House, the World Economic Forum, and the United Nations Headquarters, Rocero has discussed transgender rights.
| Date of birth | 1983 |
| Place of birth | Manila, Philippines |
| Occupation | Model, TED speaker, and transgender advocate based |
17. Juliana Huxtable
Juliana Huxtable is a British actress born in 1987 in the U.S. She is an American artist, writer, DJ, performer, and co-founder of the Shock Value nightlife initiative in New York. In addition to Reena Spaulings Fine Art, Project Native Informant, Artists Space, the New Museum, the Museum of Modern Art, Portland Institute for Contemporary Art, and Institute of Contemporary Arts, Huxtable has displayed his work and given performances at a variety of other locations. Through a method she refers to as “conditioning,” Huxtable frequently examines several themes in her multidisciplinary art work, including the internet, the body, history, and text. Huxtable is a member of the House of Ladosha collective based in New York City and the author of two novels that have been published.
| Date of birth | |
| Place of birth | Manila, Philippines |
| Occupation | Model, TED speaker, and transgender advocate based |
18. Arise, Wanzer
Wanzer was born in Woodbridge, Virginia. Arise, Wanzer is a model, comedian, and actress. At both New York Fashion Week and Los Angeles Fashion Week, Wanzer walked the catwalk. She was the first trans model to serve as the covergirl for the Spiegel catalog and has appeared in publications such as Elle, Vogue, Vogue Italia, Forbes, and Purple. She has also collaborated with renowned photographers like Patrick Demarchelier. She has walked the runway for Opening Ceremony and TopShop.
| Date of birth | |
| Place of birth | Manila, Philippines |
| Occupation | Model, TED speaker, and transgender advocate based |
19. Choi Han-bit
Choi Han-bit was born in 1987 in South Korea. She is a South Korean model, actress, and singer. She is a member of the Mercury girl group from South Korea. She earned a degree in traditional Korean dance from the School of Dance at the Korean National University of Arts in Seoul. In 2006, Choi had male-to-female sex reassignment surgery with the help of her parents. Han-bit, who is now legally recognized as a woman in South Korea, altered her given name.
| Date of birth | June 16, 1987 |
| Place of birth | Gangneung, South Korea |
| Occupation | Model, actress and singer |
20. Ines Rau
Ines-Loan Rau is a French actress who was born in 1990. Her nationality is French, and she works as a model in the fashion industry. She was the first openly transgender Playmate and Playmate of the Month for November 2017 in Playboy magazine. When Rau turned 18, she began performing for DJs in Ibiza, where she met David Guetta. After appearing in magazines, Rau modeled for Nicole Miller, Alexis Bittar, and Barneys New York. She also participated in a Balmain ad and a Vogue Italia editorial.
| Date of birth | |
| Place of birth | Paris, France |
| Occupation | Model |
21. Bibiana Fernandez
Bibiana Manuela Fernández Chica wad born in 1954. She is a Spanish actress, singer, T.V. presenter, and model. In 1991, she underwent gender confirmation surgery, and in 1994, she adopted the name Bibiana. She later made her film debut in 1976’s Cambio de Sexo (Sex Change), directed by Vicente Aranda. She released a number of popular songs, including “Sálvame” and “Call Me Lady Champagne.”
| Date of birth | 13 February 1954 |
| Place of birth | Tangier, Tangier International Zone |
| Occupation | Actress, singer, TV presenter and model |
22. Cindy Thái Tài
Cindy Thái Tài was born in 1971 in Ho Chi Minh city, Vietnam as Nguyễn Thái Tài. She underwent sex reassignment surgery in 2005 at Thailand’s Yanhee International Hospital. She then rose to fame as a singer in her native nation, releasing albums in 2006 and 2007. She occasionally appears in the Vietnamese web series My Best Gay Friends. She was the first transgender person in Vietnam to publicly identify as such.
| Date of birth | 1971 |
| Place of birth | Ho Chi Minh city, Vietnam |
| Occupation | Singer |
23. Gigi Gorgeous
Gigi Loren Lazzarato Getty was born in 1992. Gigi Gorgeous is a Canadian YouTuber, socialite, actress, and model. In 2008, Lazzarato began uploading video blogs onto streaming medium YouTube as Gregory Gorgeous. Her internet following was created and her videos became well-liked. During the following years, Lazzarato uploaded regularly to the channel along with creating and starring in the reality program The Avenue (2011–2013). (2011–2013). She coming out as a transgender woman in 2013, and began going as Gigi Gorgeous.
| Date of birth | April 20, 1992 |
| Place of birth | Montreal, Quebec, Canada |
| Occupation | YouTuber, socialite, actress, and mode |
24. Valentijn De High
Valentijn de Hingh was born in 1990 in Amsterdam, Netherlands. She is a transgender Dutch Model and an Indonesian transgender activist from Jakarta, Indonesia. De Hingh underwent gender affirmation surgery soon after finishing filming for the Dutch television series “Valentijn,” which he did from the age of 8 until the age of 17. She participated in the eighth season of the Dutch version of the American reality television series Survivor as well as the 2013 edition of Expeditie Robinson.
| Date of birth | 1990 |
| Place of birth | Amsterdam, Netherlands |
| Occupation | Actress |
25. Kim Petras
Kim Petras was born in 1992 in Germany. She is a German singer and songwriter. Petras was born a male, but in 2017 she revealed that she was transgender and thus began her transition from male to female. Petras started making music while she was a teenager, and in 2011, she released her debut extended play, One Piece of Tape. In 2017, she independently published “I Don’t Want It at All,” her debut international track, which went on to dominate various Spotify viral music rankings. Following the song were the top-charting singles “1, 2, 3 Dayz Up,” “Heart to Break,” and “Feeling of Falling” (with Cheat Codes) (featuring Sophie).
| Date of birth | August 27, 1992 |
| Place of birth | Cologne, Germany |
| Occupation | Singer and songwriter |
26. Candis Cayne
Candis Cayne was born in 1971. She is an actress and a performer from the United States. Since the 1990s, Cayne has been performing in drag in New York City nightclubs. Cayne came out as transgender in 1996. In 2007, Cayne gained widespread recognition for her portrayal of the transgender mistress Carmelita in the ABC drama Dirty Sexy Money. Cayne becomes the first transgender actor to play a recurrent transgender character in primetime thanks to the role. Her recurrent part as the Fairy Queen in the fantasy series The Magicians is arguably what makes her most well-known.
| Date of birth | August 29, 1971 |
| Place of birth | Maui, Hawaii, U.S. |
| Occupation | Actress and performance artist |
27. Chen Lili
Chen Lili was born in 1980 in China. She is a Chinese singer, model, and actress who identifies as transgender. She is known for her work as a fashion model. She has heterogametic sex and rose to fame in 2004 when she participated in and made an attempt at participating in beauty pageants as a woman. Early in 2004, Chen made an attempt to participate in the Miss Universe pageant.
| Date of birth | February, 1980 |
| Place of birth | China |
| Occupation | A transgender singer, model, and actress |
28. Nong Poy
Treechada Petcharat, better known by the names Nong Poy, or Treechada Malayaporn. She was born in 1986 in Thailand. She is a Thai actress and model. Poy is openly transgender and one of Thailand’s most famous transgender people. Poy is a transgender activist and a transgender lady.
| Date of birth | October 5, 1986 |
| Place of birth | Phang Nga, Thailand |
| Occupation | Model and actress |
29. Claudia Charriez
Claudia Charriez was born in 1982 in New York, USA. Jennifer Hudson: I Still Love You is one of her many credits as an actress (2015). She is openly transgender, which adds to her celebrity. Charriez is a transgender activist and a transgender lady.
| Date of birth | 1982 |
| Place of birth | New York, USA |
| Occupation | Actress |
30. Laverne Cox
Laverne Cox was born in 1972. She is an LGBT activist and actor from the United States. She gained notoriety for her portrayal of Sophia Burset in the Netflix series Orange Is the New Black, making history as the first transgender person to be nominated for an acting Primetime Emmy Award and the first since composer Angela Morley in 1990.] She received a Daytime Emmy Award in 2015 for Outstanding Special Class Special for Laverne Cox Presents: The T Word.
| Date of birth | May 29, 1972 |
| Place of birth | Mobile, Alabama, U.S. |
| Occupation | Actress and LGBT advocate |
31. Nguyen Huong Giang
Huong Giang was born in 1991 in Vietnam. Nguyen Huong Giang was originally born with the biological sex under Nguyen Ngoc Hieu’s birth name, who graduated from Dong Da High School (Hanoi) in 2010. After that, Ngoc Hieu studied at the College of Arts. Hanoi. In 2011, Ngoc Hieu went to Thailand to translate transgender into females.
| Date of birth | December 29, 1991 |
| Place of birth | Hanoi, Vietnam |
| Occupation | Transgender model and singer |
32. Jazelle Barbie Royale
Jazelle Barbie Royale was born in 1987 in the state of Florida. She won the Miss International Queen title in 2019, becoming the second American and the first person of African heritage to do so. She lived in Orlando and worked as a healthcare provider and nightclub performer as of 2019. Valentina Fluchaire of Mexico succeeded her as Miss International Queen in 2020. She was nominated in the category of Hottest Hottie Award at the 2022 WOWIE Awards, which were held in conjunction with RuPaul’s DragCon in Los Angeles (The Thirst Follow Award).
| Date of birth | August 8, 1987 |
| Place of birth | Jacksonville, Florida |
| Occupation | The Miss International Queen |
33. Hunter Schafer
Hunter Schafer was born in 1998. She is a model, actor, and LGBTQ rights activist from the United States. Teen Vogue included Schafer on its “21 Under 21” list in 2017 for her advocacy against the North Carolina Public Facilities Privacy & Security Act. She made her acting debut in the HBO television series Euphoria in 2019, playing the transgender high school student Jules Vaughn. She will play Tigris Snow in the 2023 motion picture The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes.
| Date of birth | December 31, 1998 |
| Place of birth | Trenton, New Jersey, U.S. |
| Occupation | Fashion model, actress, and LGBTQ rights activist |
34. Indya Moore
Moore, Indya Adrianna, was born in 1995. Indya Moore is an actress and model from the United States. They are well-known for portraying Angel Evangelista in the FX series Pose. In 2019, Time listed them among the top 100 global influencers. Moore utilizes they/them and she/her pronouns and identifies as transgender and non-binary.
| Date of birth | January 17, 1995 |
| Place of birth | New York City, U.S. |
| Occupation | Actor and model |
35. Valentina Sampaio
Valentina Sampaio is a Brazilian actress who was born in 1996. She is a Brazilian actress and model.In August 2019, she became the first openly transgender model for Victoria’s Secret, and in 2020, she made history as the first transgender model for the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue.
| Date of birth | December 10, 1996 |
| Place of birth | Aquiraz, Ceará, Brazil |
| Occupation | Model and actress |
36. Jari Jones
Jari Jones was born in 1991. She is an actor, filmmaker, model, and LGBTQ rights activist from the United States.Jones worked on Port Authority as an actor, producer, and script consultant. At the Cannes Feature Festival, Jones was the first black trans woman to produce a film. Jones was one of the nine faces featured in Calvin Klein’s 2020 pride advertising.
| Date of birth | 1991 |
| Place of birth | New York, U.S. |
| Occupation | Actress,model, LGBTQ rights, activist |