Elliot Page is an Actor & Producer who was born February 21, 1987, in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Assigned female at birth and having most of his career being known as Ellen Page, Elliot is establishing himself as a prominent and positive Trans Icon. Through his grace, sincerity, and honesty he is breaking industry “standards” and paving the way for other young and talented artists who identify with him.
Elliot got his first big break at the age of 10 being cast in a CBC television movie called Pit Pony (1997). He played the role of Maggie Maclean, which was successful enough to warrant a spin-off television series and earn Page a nomination for a Young Artist award. This led Page to many more film and TV credits, but Elliot’s biggest breakthrough was for the film Hard Candy (2005). This film was a big critical and commercial success and opened Page to even more opportunities, possibly most importantly for his early career, the American audience.
In 2006 Elliot appeared as the mutant Kitty Pryde in the film X-Men: The Last Stand, although the film wasn’t a critical success it was a commercial success and gave Page the opportunity to become a household name. By far Elliot’s biggest breakthrough was for his performance of the title character in the 2007 coming-of-age comedy-drama Juno. June was a huge success critically and financially and is widely regarded as one of the best films of the 2000’s. For his performance Page earned many nominations, including the Academy Award for Best Actress, a Critics’ Choice Award for Best Actress, and a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Comedy or Musical just to name a few. This led Elliot to many other films and television credits some of which include Christopher Nolan’s Inception (2009), Whip It (2009), and continuing his role as Kitty Pryde in the X-Men franchise.
Elliot has always shown a flair for activism and has been very outspoken about his beliefs. He is a Pro-Choice Feminist, Vegan, atheist, who also at what many conisdered to be at the height of his career, came out as gay in 2014 during a Human Rights Campaign conference. Since coming out Page has proven to be an out and proud advocate for the LGBTQIA+ community, often calling out injustices and discrimination throughout the world and film industry.
In 2015, Page turned a new page in his career and entered the world of producing. He starred and produced the film Freeheld, which was adapted from a short-film of the same name. It received mixed reviews, but was mostly regarded as a positive first step for Page and he has continued his producing work. A more recent project, Page co-directed and co-produced a documentary about environmental racism called There’s Something in the Water. It premiered at the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival and was then brought to Netflix in 2020 with great reviews.
One of Page’s most notable recent roles is that of Vanya Hargreaves in Netflix’s The Umbrella Academy. His role in the series has gained him a lot of critical acclaim including a nomination for a Saturn Award in 2019. In 2020 at the height of the pandemic Elliot decided to come out as Transgender revealing his pronouns as he/him and they/them. Page gives credit for his need to come out partially to the anti-transgender rhetoric in politics and the news cycle. He believes he can use his platform as way to inspire and protect transgender youth, and it seems to be working. One example is that many feared that his role in shows like the successful The Umbrella Academy would be recast, but Netflix as well as the producers and those working on the series have welcomed Elliot with open arms, revealing that they plan to keep Elliot in the series and make the adjustments needed moving forward. This is groundbreaking, in a way, and sets a standard for Hollywood moving forward.
