Felicity Huffman on Why She ‘Wouldn’t Be Able to Do’ a Trans Role Again and Life After College Admissions Scandal: ‘It’s Been Hard’
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Felicity Huffman, who was nominated for an Oscar for playing a trans woman in 2005’s “Transamerica,” wouldn’t take on such a role again.
It’s a role that she “wouldn’t be able to do now,” Huffman told The Guardian. “I think we should reflect the audience and that’s got to include everybody. There has been such inequity for so long and now the pendulum must swing the other way. But I hope it leads to a situation where anyone can play anything.”
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Huffman was asked about meeting trans actor Alexandra Billings, who was due to play the lead in “Transamerica” initially, at an awards ceremony. “I have no memory of that,” Huffman told The Guardian. “As an excuse, I also have no oestrogen left in my body.”
In 2019, Huffman served 11 days in jail for her involvement in the college admissions scandal. “I walk into the room with it. I did it. It’s black-and-white,” Huffman said. “How I am is kind of a loaded question. As long as my kids are well and my husband is well, I feel like I’m well.” Huffman is married to actor William H. Macy.
Since her conviction, Huffman has had no major acting roles. In 2023, it was announced that the actor would star in “The Good Doctor” spinoff “The Good Lawyer” at ABC and in 2020 as the unlikely owner of a minor league baseball team for another ABC pilot. “I did a pilot for ABC recently that didn’t get picked up. It’s been hard. Sort of like your old life died and you died with it. I’m lucky enough to have a family and love and means, so I had a place to land,” Huffman said.
The actor, who scored Primetime Emmy nominations for “American Crime” and “Desperate Housewives,” is now landing on the London stage in a revival of Taylor Mac’s “Hir.” Huffman will play Paige, the mother of a transgender child. “Paige has the enthusiasm of a new convert,” Huffman said. “She’s a zealot, but in a good way. She has been contained for so long and now she is free. If she thinks something, it comes straight out of her mouth.”
“Hir” isn’t just an issues play, Huffman said. “If it was just ‘transgender people are people too’, you’d go, ‘OK. Very true. And where’s the story in that?’”
“Hir” plays at London’s Park Theatre Feb. 15 through March 16.
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