Ivory Aquino to Play the First DC Transgender Character in ‘Batgirl’

Actress Ivory Aquino is officially playing the first-ever transgender character in Batgirl, a live-action DC Comics  production. 

Batgirl is an upcoming American film based on the DC Comics character Barbara Gordon. It’s produced by CD Films and Burr! Productions for the streaming service HBO Max. The movie is scheduled to be released sometime in 2022, but the exact date is still unknown. 

Aquino will be playing Alysia Yeoh, Batgirl. Gordon’s roommate and friend, she works as a bartender at night and eventually, she meets Barbara’s brother, James Gordon Jr., and they began dating. 

 According to the Daily Best, Yeoh is transgender and made her debut as the first major transgender character in 2011 in a DC Comic book and will also be the first character to be represented in a live-action film adaptation of a DC Comics title. Yeoh is definitely the most prominent trans woman in modern DC history, according to Them.

Both Yeoh and Aquino are transgender, making this a historical step for the LGBTQ community and those who have been underrepresented on the big screen. 

Aquino is known for portraying transgender activist Cecilia Chung in the 2017 miniseries “When We Rise.” Aquino also played Doctor Perez in Netflix’s “Tales of the City.” 

Other cast members include Leslie Grace as Barbara Joan Gordon, J.K. Simmons as James Gordon, the father of Batgirl and City Police Commissioner, and , Brendan Fraser who will play one of the villains. Michale Keaton will be reprising his role as Bruce Wayne, and Jacob Scipio will also be cast, although his role is still unidentified.

According to Darren Weathers, Barbara Gordon made her first appearance in a story published in Detective Comics #359 titled “The Million Dollar of Batgirl” (January 1967). As Batgirl, Barbara Gordon has been described as one of the most popular characters to appear during the “Silver Age of Comic Books.”

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