At the 2024 TIME100 Summit held at Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York on Wednesday, April 24th, actor, producer, author, and TIME100 honouree Elliot Page was in an on-stage conversation entitled “The Power of Authenticity” with TIME Contributing Editor Sam Lansky. The discussion began with Page reflecting on being featured on the cover of TIME magazine in 2021 to coincide with his first press interview after coming out as trans at the end of 2020.
“It was definitely a mixture of feelings”, recalled Page. “It was a time in my life where I felt utterly elated and beyond grateful to finally be in a place where I could accept and love myself and do what I needed to and wanted to. To have the honor of that cover, which was shot by a trans man, Wynne Neilly in Toronto, and having that opportunity meant so much. I appreciated very much the thoughtfulness that TIME showed during that period.” Page described the reaction to the TIME interview being larger than he had anticipated. “The support was incredible from people I don’t know, people that are acquaintances, and people that are close to me. That support, that sense of community and connection, is exactly what helps you get through those moments that can be overwhelming.”
Ahead of the fourth and final season of the hit Netflix series The Umbrella Academy launching in August, Page described how him coming out in real life was brought into the storyline of his character, Viktor, on the show. “Steve Blackman, the showrunner of Umbrellas, was actually probably one of the first people I came out to because I was supposed to go back to shoot the third season and wanted to ideally get surgery before. So I called him nervously and he was incredible. If anything, he was the one who was very insistent on immediately having it be a part of the show and supported me to be able to access the care I was hoping to get at that time. He didn’t have a lot of knowledge about trans stories or trans issues, so we reached out to Thomas Page McBee.”
“The three of us worked together to integrate Victor’s story into the third season and that change he went through”, explained Page who went on to talk about the availability of trans roles more generally in Hollywood. “I am realistic about the lack of representation for trans people and the lack of representation for trans masculine people”, he shared. “I get offers for trans roles and offers for cis roles. I’m looking forward to tackle all kinds of different characters and stories. I suppose I feel that with so much of my work I’ve had to fight through such a discomfort before I could actually be present in the character in a scene. Now, to get to start from the foundation of just being there is so thrilling.”
Last year saw the publication of the actor’s The New York Times Best Selling and Libby Book Award-winning memoir, Pageboy. Page described discovering writing as “an absolute joy that I could not have ever imagined before, I always dreamed of being able to write write a book, but it just never seemed possible”. He attributed being able to write so freely to his transition, explaining, “So much of my mind had been occupied by unhealthy, toxic thinking and now I had the space where my consciousness was flowing and it was so exhilarating just to being able to sit down and write. Now it’s absolutely one of my favorite things to do. I think it’s similar to an excitement I feel creatively as an actor.”
When it comes to the wave of legislative attacks on LGBTQ rights in the United States, particularly focused on trans people, Page admits that he is concerned that the same threat is present in his home country of Canada. Comparing the situation there to that in the US, Page observed, “We have the very same issues. The same anti-trans rhetoric, misinformation, and lies being perpetuated by politicians and various people with massive platforms is making its presence known in Canada as well.” He went on to highlight the provinces of Alberta and New Brunswick as being of particular concern. Page acknowledged that there are “attacks coming from all sides in terms of trans existence, whether it’s healthcare, ID, the use of bathrooms, or the ability to play sports. Just pushing people out of life. It’s becoming a massive problem in Canada as well.”
When asked by Lansky to name-check some of the artists and creators that he is currently most excited about, Page mentioned British playwright and author Travis Alabanza, who wrote the memoir None of the Above: Reflections on Life beyond the Binary; writer and producer Thomas Page McBee; and filmmaker and writer Chase Joynt, who directed the documentaries Framing Agnes and No Ordinary Man (co-directed with Aisling Chin-Yee). Page also went on to cite the book Miss Major Speaks: Conversations with a Black Trans Revolutionary as something that he finds inspiration in. He described Miss Major as “a prolific activist” who “changed the lives of so many people and helped to create a world where someone like me can exist. When I read what she went through and what she stood up against and the change that she created in much more drastic situations, I see hope and remind myself that progress is not linear, we might not see the changes from government that we want to see, and that we have to rely on each other”.
As the conversation came to a close, Page expressed concern about the challenges that LGBTQ+ people are currently facing. “All of the things that are being taken away are actually already an issue for so many people, particularly trans people, who aren’t in a position like me where I can pretty easily get surgery and pay for it, have access to great health care, and to get my blood levels checked because I’m on testosterone. All these aspects that we don’t necessarily think about if we’re not familiar with the issues.” When it comes to feeling hopeful, Page said that he finds it “in those who continuously resist and support each other.”
Watch the full conversation below:
The annual TIME100 Summit convenes leaders from the global TIME100 community to spotlight solutions and encourage action toward a better world. For more stories about the 2024 TIME100 Summit and Gala head to TIME.com.