With his smoldering good looks and captivating screen presence, actor, writer, comedian, interdisciplinary artist, and astrologer Marval Rex’s star is on the rise. This week sees the Los Angeles premiere of director Lisa Belcher’s gripping and unsettling psychological horror House Of Abraham—already playing in New York—which Rex stars in alongside Natasha Henstridge, horror queen Lin Shaye and writer-star Lukas Hassel. He plays Alex in the movie, a troubled young trans man who is secure and confident in his gender identity but struggling to cope with other aspects of his life. Rex recently showed off his comedy chops appearing in the outrageous 1970s-set spoofy sex comedy Airplane 2025, which debuted on digital platforms in April. Roles in the Emmy-winning series Book of Queer created by Eric Cervini and the upcoming horror thriller Unsavory Elements, written and directed by Tom Carter, are among his other screen acting credits.
Rex’s self-generated work—across live performance, podcasting and visual arts—is characterized by boundary-pushing explorations of identity, queerness, masculinity and the body. He made his filmmaking debut with the experimental Man, and Me in 2016 and produced and starred in the LGBTQ+ film festival horror comedy short Spookable about a trans man who accidentally becomes a werewolf. Rex’s groundbreaking stand-up comedy career has seen him produce Big Dad Energy, a live comedy showcase featuring exclusively transmasculine performers, and take on his own one-hour live stand-up shows including most recently, Rexodus: Out of the Closet and Into the Tribe.
In 2019, Rex was named an LA Art Star by Los Angeles Magazine and in 2023 he was selected as Tom of Finland Foundation’s first transgender artist in residence. The Catalan-American artist’s live and material artworks have been showcased at venues such as DFBRL8R Gallery in Chicago, Re:Art Show in New York, Prosjektskolen in Oslo, and the Can Serrat Residency in Barcelona.
Ahead of this weekend’s Los Angeles premiere of House of Abraham, Marval Rex speaks exclusively with The Queer Review’s editor James Kleinmann about how the performer in him first emerged, how he has come to appreciate the horror movie genre, his relationship with Golden Age Hollywood stars like James Dean and Marylin Monroe, how he got started in stand-up comedy and astrology, his love for surfing, and his admiration for queer performance art icon Ron Athey. This interview is illustrated by a special photo series shot exclusively for The Queer Review by photographer and creative director Steven Menendez.
James Kleinmann, The Queer Review: take me back to when the performer in you first emerged and how that manifested.
Marval Rex: “I grew up in Salt Lake City, Utah, but I was not raised Mormon. I was raised Catholic and I’m ethnically Jewish. Wrap your head around that! I was very artistic from a young age. I was always drawing and speaking in different accents as a kid, talking to myself in the mirror. My parents are both scientists, so they were like, ‘What’s going on with this kid?!’ But once I hit puberty, I shut down and the performer in me went very deep inside and hid. I didn’t take art classes in high school and I only took one theatre class freshman year and I was like, ‘I can’t be seen’ because I was a girl. I was trying so hard, but I felt like such a drag queen because I’ve always had this jawline. I don’t feel like I’ve ever passed as a woman in my life.”
“Fast forward to me at 24 years old, after I had taken art classes in college, and I was like, ‘Oh, my God, I’m an artist and I’m also trans.’ It was just boom, this is who I actually am. This was before Laverne Cox was on the cover of TIME. Transparent was only just starting to film. So there was no cultural awareness of trans people. I didn’t even think I could be trans, but I was like, ‘I have to take testosterone. If I don’t take testosterone, we’re not moving forward.’ So I took testosterone, thank God.”
“I ended up at an art residency in Rochester in upstate New York. There are a bunch of amazing photographers up there because of Kodak being based there and I met the incredible photographer Dan Larkin who teaches at Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT). When he asked me what I did, I told him that I was tucked away in the studio doing ceramics. He was like, ‘You’re a performer!’ It was one of those crystallizing moments when someone says something to you and you’re like, ‘Oh my God, this person sees me so clearly.’ From then on things changed.”
“On my birthday of that year, late 2015, I did my first performance art piece in his class at RIT. It was a queer photography class looking at figures like Catherine Opie and Cindy Sherman and performativity through photography. I did something very weird, where I stripped down—I didn’t get fully naked—and gave myself a shot of testosterone. It was the first thing I did and it was maybe the most real thing I’ve ever done because I didn’t know what I was doing back then. That was the moment when the performer in me opened up again. It was really powerful.”
Let’s talk about House of Abraham. What was your initial reaction to Lukas Hassel‘s screenplay and why did you want to be involved?
“The director, Lisa Belcher, direct messaged me on Instagram out of nowhere. To this day I don’t know how she found me. She said that she’d just looked up trans actors, but I didn’t have that many credits and there were so many other people who she could have found for that role who are optically obviously queer or androgynous. I am not that. I look like Jason Bateman. So I was intrigued when Lisa reached out. She said that she just had a feeling about me. I think it’s beautiful how artists have hunches about working with people.”
“When I heard that it was a trans character in a film about a group of people who’d gathered to commit suicide, I thought maybe it was an opportunity that wasn’t going to work out. But then I read the script and saw that the character has a full arc. It’s not about him being trans. There are some really deep, profound things that you watch my character go through that supersede any tropes about a sad trans person. I told Lukas that I thought it was really bold and he was like, ‘I’ve been friends with trans men for decades.’ So it’s not this idea of what trans people are. Lukas is sensitive. He’s an actor and he’s an artist. He was essentially pulling from people who he knows in real life. I think that’s why my character felt so multi-dimensional to me and I love the journey that he goes on because it’s unexpected. There are funny moments in there, but the script is tackling a very taboo subject.”
All of the characters are quite mysterious, particularly in the first part of the film. What was your approach to playing Alex and did you come up with a backstory for him to flesh things out for yourself?
“I always create a backstory for my characters, but I don’t get super invested in it so that I’m able to throw everything away as an actor when I’m on set and just be in the moment. But I do spend time really thinking about the world of the person who I’m inhabiting and I often draw from people that exist. In creating Alex’s backstory, I distilled that it wasn’t his transness that was sending him to this house, it was actually a breakup. That’s not mentioned in the film, but I had the whole experience of him losing a relationship that was part of his ego identity for so long all mapped out. He’s also a professional diver. As an athlete myself, I know what it’s like to be trans and an athlete, it’s extremely complicated. Often we have to let go of being part of a women’s sports team because we transition. I know other trans guys who were professional or college soccer players who had to leave their teams when they transitioned. So with Alex, there’s heartbreak with a relationship and there’s also heartbreak with his diving and the complicated nature of being a trans athlete.”
You have some great scenes with Natasha Henstridge and Lin Shaye, what were they like to work with?
“Oh, my gosh, what a gift! My partner, filmmaker and artist Zackary Drucker, is a true cinephile and she’s seen everything. So through her I’m gradually becoming a cinephile myself. Growing up in Utah, my parents raised me on foreign films, so when I was cast I’d never seen Species and I didn’t know who Natasha Henstridge was. But a lot of people I know, especially Gen X men, have said to me, ‘Oh my God, I thought she was the sexiest woman alive when I was growing up!’ Natasha is incredible. She’s extremely nice. Not to generalize, but she’s got that sweet Canadian vibe that I just love, she’s very laid back but also has such a commanding presence. She taught me a lot about how to be a professional actor on set at a time when I was more green. There was a very crystallizing moment while we were shooting and I always appreciate it when people are real with me. That’s why I love New Yorkers too.”
“Lin Shaye is the queen of horror. She was fabulous to work with. I learned a lot from her about being present and improvising because she’s such a grand master improviser. She’s in her 80s, but she has the energy of a 16 year old. She’s like, ‘I have 60 ideas about this scene, let’s go!’ She really wanted to do something in the film that all the queers would’ve loved, where she was dressed in a French maid’s outfit and stockings the whole time. She wanted to really lean into the sexy, unhinged Beatrice, which she did achieve, but she wanted it to be even more campy. I love her and she is so surprising to work with. I learned so much from her, which is mostly just have fun as a performer and everyone will eat it up!”
You mentioned that you weren’t much of a cinephile, but how much of a horror fan were you before this?
“The irony of my career so far is that I have booked quite a bit of horror and it’s never been my genre. I’ve never enjoyed it and I couldn’t understand why people would subject themselves to it! But after shooting House of Abraham and another horror that I just wrapped on—that’s a true slasher—Unsavory Elements, I now have a much deeper appreciation for the genre. With horror, you can have really complex conversations about what it’s like to be an oppressed person or any kind of minority group. I love that these two films will be seen by all of the horror lovers, who sometimes are very conservative.”
“Horror can be this incredible Trojan horse of a genre. For instance, you might be exposing people who maybe don’t care about what it’s like to be trans or what it’s like to be Chinese-American, in the case of Unsavory Elements. We’re talking about it in a way that’s brave and audacious. Horror is such a great vehicle to get these messages out. So now I’m a fan and I watch a lot more horror. I saw Hereditary and Heretic recently. I think that there can be so much value in this genre if it’s done well. I’ve really enjoyed the horror that I’ve seen so far and I really enjoy the horror films that I’m in!”
Away from horror, you also starred in Airplane 2025. Despite the title, it’s actually set in the 1970s isn’t it?
“Haha, yes, so confusing! It’s made by Asylum who are the people behind the Sharknado movies. Airplane 2025 was originally titled Mile High Club, but it changed at the last minute. But the set deck is 70s and it’s so psychedelic, fun and campy. It’s a spoof movie. It’s a sex comedy. It’s a bit like a trashy Austin Powers movie but not set in the UK. Do I think it’s a masterpiece? I’ll be honest, no, but I will tell you that I had so much fun playing a cis man, sexpot tennis player. I actually don’t think that the producers looked me up, so they didn’t even know I was trans.”
“I rolled onto set and the wardrobe person was like, ‘Oh, you’re trans, no worries. Here’s a packer.’ I was like, ‘I’m in LA, this is crazy!’ The wardrobe person just had a packer with them. So I was packing the whole time in my tiny short shorts. The women in the ensemble cast were all so amazing and I had the best time with that group of folks. It gave me hope for humanity at large because I was on a set where I wasn’t disclosing that I was trans, I wasn’t hiding it, but I wasn’t like, this needs to be about me and my identity. Everyone was so loving and excited to work together. As a trans person navigating Hollywood it felt like there was light at the end of the tunnel. That I can be in these spaces and just be myself, like everyone else in the cast can be themselves.”
You did a performance art show where you channeled Marylin Monroe, Marylin Mon Rex, what inspired that piece and how would you describe your relationship with other Golden Age movie stars like James Dean?
“Marylin Mon Rex was a live performance art piece that I did out in public at Los Angeles State Park near Chinatown in 2021. I was channeling the energy of Los Angeles and more specifically the story of people coming to this city to pursue a dream, the dream of Hollywood, the fantasy of having all of your wishes fulfilled. Marilyn Monroe typifies that having become this huge movie star who lives on well beyond her early death. I really related to that when I first moved to Los Angeles in 2018 with no money and nothing to my name. I was a complete nobody, and yet people were like, ‘You’re a star!’ I didn’t know what it was that people were seeing, but I came to LA to pursue it. When I arrived, I was immediately met with the disillusionment of the city itself. How Hollywood itself is gross and grimy a lot of the time and how a lot of people’s dreams do fall apart or never get realized, including Marylin’s to a degree. Her dream was to be loved unconditionally and it’s never clear if she ever got that dream and yet she lives on forever.”
“In terms of James Dean, he’s the ultimate rebel archetype. I had the pleasure of watching Rebel Without a Cause on the big screen in 35mm at Vidiots in Eagle Rock recently. It was so beautiful to see James Dean’s almost gymnastic ability to move his body. He’s so queer—regardless of his actual sexuality and all the rumors around his sexuality—in the choices that he makes as an actor of that time. He has this quality of, ‘I’m going to do what I want with my body and I’m going to look potentially strange or like a fool or a rebel.’ There’s something so freeing about witnessing him on screen. He is an Aquarius sun, and I have a lot of Aquarius in my chart, so I really relate to James’ attitude. He was like, ‘I don’t give a fuck. I’m going to be myself.’ In the opening scene of Rebel Without a Cause, the way he moves his body in that space is one of the queerest, strangest things I’ve ever seen from an actor, aside from Buster Keaton. James Dean gives me permission to be my weird, freaky self. To me, that’s what queer culture is. We’re always ahead of the curve. We’re like, ‘come into the future with us, you can choose your own adventure.’ James certainly chose his own adventure.”
Aside from your screen work, you’ve done a lot of comedy on stage, how did you first get up there?
“I have to give credit to Joey Soloway. We both got our adult Bnei Mitzvah together in 2021, so we came into the Jewish faith together in a deeper way and Joey started their transition medically. When they started taking testosterone, they were like, ‘I have this newfound confidence. I know how men do it now. I’m like, ‘Who cares?!” It was kind of a joke, but then we did a live show called Gnarly Hose. It was an interview-style show like Charlie Rose or Rachel Maddow on an LSD ketamine cocktail! It was crazy and we didn’t allow it to be recorded because we were interviewing people in the most unhinged way. I played Billy Bush, George Bush’s cousin and Joey played Gnarly Hose. We were talking about all the men who got canceled in Hollywood. It was very funny. So Joey and I were already doing weird performance art comedy and then they got into stand-up from there and said to me, ‘Why aren’t you doing stand-up too?’ And I was like, ‘I don’t know!'”
“The City of West Hollywood gave me a grant and I’d pitched to curate an art show with trans men. But because I’m such a freaking rebel without a cause, I decided that I wanted to host a transmasculine comedy night called Big Dad Energy instead, even though I’d never done stand-up before. We did our first show in January, 2023 and it was the first time I’d been on stage as a stand-up. Joey was on the lineup too, along with a few other incredible transmasculine comedians like Janaya Future Khan. I had the time of my life on stage and people were like, ‘You’re really funny!’ Was I horrified? Yes! But I think once you break the seal with comedy—and once you bomb, which I have—it’s very liberating. After you’ve done it a few times you’re like, what’s the worst that’s going to happen?!”
How did astrology come into your life? You give readings don’t you?
“Yeah, I work one-on-one with people weekly. I actually have some clients who I’ve worked with consistently for five or six years which is pretty incredible. I love astrology. In LA people are more amenable to it, but it’s still interesting to come out as an astrologer. At parties, I would rather people know that I’m trans sometimes than have Zackary tell people, ‘He’s an astrologer.’ I’m like, ‘Oh, God!’ There are moments where it’s the deepest closet for me, but I am becoming much more open about it because it has been part of my life since I was 11 years old.”
“I was a voracious reader as a kid and I’d go to New Age bookstores in Salt Lake City and read the entire occult section. My parents are scientists, but they did do Tarot readings to help guide their scientific practice, which is wild. My dad solved a lot of his greatest experiments in his dreams. He’s so left-brained and logical as a person, but yet he was engaging in metaphysical practices. My mom was very supportive of astrology for me and I think I gravitated towards it because it was a non-gendered art. So I wasn’t bound by gender. The planets became this sort of multivalent identity-forming experience for me.”
“Now I’m in my 30s, so I’ve been doing this pretty intensely for at least 20 years. I have a deep body of knowledge around it and I understand my astrological practice in a similar way to my parents’ scientific practice. I’m observing and collecting data. It’s about watching the chart versus what’s happening in the external realm. The work I do with my clients is therapeutic through the lens of the chart. We go really deep emotionally through this structure and the chart becomes a doorway into where they need to heal. I’ve had clients who don’t believe in astrology still have breakthroughs happen because it’s a totally different language than you’re going to get in popular psychology. The work can be really powerful if it’s done well.”
You also have an astrology TikTok channel and an astrology-focused podcast, Word of Rex, don’t you?
“Yeah, World of Rex is a podcast that I’ve been doing since 2021 where I give an astrological weekly weather report. It’s like, ‘This is what’s happening, this is what I see and this is what’s possible.’ It’s generalized, so it’s not specific to a particular person, but I do sometimes talk about political events. I also talk about pop culture in relation to what’s happening with the planets above.”
Do you still surf regularly?
“Yeah, I love surfing. Surfing has been actually been a paradigm-shifting experience. I was transformed by it. I learned during the pandemic and I surfed every day in 2020 once they’d opened up the beaches in LA. The fires this year have caused a lot of disruption in my surfing routine, so I haven’t been surfing as much as I would’ve liked to because of the water quality. But I’m thinking about the ocean all the time. Surfing is one of the best forms of therapy. It’s ocean therapy, water therapy, salt therapy. Catching a wave—the metaphor of surfing—is something you can apply to your life and I really feel that.”
Last question for you, what’s your favorite piece of LGBTQ+ culture or a person who identifies as LGBTQ+; someone or something that’s had an impact on you and has resonated with you over the years?
“Ron Athey. He’s a mentor of mine. I wouldn’t have made it to Los Angeles without Ron. Being exposed to Ron’s work early on in my artistic career, I realized that there is no limit to how vulnerable you can get in front of an audience. Ron’s work has shown that in the way he has been turning his body, almost literally, inside out in front of audiences for decades. It’s the same with Franko B. The fact that I’ve been able to develop relationships with both of these men in real life is so beautiful to me. Ron gives me the allowance to be myself because he’s like, I’ve survived and not only survived but made this incredibly risky and brave art about it. He sat in front of the NEA. He’s a pillar of artistic achievement.”
“Ron is so present for me. As a trans man, I was so aware that my body was vulnerable in a very specific way because I have many holes. In Ron’s entire work—even though he’s a cis man—he’s penetrating his own body and showing that a very masculine, Herculean body, has holes and can be penetrated. There’s something so radical about embodying masculinity and also breaking the veneer that men are impenetrable. That really resonates with me. I’m someone who has holes and Ron has holes. All men have holes, if we’re being very technical here. What a revolutionary idea to afford other men the ability to be open and receive and be penetrated in whatever way we want to be; energetically, psychically, or literally. Ron’s a vanguard for all of that and I stand in his footsteps.”
By James Kleinmann
Visit Marval Rex’s official website & follow him on Instagram @MarvalARex. House of Abraham is playing in New York at LOOK Dine-In Cinemas W57 through June 19th and opens at Laemmle Royal, Los Angeles on Friday, June 20th. For more cities visit the movie’s official website.
Leave a Reply