Disney/Pixar Casting for Its First Animated Transgender Character

Steve Warren
04-28-2021

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The same studio that brought you much-loved animated features like Toy Story, The Incredibles, Finding Nemo, and Cars, is now casting for its first transgender character. 

Screenrant reports Pixar Animation Studios, a subsidiary of the Walt Disney Company, put out a casting notice in March on Twitter. The notice said Pixar was conducting a casting search for a youth voice-over role for an upcoming animated project. 

"The character, Jess, is a 14-year-old transgender girl," the notice read. "She's compassionate, funny, and always has your back."

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The announcement was confirmed by a San Francisco transgender group which spoke with the casting director. 

The unnamed animated project will be the first to feature a transgender character.  

Disney/Pixar has released a total of 23 films, including Soul, which was released in 2020 and won the Academy Award for "Best Animated Feature" last Sunday. It starred Tina Fey and Jamie Fox. 

Screenrant noted three additional Pixar films are currently in development. The first one titled Luca will premiere this June. The other two films, Turning Red and Lightyear, will be released in 2022. 

As CBN News reported in February of last year, the Disney/Pixar film Onward featured the first self-identified LGBTQ character in an animated film. The film also introduced the first "self-identified" gay character into the Disney-Pixar universe. Officer Specter - a Cyclops cop - is voiced by openly gay screenwriter and actress Lena Waithe. 

In recent years, children have been targeted more and more with the LGBTQ agenda in animated stories and other so-called family entertainment. 

Last May, Disney+ featured a short animated film titled Out, which highlighted a gay man named Greg, who plans to move in with his boyfriend, Manuel. 

Disney introduced the first teen gay romance to their "High School Musical" franchise in December of 2019. The episode titled "Homecoming" focused on a homecoming dance in which one male cast member invites another male cast member to the dance.

Even the cherished PBS Kids series "Clifford the Big Red Dog" has adopted this standard by featuring a recurring LGBT character.

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About The Author

Steve Warren is a senior multimedia producer for CBN News. Warren has worked in the news departments of television stations and cable networks across the country. In addition, he also worked as a producer-director in television production and on-air promotion. A Civil War historian, he authored the book The Second Battle of Cabin Creek: Brilliant Victory. It was the companion book to the television documentary titled Last Raid at Cabin Creek currently streaming on Amazon Prime. He holds an M.A. in Journalism from the University of Oklahoma and a B.A. in Communication from the University of
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