Shakina Nayfack

{{Infobox person

| name = Shakina Nayfack

| image = Shakina Nayfack.jpg

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1980|12|8}}

| birth_place = Ventura County, California, U.S.

| education = University of California Santa Cruz {{small|(BA)}}
University of California Riverside {{small|(MA, PhD)}}

| occupation = {{hlist|Actress|activist}}

| years_active = 2013–present

| website = {{URL|shakina.nyc|shakina.nyc}}

}}

Shakina Nayfack (born December 8, 1980) is an American actress and transgender activist. She is most notable for her series regular role as Lola, a "trans-truther", on the second and third seasons of the Hulu television program Difficult People, on which she was also a writing consultant.{{cite web|last1=Zhu|first1=Danielle|title=Difficult People: Transgender actress Shakina Nayfack joins case|url=https://ew.com/article/2016/02/26/difficult-people-caststransgender-actress-shakina-nayfack/|website=ew.com|publisher=Entertainment Weekly|accessdate=11 August 2017}} In 2020, she became the first trans person to have a starring role on a major network comedy show, Connecting.{{cite web|last1=Lambe|first1=Stacy|title=Shakina Nayfack on the Power of 'Connecting' and Breaking Barriers for Trans Visibility (Exclusive)|date=15 October 2020 |url=https://www.etonline.com/shakina-nayfack-on-the-power-of-connecting-and-breaking-barriers-for-trans-visibility-exclusive}}

Education

Nayfack attended University of California Santa Cruz where she received a B.A. in Community Studies with a minor in Theater Arts as well as a Graduate Certificate in Theater Arts. She went on to pursue an MFA in Experimental Choreography and Ph.D. in Critical Dance Studies at University of California Riverside.

Career

She previously appeared on the show The Detour, and in the 2014 film Death Drive.

Nayfack was a founding member and artistic director of New York's Musical Theatre Factory, and her one-woman show Manifest Pussy was highly regarded by the Manhattan theater scene. In 2016, she took Manifest Pussy on tour in North Carolina in response to HB2.{{cite web|last1=Clement|first1=Olivia|title=Shakina Nayfack Heads to North Carolina to Protest HB2|url=http://www.playbill.com/article/shakina-nayfack-heads-to-north-carolina-to-protest-hb2|website=Playbill.com|date=17 May 2016|publisher=Playbill|accessdate=11 August 2017}}

In 2015, she received the Lilly Award, which supports women in the theater and promotes gender parity for theatrical productions, in the "working miracles" category.{{cite web|last1=McBride|first1=Walter|title=2015 Lilly Awards Ceremony|url=https://www.thelillyawards.org/annual-awards-ceremony/2015-lilly-awards/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170628103648/http://thelillyawards.org/annual-awards-ceremony/2015-lilly-awards/|url-status=usurped|archive-date=June 28, 2017|website=thelillyawards.org|publisher=The Lilly Awards|accessdate=11 August 2017}} Nayfack has also received the TRU Humanitarian Award from Theatre Resources Unlimited (2016){{cite web|last1=Resources Unlimited|first1=Theatre|title=TRU Love Benefit|url=https://truonline.org/tru-event-category/tru-love-benefit-3/|website=truonline.org|accessdate=11 August 2017}} and the Beatrice Terry Fellowship Award from the Drama League (2017).{{cite web|last1=Drama|first1=League|title=Beatrice Terry Residency|url=http://dramaleague.net/?page_id=156|website=www.dramaleague.net|accessdate=11 August 2017}}

She plays the role of Ava in the 2019 musical finale of Amazon show Transparent, directed by Joey Soloway. Nayfack also served as a writer and producer on the finale.{{Cite web|date=2019-09-04|title=Shakina Nayfack Wants to Change How We Talk About Confirmation Surgery|url=https://www.advocate.com/transgender/2019/9/04/shakina-nayfack-wants-change-how-we-talk-about-confirmation-surgery|access-date=2020-10-21|website=www.advocate.com|language=en}}

She is the voice of Hana in the 2019 English dub of Tokyo Godfathers.{{Cite web |url=https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2020-02-13/gkids-announces-new-english-dub-cast-for-satoshi-kon-tokyo-godfathers-film/.156415 |title=GKIDS Announces New English Dub Cast for Satoshi Kon's Tokyo Godfathers Film |last=Sherman |first=Jennifer |website=Anime News Network |language=en |date=2020-02-13 |access-date=2020-02-15}}

She played the role of Ellis in NBC's Connecting... in 2020. This makes her the first trans person to have a starring role on an American network comedy.{{cite web|last1=Langston|first1=Keith|title=Shakina Nayfack Makes History in NBC'S 'CONNECTING…'|url=https://passportmagazine.com/shakina-nayfack-makes-history-in-nbcs-connecting/|website=passportmagazine.com|date=8 October 2020 |publisher=Passport|accessdate=8 October 2020}}

Personal life

In 2013, Nayfack crowd-funded her gender confirmation surgery through a "Kickstart Her" campaign.{{cite web|last1=Dziemianowicz|first1=Joe|title=Shakina Nayfack Tells of Transition Life|url=http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/shakina-nayfack-tells-transition-life-article-1.2294747|website=nydailynews.com|date=18 July 2015 |publisher=NY Daily News|accessdate=11 August 2017}} She is Jewish.{{cite web|url=https://www.salon.com/2017/01/30/manifest-pussy-shakina-nayfack/|title=Manifest Pussy: Why don't we just let Shakina Nayfack speak for us all?|date=30 January 2017|publisher=|accessdate=13 August 2018}} In June 2021 she came out as non-binary and uses she/her pronouns.{{Cite web|date=2021-05-30|title=Difficult People star Shakina Nayfack has come out as non-binary|url=https://www.gaytimes.co.uk/culture/difficult-people-star-shakina-nayfack-has-come-out-as-non-binary/|access-date=2021-06-18|website=GAY TIMES|language=en-GB}}