Michaela Jaé Rodriguez

Michaela Antonia Jaé Rodriguez (born January 7, 1991), known professionally as Michaela Jaé Rodriguez and formerly as Mj Rodriguez, is an American actress and singer. Her career began in 2011. She was born in Newark, New Jersey. She said that she had "prayed to become female" beginning at age 7 and came out to her parents as "bisexual and gay" at the age of 14.

Rodriguez began transitioning from the male to female gender after her career began. She took a break from acting during this process. Afterwards, she began looking for female roles instead of male roles. At first she had small roles in Nurse Jackie, The Carrie Diaries, and Luke Cage.

In 2021, she played Carolyn in the Netflix musical Tick, Tick... Boom!.

In 2017, Rodriguez was cast as one of the lead roles in the FX television series Pose. This made her part of the largest cast of transgender actresses to be starring as series regulars in a scripted series. She played Blanca Evangelista.

In 2021, she became the first transgender woman to earn an Emmy Award nomination in a major acting category for her role as Blanca. In 2022, she won a Golden Globe Award becoming the first transgender actor to win the award.

On June 4, 2021, Rodriguez released her debut single "Something to Say".