Pixar Is Currently Casting For Its First Trans Character

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Pixar has released a casting notice for its first transgender character. Pixar Animation Studios, a subsidiary of the Walt Disney Company, is famous for its innovative computer animation style. The company is based out of Emeryville, CA, and is known often by its logo, a playful bouncing lamp named Luxo, Jr. Pixar originally produced animated short films, but then began collaborating with the Walt Disney Company, which was interested in Pixar's computer animation programming. In the early 1990s, Pixar made a deal with Disney to produce three computer-animated films – the first being Toy Story in 1995. In 2006, the Walt Disney Company officially bought Pixar Animation Studios.

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Since Toy Story, Disney/Pixar has released 22 more films, the most recent of which is Soul (2020), starring Jaime Foxx and Tina Fey. Three additional Pixar films are currently in development – Luca, premiering in June of this year, along with Turning Red and Lightyear, which will both release in 2022. 10 Pixar films have won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, and Soul and Onward (2020) are both nominees for the 2021 Oscars season. Pixar also holds an extensive catalog of short films, which can often be seen in movie theaters before its feature films. Four of these short films have won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film, the most recent being Bao in 2018.

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In a Pixar Animation Studios casting notice shared by TransMarch on Twitter, it was announced that Pixar is now casting a voice-over role for one of their upcoming projects. Neither the name or the description of the animated project was disclosed, but the notice went on to describe just what Pixar's casting department is looking for. Check out the casting notice below:

While various Disney/Pixar actors are members of the LGBTQ+ community, this unnamed Pixar project will be the first to feature a character that is transgender. Recently, Disney was heralded for casting voice actor Patti Harrison in Raya And The Last Dragon (2021); Harrison is the first transgender actress to be cast in a Disney animated film. Disney/Pixar also showcased its first LGBTQ+ character in Onward: Officer Specter, a cyclops cop voiced by openly-gay actress, Lena Waithe. However, because the transgender community has received a very public marginalization in recent years, it is a monumental stride on Pixar's part to include accurate transgender representation in an upcoming film.

In years past, Disney/Pixar has missed the mark on accurately representing members of the LGBTQ+ community, but this casting notice provides a glimmer of hope for a more inclusive future of Disney/Pixar animated films. Because Pixar's animated films are mass-marketed primarily towards children and families, it is important these movies not only include characters of all orientations but also open informed discussions about LGBTQ+ representation amongst families. Additionally, with the growing population of transgender people under age 18, these younger audiences will seek out characters in Pixar movies they can personally relate to. Whatever this to-be-announced project may be, Pixar Animation Studios has surely taken a step in the right direction.