Twenty-six-year-old Elliot Fletcher, who you might know from his roles on "The Fosters" and "Shameless," started his screen career playing Noah on MTV's "Faking It" in 2016. He also played Max on the series "Marvel's Runaways" and starred as Sam Jordan on the postapocalyptic series "Y: The Last Man," which came out in 2021.
Fletcher, who often plays trans characters on screen, has brought nuance and sensitivity to each of his roles. "Every character I play has a different trans experience so every character I've played up until this point has been very, very different about themselves being trans," he said to Screencrush in 2017. "Trevor [of 'Shameless'] was really open about it, Aaron [of 'The Fosters'] is pretty low-to-no disclosure, he doesn't tell many people. And Noah [of 'Faking It'] was also low-to-no disclosure, but a little bit more flamboyant [and] very outwardly gay."
Fletcher hopes playing a wide array of characters can help more viewers feel seen. "I hope that viewers who are struggling with their identity in that sense can see these characters and maybe identify with some of their traits and feel like, 'Maybe I'm not so closed off' or 'Maybe it's not weird to be this certain way,'" he said to Pop City Life in 2019.
He also hopes directors know that he isn't on set to speak for a single facet of his identity or to share his backstory with writers. "As an actor, I'd love to have more chances to separate my performances from issues of gender and politics," he told Mel Magazine in 2018. He wants his success to be on his own terms. "It's important to have your own definition of success rather than someone else's so you can fulfill your dreams, not someone else's expectations of your dreams," he told Forbes in 2017 when asked about his personal values.
In the future, Fletcher's vision of success for himself includes playing a superhero. "I always say that," he told Mel Magazine. "I'd love to be the first trans guy cast as a superhero."
