Jen Richards is an American writer, actress, producer, and activist.

Life and career

Richards was born in

Mississippi Mississippi ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Alabama to the east, the Gulf of Mexico to the south, Louisiana to the s ...

and resides in

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

. She graduated from

Shimer College Shimer Great Books School ( ) is a Classic_book#University_programs, Great Books college that is part of North Central College in Naperville, Illinois. Prior to 2017, Shimer was an independent, accredited college on the south side of Chicago, or ...

with a BA in Philosophy, and studied at

Oxford University The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the second-oldest continuously operating u ...

. In 2015, she appeared as a supporting cast member of

Caitlyn Jenner Caitlyn Marie Jenner (born William Bruce Jenner, October 28, 1949), formerly known as Bruce Jenner, is an American media personality and retired Olympic gold medal-winning decathlete. Jenner played college football for the Graceland Yell ...

's reality show ''

I Am Cait ''I Am Cait'' is an American television documentary series which chronicles the life of Caitlyn Jenner after her gender transition. The eight-part one-hour documentary series debuted on July 26, 2015, on the E! network. The series focuses on t ...

''. In 2016, she co-starred, co-directed, co-wrote and co-produced the web series '' Her Story'', which was nominated for an

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award categor ...

. Richards also co-produced the series ''More Than T'' and wrote the ''Trans 102'' series. Richards joined the cast of the television series ''

Nashville Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...

'' in 2017. She became the first openly transgender person to appear on a CMT show, playing the first transgender character to appear on that network. Richards also appeared in the 2017 film ''Easy Living''. In June 2017, Richards wrote and appeared in a video open letter, presented by

ScreenCrush Townsquare Media, Inc. (formerly Regent Communications until 2010) is an American radio network and media company based in Purchase, New York. The company started in radio and expanded into digital media toward the end of the 2000s, starting wit ...

and

GLAAD GLAAD () is an American non-governmental media monitoring organization. Originally founded as a protest against defamatory coverage of gay and lesbian demographics and their portrayals in the media and entertainment industries, it has since ...

, featuring trans actors asking for better representation in film and television. In August 2018, HBO announced a series pickup of Tom Perrotta's '' Mrs. Fletcher'', a half-hour comedy based on Perrotta's 2017 novel of the same name; Richards is cast as Margo Fairchild, a transgender community college writing teacher, as a series regular.

Personal life

Richards is

bisexual Bisexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior toward both males and females. It may also be defined as the attraction to more than one gender, to people of both the same and different gender, or the attraction t ...

and

transgender A transgender (often shortened to trans) person has a gender identity different from that typically associated with the sex they were sex assignment, assigned at birth. The opposite of ''transgender'' is ''cisgender'', which describes perso ...

. In August 2020, she announced her engagement to Rebekah Cheyne, a professor from

Arizona State University Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public university, public research university in Tempe, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1885 as Territorial Normal School by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, the university is o ...

Filmography

Television

Film

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Richards, Jen Living people Actresses from Mississippi Shimer College alumni American women television producers American film actresses American television actresses American women screenwriters Year of birth missing (living people) LGBTQ people from Mississippi American women television writers American television writers American LGBTQ screenwriters LGBTQ television producers 21st-century American actresses 21st-century American screenwriters 21st-century American women writers American bisexual actresses American transgender actresses American transgender writers American bisexual writers