Negha Shahin (born 1993) is an Indian trans actress. Negha Shahin, who created history by becoming the first

trans woman A trans woman or transgender woman is a woman who was assigned male at birth. Trans women have a female gender identity and may experience gender dysphoria (distress brought upon by the discrepancy between a person's gender identity and their ...

to win the debut actor award at the

52nd Kerala State Film Awards The 52nd Kerala State Film Awards, presented by the Kerala State Chalachitra Academy were announced by the Minister for Cultural Affairs, Saji Cherian in Thiruvananthapuram Thiruvananthapuram ( ), also known as Trivandrum, is the Capital c ...

. She was born in

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is the southernmost States and union territories of India, state of India. The List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of Indi ...

, India. Negha was forced to leave her home and drop out of college at the age of 18. She is currently living in

Chennai Chennai, also known as Madras (List of renamed places in India#Tamil Nadu, its official name until 1996), is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Tamil Nadu by population, largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost states and ...

and has worked with various transgender rights organizations, including the Thozhi. Negha is the founder of Queer Casting and QC is a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting the trans and queer community

Early life

Negha was assaulted and then kicked out by her parents when she came out as transgender. She moved to Chennai with her Plus Two certificate.

Career

Negha is a trained mental health counsellor, having worked with a

NGO A non-governmental organization (NGO) is an independent, typically nonprofit organization that operates outside government control, though it may get a significant percentage of its funding from government or corporate sources. NGOs often focus ...

called Thozhi she have counseled over 100+ trans women to overcome their gender issues and fight against their social stigma During this, she became a

model A model is an informative representation of an object, person, or system. The term originally denoted the plans of a building in late 16th-century English, and derived via French and Italian ultimately from Latin , . Models can be divided in ...

and a television anchor. She also worked a

video jockey A video jockey (abbreviated VJ or sometimes veejay) is an announcer or host who introduces music videos and live performances on commercial music television channels such as MTV, VH1, Much (TV channel), MuchMusic and Channel V. Origins The term " ...

with

Ananda Vikatan ''Ananda Vikatan'' is a Tamil-language weekly magazine published from Chennai, India. History ''Ananda Vikatan'' was started by Late Pudhoor Vaidyanadhaiyar in February 1926 as a monthly publication. The issue for December 1927 was not publishe ...

. Negha is the writer of Love Is Love and director of Sandakaranga. “This is the first-time trans men and trans women have come together on a stage,” says Negha i
Rural India Online.
In 2021, she appeared in '' Antharam'', for which she was the first transgender woman to win a ''Maiden Award'' at the

. She has also starred in over few short films namely,

Piravi ''Piravi'' () is a 1989 Indian Malayalam-language drama film directed by Shaji N. Karun. It stars Premji, Archana and Lakshmi Krishnamurthy. The film is based on the life of professor T. V. Eachara Warrier, whose son, a student in Regional ...

, Manam and Thirunagal. She worked on a Tamil film ''

The Road ''The Road'' is a 2006 post-apocalyptic novel by American writer Cormac McCarthy. The book details the grueling journey of a father and his young son over several months across a landscape blasted by an unspecified cataclysm that has destroyed ...

'' (2023), which also stars

Trisha Trisha is either: * a female given name usually derived from the female Latin given name Patricia (derived from the Latin word patrician, meaning 'noble'), * a Hindu unisex given name a transliteration of तृषा (Tṛṣā) meaning thirst ...

and

Miya George Gimi George, better known by her stage name Miya George, is an Indian actress and model who predominantly works in Malayalam films, along with a few Tamil films. She made her film debut by playing short roles in films such as '' Oru Small Famil ...

Evolution In media

In September 2023, the inaugural QC workshop was successfully completed with participation from over 18 transgender and queer individuals. They gained valuable field knowledge from directors

Mysskin Shanmugha Raja, known professionally as Mysskin (), is an Indian film director, screenwriter, lyricist, playback singer, actor, film producer and composer. He made his directorial debut in 2006 with '' Chithiram Pesuthadi''. His subsequent fil ...

and Sasikumar alongside various other directors and actors In June 2024, observed worldwide as

Pride Month Pride Month, sometimes specified as LGBTQ Pride Month, is a List of month-long observances, month-long observance dedicated to the celebration of LGBTQ pride, commemorating the contributions of lesbian, gay, Bisexuality, bisexual, transgender a ...

, Queer Casting hosted an event called "Pride Palooza" in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. This event's organized by a trans couple, featured a keynote of first southern

trans men A trans man or transgender man is a man who was assigned female at birth. Trans men have a male gender identity, and many trans men undergo Gender transition, medical and social transition to alter their appearance in a way that aligns with th ...

panel discussion in India and the 106th performance of A. Revathi's play "Vellai Mozhi," an award ceremony with several other activities

Filmography

As actress

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shahin, Negha Living people Indian female models Transgender rights activists Indian LGBTQ rights activists Indian transgender actresses Indian women activists Transgender female models 1993 births 21st-century Indian actresses Indian film actresses 21st-century Indian LGBTQ people