Ivory Aquino is set to make history in Gotham City. The actress, whose credits include “When They See Us,” “Lingua Franca,” and “When We Rise,” is joining the cast of HBO Max’s “Batgirl” pic, which is set to focus on police commissioner Jim Gordon’s daughter, Barbara (Leslie Grace, “In the Heights”). Aquino has been tapped to play Barbara’s best friend, bartender Alysia Yeoh — “the first major transgender character ever to appear in a live-action film adaptation of DC comics,” per Deadline.
Based on the DC comics created by writer Gail Simone and artist Ardian Syaf, “Batgirl” is expected to debut this year.
“If you would ask me to describe myself in one word, I would say ‘dreamer,'” Aquino said in a 2017 interview. “In the beginning, you want to please other people, including your family because you love them. But that will only get you so far because you’re denying who you are when you just acquiesce to what people tell you that you are. But despite all that, when I was by myself before I drift off to sleep, I did have dreams and that just ignited my imagination. That got me excited to wake up the next day and do things that I enjoy, such as acting,” she explained.