Elliot Page: The Umbrella Academy star on 'living my life for the first time'

"I consciousness much excited astir acting than I person successful a very, very, precise agelong time," Elliot Page says, smiling.

It's a bully clip successful his life.

We conscionable astatine a edifice successful Hollywood the week his memoir is released. It has go an instant bestseller.

"We conscionable finished the last play of Umbrella and I felt truthful overmuch much embodied and centred, to beryllium capable to commencement the time arsenic 'me'," Page adds, "as opposed to being successful my trailer with changeless discomfort."

Page's quality - primitively named Vanya - transitioned to Viktor successful play 3 of the Netflix superhero deed bid The Umbrella Academy, successful enactment with his real-life sex transition.

"It's who I've ever been," the quality Viktor tells his siblings, successful an understated scene. Viktor asks if it is an contented for anyone and his siblings importune it is not, earlier returning to the archetypal storyline. It was described arsenic "movingly low-key" by Variety.

Netflix employed trans writer Thomas Page McBee to incorporated the Viktor sex modulation plotline into the amusement and the soft-touch attack worked with audiences astir the world.

Nielsen Media Research - which evaluated views crossed each platforms - says that the bid chalked much than 10.5 cardinal hours of streaming, making it the 13th astir viewed archetypal amusement of the year.

Page's Viktor instantly became 1 the champion known trans men successful fictionalised broadcasting - 1 of the slightest represented groups successful the industry.

According to the 2022-2023 Where We Are On TV study by LGBT advocacy radical Glaad, lone 11 of the 596 LGBT characters portrayed crossed 100 planetary TV, movie and streaming platforms were trans men.

Page says he's alert that helium is 1 of the astir high-profile trans men successful the satellite and takes this seriously.

"I'm successful this unsocial position," helium says, "and I perfectly person to usage my privilege and my level to bash what I can, successful immoderate way, to assistance my community."

When helium wrote his memoir, Pageboy, helium chose a lyric from a opus by transgender instrumentalist Beverly Glenn-Copeland for the opening lines.

"This satellite has galore ends and beginnings,

A rhythm ends, volition thing remain?

Maybe a spark, erstwhile truthful bright, volition bloom again."

The words resonated with Page.

"At truthful galore points I'd find myself thinking, 'I was ne'er a girl. I'll ne'er beryllium a woman. What americium I going to do? I conscionable privation to beryllium a 10-year-old,'" helium tells the BBC.

"Then I started realising, 'Oh, that's due to the fact that that's the past clip I felt similar myself, the past clip I felt similar I looked similar myself and was successful my assemblage and knew who I was and had this spark,' you know?

"It's present coming back. That spark."

It was successful December 2020, astatine the tallness of the Covid-19 planetary pandemic, that Page publicly came retired arsenic a trans man via his Instagram account. In a station that rapidly gathered much than 3 cardinal likes, Page wrote that helium felt fortunate to beryllium making the announcement.

"There were years and years of turmoil astir it," helium says, "of getting truly adjacent and past pulling away, talking myself retired of it."

Some of that reluctance was a hangover from the years of hiding his identity, connected proposal from movie executives who shaped his aboriginal career. In his publication helium describes the Hollywood helium encountered arsenic a 20-year-old prima of breakout autarkic movie Juno, arsenic "plastic, empty, homophobic".

In Juno, helium played a teen who goes done an unplanned pregnancy. The relation won Page an Oscar information and planetary fame.

"The occurrence of Juno coincided with radical successful the manufacture telling maine no-one could cognize I was queer," helium writes successful Pageboy, "that it wouldn't beryllium bully for me… So I enactment connected the dresses and the makeup. I did the photograph shoots."

He describes the level of discomfort, sex dysphoria, arsenic crushing.

"I had to debar my reflection. I couldn't look astatine pictures, due to the fact that I was ne'er there. It was making maine sick."

At the aforesaid clip gossip writers printed columns questioning his identity. Page says he's not definite pieces similar that would beryllium published now, successful the property of societal media.

"The articles you're referencing came retired successful 2008. I ideate if those came retired present astir someone, I mean, they would astir apt beryllium eviscerated for penning thing similar that."

So does helium judge a young trans idiosyncratic could travel to Hollywood now, with nary connections, and person a palmy career?

Page pauses earlier conceding, "I'm not 100% sure. In immoderate ways, potentially."

Then helium pauses again, "But now, we're besides successful a clip of specified utmost hateful rhetoric against trans lives. There's inactive truthful acold to go."

Community is the reply to polarising online debates astir transgender people, helium insists, and helium wants to link with young LGBT radical from astir the world, done his work.

We asked trans men who usage the BBC languages services to nonstop video questions for Elliot. One came from Adam, a 24-year-old aviator successful India, whose household enactment him done conversion therapy and refused to fto him permission the location for much than a year.

"This is not conscionable my story," Adam says. "This is the communicative of trans radical astir the world. So my question is, what connection bash you person for trans radical going done pugnacious times?"

Page is visibly moved erstwhile helium watches the video.

"My connection is conscionable to clasp connected and to emotion yourself with each your mightiness and to cognize that there's perfectly thing incorrect with you," helium says. "Reach retired for enactment wherever you tin find it. In idiosyncratic oregon online. Seek retired narratives that connection immoderate benignant of representation, immoderate benignant of comfort. Just a reminder that you're not alone."

Changing the communicative connected trans practice successful the media is thing helium says helium hopes to bash with his movie institution Page Boy Productions, arsenic good arsenic his ain acting roles successful the future.

He hopes that his level tin assistance alteration people's sometimes constricted perceptions of manhood.

"Being assertive is encouraged successful men," helium says. "I anticipation those expectations of what it means to beryllium a man, what masculinity means, tin beryllium redefined and healed."

He says helium isn't definite however his idiosyncratic beingness volition crook out.

"I'm not excessively funny successful having kids, to beryllium honest. But, I conjecture you ne'er know," helium says smiling. "I bash consciousness similar I'm truly surviving my beingness for the archetypal time. I'm conscionable happy. Just getting to aftermath up and locomotion my canine and bent retired with friends and consciousness similar I'm in, truly in, my assemblage for the archetypal time."

In Conversation is simply a collaboration betwixt BBC Three and the BBC World Service.