Meet Leyna Bloom, the first transgender model to cover Sports Illustrated, star of Netflix’s Pose, and proudly representing ‘Filipina, black and immigrants’
- Her film Port Authority screened at the Cannes Film Festival – she also appeared in Asking For It with Ezra Miller and walked at New York Fashion Week
- She was a ballet student who loved strong women in Marvel comics and Star Wars, but why did she drop out of Chicago Academy for the Arts?
When Leyna Bloom recently became the first trans woman of colour to be featured in Sports Illustrated’s swimsuit issue – and the first trans person ever on its cover – she made the world sit up and take notice.
Seeing her posing as confidently as any seasoned model, it might be easy to imagine that she had a smooth journey to where she is today … but the truth is quite different.
Here’s everything you need to know about Bloom.
She is Afro-Asian
Bloom was born in Chicago to a Filipino mother and an African-American father. “I’m representing Filipina, I’m representing black, I am representing people who have been immigrants,” she told The New York Times. For them, I’m a vessel of change.”
She made history before
When Bloom was a child, she read fashion magazines and, like millions of others, dreamt of appearing in their pages one day, according to Gay Times. In 2017, she made her dream come true by becoming the first trans woman of colour to appear in Vogue India.
