Ivory Aquino has joined the cast of Batgirl, the upcoming superhero film. Ivory Aquino made history by being cast in Batgirl as the first trans character to appear in a DC Comics feature film. The “Tales of the City” & “When We Rise” star, who is also transgender, will appear as Alysia Yeoh, the best friend of Batgirl, a.k.a. Barbara Gordon.
Both Ivory Aquino and her character Alysia Yeoh are transgender, marking the first major transgender character ever to appear in a live-action film adaptation of DC comics. Yeoh first appeared in a 2011 issue of “Batgirl comics” written by Gail Simone and penciled by Ardian Syaf.
The character Alysia Yeoh is a bartender and the best friend of Batgirl, who is also known as Barbara Gordon and will be portrayed by Leslie Grace in the HBO Max movie.
Aquino will star alongside previously announced cast members including Leslie Grace, J.K. Simmons, Brendan Fraser, Michael Keaton and Jacob Scipio.
News of Aquino’s casting first leaked online in mid-January after Leslie Grace posted a photo on her Instagram tagging Aquino, which appeared to be from the movie set. It was captioned as “Barbara and Alysia 😍🦇”.
Aquino is best known for turns in the Netflix series When They See Us and Tales of the City, and in ABC’s When We Rise. She’s also featured in series including Blue Bloods, FBI: Most Wanted, New Amsterdam and High Maintenance, as well as Isabel Sandoval’s Lingua Franca and other films.