Recently, I had the chance to speak with Blu del Barrio, one of the stars of Star Trek Discovery who has a passion for trans visibility, using their platform for good, and happens to be a big Studio Ghibli fan like me. So yes, an all around amazing human.
photography by Dax Henry and styled by Lauren Knudsen
INTERVIEW Blu del Barrio Talks Star Trek, Inclusion, & More
When it comes to the final frontier, Star Trek has worked to become as diverse as the galaxy should be (reflecting our own world). The newest series, Star Trek Discovery, is hailed as the most inclusive one in the history of the franchise. Not only does it feature Sonequa Martin-Green as the first black woman as a Captain but it also has LGBTQ+ representation and mixed race couples. Blu del Barrio, plays Adira, the first non-binary recurring character in Star Trek.
Blu is a non-binary actor, one of the first trans actors in Star Trek. He was studying at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art when the audition came in for Adira. He landed it and the rest is history. Now with the series ending, Blu is going on to other projects all while being conscious of using their platform for good.
photography by Dax Henry and styled by Lauren Knudsen
On being a part of the most diverse and inclusive cast in Star Trek history.
Blu: I’ve always been a really big champion of having as much diversity on screen as we do in our world. Going into this era of trek, where we have the most diverse show that we’ve ever had… I was extremely excited. Also nervous to be part of that representation. Very nervous. But ultimately, it was it was a really huge honor.
Adira is someone Blu can relate to. He shared how being able to portray their coming out on TV and knowing that might have helped others in their journey was special.
Blu: I feel like Adira's story really mirrored mine at the time that I was playing them and everything that we were going through. I feel very much like Adira in a lot of ways. [The] coming out scene to Stamets, I had just come out a few weeks prior to my parents, my family, and my friends. I was sort of waiting to do that before I could do it as this character. Because when I booked the show, only my two closest friends knew anything. So it was a really big jump [to] now it's on TV. So they were very gracious and we had a lot of conversations.
But that coming out scene was very much close to my own. A lot of my most of my medical transition was while I was playing Adira. When I think about this role, I think about probably the most meaningful period of transition in my life. And the majority of that has to do with my gender identity. So I feel very proud. That it is out there and that it is available for people to see and identify with and validate themselves with. It was really scary. It was scary as hell for a second to be that on show. But I'm really, really proud of it.
Watch the Blu del Barrio
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