Caitlyn Jenner, the former Olympic athlete and reality TV star, is to lead a campaign to land a best supporting actress Oscar for Mya Taylor.
Taylor has been tipped by some awards pundits to be recognised in the category for her much-acclaimed turn in Sean Baker’s Tangerine.
The film, which premiered at Sundance last January and has won considerable critical and commercial success since, is the first acting role for Taylor, 24. She plays a transgender sex worker who – alongside her friend – investigates a troubling rumour in Los Angeles on Christmas Eve.
She won the breakthrough actor/actress Gotham award in November and the San Francisco Film Critics Circle’s best supporting actress prize the following month. The Oscar nominations are released on 14 January ahead of the ceremony on 28 February. The previous evening will see the Independent Spirit awards, at which she is nominated for best supporting actress.
To kick off the campaign, Jenner will host a screening of the film for Academy members on 4 January, followed by a reception with Taylor, Baker and the film’s executive producers, Mark Duplass and Jay Duplass.
There has been some scepticism about whether the Academy voters – a body which remains predominantly older and white, despite recent efforts – will embrace Taylor. Yet trans stories have been more prominent on both small and big screen than ever before, with award-winning Amazon Prime series Transparent, as well as Tom Hooper’s drama about the first person to undergo a sex change, The Danish Girl.
