Ivory Aquino is taking a trip to the DC universe, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed. Aquino has joined the cast of Batgirl and will appear as Alysia Yeoh, the best friend of Barbara Gordon/Batgirl, the masked hero played by Leslie Grace.
Aquino is known for her work in the 2017 LGBTQ rights miniseries When We Rise, which aired on ABC and saw her portray trans rights activist Cecilia Chung. Word of her Batgirl casting has been speculated about online after star Grace shared a photograph of the two of them together in an Instagram story earlier this month. Deadline was the first to officially confirm news Aquino had joined the cast.
The addition of Aquino, who is transgender, is a milestone casting for Warner Bros.’ DC Films division, with Aquino set to play the first openly trans character in a live-action DC movie. On the small screen, Nicole Maines played the trans hero Dreamer on The CW’s Supergirl starting in 2018. The series aired its finale in November. In 2019, actor Zach Barack, who is trans, appeared in Marvel Studios’ Spider-Man: Far From Home as a classmate of Peter Parker’s.
Batgirl is slated to debut on HBO Max and also stars Brendan Fraser in a villain role and Michael Keaton back as Batman, the hero he first played more than 30 years ago in Tim Burton’s Batman. J.K. Simmons will play Commissioner Jim Gordon, the father of Barbara Gordon. Bad Boys for Life filmmakers Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah are directing from a script by DC mainstay Christina Hodson, who penned The Flash and Birds of Prey. No release date is set for Batgirl, which is currently in production in the U.K.
Aquino is repped by A3 Artists Agency and Industry Entertainment.
