Transgender star Brady 'I'M LIVING MY BEST LIFE!

Told she'd never find success, the Timaru actress is now landing all her dream roles

-  Aroha Awarau

As a trans woman, award-winning performer Brady Peeti has broken down many barriers. A star of TV and theatre, the actress has reached a point in her career where she is being cast as woman characters.

Last year, she even won major female roles in a professional production of the musical Rent in Christchurch and the Australian stage show Jekyll And Hyde, a feat once unheard of for trans actors.

But there was a time when Brady, 34, suppressed her passion for performance because she was constantly told she’d never find work as a trans actress and she was also scared of what others might think.

“At the time, I saw the world as being so binary and restrictive,” she tells. “If you looked and acted a certain way, you were going to be judged. I felt it was too cutthroat for me.”

Born in Whanganui, Brady – who is of Ngāti Maniapoto and Te Ati Haunui-a-Pāpārangi descent – knew she was different from an early age. When her parents moved to Timaru, away from their wider whānau, to work at the local fishery, the only child struggled.