Leo Sheng

Talented actor Leo Sheng recently got his big television break when he was cast in The L Word: Generation Q, a sequel to the highly influential noughties series The L Word. Like its predecessor, Generation Q focuses on the everyday lives of a group of LGBTQ+ people. Sheng plays Micah Lee, a college professor who, like Sheng, is a trans man. The show was broadcast on Showtime in the States and Sky Atlantic in the UK, becoming a hit on both sides of the Atlantic and quickly renewed for a second season.

However, before he became a hit on our screens, Sheng was a social media star, particularly on Instagram, winning praise for documenting his journey as he underwent gender reaffirming surgery. His posts began to reach a wider audience in 2015 when he was invited by the Miley Cyrus-founded Happy Hippie Foundation to take part in #InstaPride, a campaign that sought to raise transgender visibility. This led to him contributing articles to major outlets such as Huffington Post and MTV Voices. In 2018, although not a professional actor, he was invited to audition for a transmasculine role in Adam, a comedy film that went on to win awards at LA Outfest and the Czech Gay and Lesbian Film Festival.

Sheng was born in China but grew up near Ann Arbor, Michigan. He came out as trans aged 12 and started transitioning shortly afterwards. Finding support through a local group for queer and trans youth, he began to tell his story online—the beginnings of a large social media following that continues to grow as his status does.