Charlie Craggs
Born1992 (age 31–32)[1]
London, England
NationalityBritish
EducationLondon College of Fashion[2]
Occupation(s)Actress, Author
Known forTransgender activism[3][4][5]

Charlie Craggs (born 1992) is a British transgender actress, activist, and author from London.[6]

Early and personal life

Craggs was born on a council estate in Ladbroke Grove, West London. She later attended the London College of Fashion. Growing up, Craggs struggled with gender dysphoria, but seeing Nadia Almada win the fifth series of Big Brother in 2004 helped her understand that it was possible to transition.[7]

Career

In 2013, Craggs launched her "Nail Transphobia" campaign which provided free manicures to people, allowing them to chat with a trans person about their experiences, in an attempt to reduce transphobia.[8] The campaign began as a university project and grew to become a pop-up salon that appeared at different events and locations.[9][8] The impact of the campaign was recognized in 2015 when Craggs was number 40 in The Independent newspaper's 2015 "Rainbow List" of the 101 most Influential LGBTI people in the UK[10] and again in 2016 when she led the 2016 "New Radicals" list compiled by Nesta and The Observer newspaper.[11]

In 2017, Craggs published her first book, To My Trans Sisters,[12] a collection of letters by successful trans women.[3] In 2018 the book was a finalist in the 30th Lambda Literary Awards.[13]

Craggs began a campaign in 2018 for inclusion of a transgender rainbow flag emoji in Unicode,[14] which was subsequently included in 2020.[15]

In 2021, Craggs fronted the BBC Three documentary Transitioning Teens about transgender teenagers waiting to be seen by the NHS regarding their transitions. The doc was released on BBC iPlayer.[16]

In 2022, Craggs landed one of the leading roles in the Doctor Who spin-off podcast Doctor Who: Redacted, making her the second transgender companion in the show's history. The BBC Sounds podcast was created and written by Juno Dawson and features Jodie Whittaker in her role as the Thirteenth Doctor.[17]

Filmography

Audio

Year Title Role Notes
2022–2023 Doctor Who: Redacted Cleo Leading role[17]

References

  1. ^ Craggs, Charlie (2020). "A Brief History of My Womanhood". In Curtis, Scarlett (ed.). Feminists Don't Wear Pink (And Other Lies): Amazing Women on What the F-Word Means to Them. London: Penguin. ISBN 978-0-241-41836-9. OCLC 1152567412.
  2. ^ Fashion, London College of (28 January 2019). "LCF Alum Charlie Craggs publishes first book To My Trans Sisters". London College of Fashion.
  3. ^ a b "Review of the year: the female groundbreakers of 2017". The Independent. 25 December 2017.
  4. ^ "Trans myths debunked: 'They're not just handing out vaginas in the street!'". BBC Radio 5 Live.
  5. ^ "How Charlie Craggs Is Fighting Transphobia One Manicure At A Time". The Fader.
  6. ^
  7. ^ Clark, Susan (20 November 2022). "Trans woman reveals surgery that made the biggest difference to her wellbeing". The Independent. Retrieved 21 November 2022.
  8. ^ a b "Nail Transphobia: 'I'm just trying to be everyone's trans friend'". the Guardian. 10 July 2016. Retrieved 18 August 2021.
  9. ^ "How I'm Fighting Transphobia By Doing People's Nails". HuffPost UK. 15 December 2015. Retrieved 18 August 2021.
  10. ^ "Rainbow List 2015: 1 to 101". The Independent. 15 November 2015.
  11. ^ "Charlie Craggs: Nail Transphobia". Nesta.
  12. ^ To My Trans Sisters. Jessica Kingsley Publishers. 2017. ISBN 978-1785923432.
  13. ^ "30th Annual Lambda Literary Award Finalists Announced". Lambda Literary Foundation. 6 March 2018.
  14. ^
  15. ^ Curtis, Cara (30 January 2020). "Unicode Consortium finally added a transgender flag emoji and more gender-inclusive designs". The Next Web.
  16. ^ "Transitioning Teens". BBC iPlayer. Retrieved 17 April 2022.
  17. ^ a b New audio drama spin-off Doctor Who: Redacted
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