Icon Award
2022 Recipient: Michaela Jaé Rodriguez

Michaela Jaé Rodriguez

Michaela Jaé Rodriguez’s mainstream success has been years in the making. After attending several performing arts schools in her youth, earning praise in off-Broadway and regional theater productions and booking small TV gigs, her big break came in 2017 when she was cast as “Blanca” on the FX series ‘Pose.’ After three seasons on the show, the actress and singer is one of the most famous transgender people alive and a bonafide star.

Along the way, she made awards show history — twice. In July of 2021, Rodriguez became the first openly transgender woman to score an Emmy nomination for Best Lead Actress in a Drama for her work on ‘Pose.’ Then in January 2022 she became the first trans actress to win a Golden Globe when she won Best Actress in a Drama Series, also for “Pose.”

And while “Pose” may be finished, she’s only getting started. With an original EP on the way, a contract with Olay Body under her belt and a role in an upcoming AppleTV series opposite Maya Rudolph, Rodriguez has fully arrived.

In a word…iconic.