Heartstopper and Doctor Who star, Yasmin Finney, has a dream of becoming the first trans Bond girl.
"I would love to be a trans Bond girl or just a Bond girl in general. I love James Bond," she said in an interview with the British newspaper the Mirror.
The 18-year-old continued by sharing her love for the James Bond franchise, saying, "Every time I watch a Bond film, I think I would love to be that cool, sexy Bond girl that has never been done before."
Caroline Cossey, an extra in the 1981 Bond film, For Your Eyes Only, was also an inspiration for the young actress. Yasmin went on to tell Mirror, "Shoutout to Caroline. She has inspired me in a way to be the positive representation that James Bond never had."
Cossey has shared her experience as one of the first trans women in the entertainment industry. Shortly after starring in the Bond movie and her subsequent feature in Playboy, Cossey was outed as trans by a tabloid. However, the pressure and the discrimination she faced from being under the public eye was almost too much for Cossey. In an interview with Cosmopolitan, she said, "I just got sick of being ashamed of something I'd never had any control over, which was my assigned gender."
After finding the courage to openly express herself, she kept working in the entertainment industry, and, in 1991, she was invited to model for Playboy once again. She said, "I wanted to do it because I wanted to show all the jocks and heterosexual Playboy readers that transgender people could be sexy and attractive and help them lose the preconceived notions they had about us."
Cossey's bravery throughout her journey has motivated Finney. She reflected on how the industry has become more accepting since Cossey was outed. "There are people in the industry that were transphobic, but now they aren't because of the way things are changing. I'd rather not fight it and be a part of it," Finney told the Mirror.
She told PinkNews that believes she was "put on this earth to make a change" as a trans actress.
"I'm still gagged that I'm a person that gets to be the first positive representation [of trans people] in the UK media," she told the news site in a recent interview. "Elle [Argent, Finney's Heartstopper character] is such a beautiful character. She's so confident and self-assured at such as young age. I don't think I've ever seen that on screen. I'm hoping that everything I do with the representation that I'm giving people, they can see themselves represented, and they can see a positive side being a queer person."
In addition to her Bond aspirations, Finney is set to join the next season of Doctor Who as Rose, alongside Sex Education's Ncuti Gatwa who will portray the Doctor. The next season of the legendary show is set to be a very queer one. In an interview with Variety, Neil Patrick Harris, who also stars in the upcoming season, said the Doctor will be out.
"[Gatwa will] be the first gay Doctor, which is going to be super cool, a sexier Doctor," Harris said.
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