Aneesh Sheth: A Voice for South Asian and Trans Representation

Photo courtesy of Aneesh Sheth

Aneesh Sheth is an Indian American actress who has been acting on the stage since she was 7. Aneesh is a proud queer activist, working with the Trevor Project where she went through her transition. She is a singer, actress, producer, writer who has enjoyed success on NBC, Netflix and Broadway and continues to work for more South Asian trans representation in media.  

LTA: “Starting off, could you introduce yourself, your pronouns and explain what you do?”
Aneesh: My name is Aneesh Sheth, my pronouns are she/her/hers and I am a singer, actress, director, producer, writer, educator, and trans activist.

LTA: “What has your personal journey with your LGBTQ+ identity been like?
Aneesh: Growing up queer in the 80s, there was little information for me to absorb in order for me to claim my own identity. I didn’t recognize my own queer identity till I was 16 and only about 10 years later at 26 did I have the language to truly claim my identity as a transgender woman. As a teenager, with a little more freedom, I was able to explore queer spaces in my hometown, NYC, which helped inform me of my own queerness. I identified as a “gay male” for many years, and it wasn’t until I met a fellow Trans woman of color during a training session at the The Trevor Project that really made visible to me my own identity.

LTA: How did being Indian-American affect your career and your presence in queer spaces?
Aneesh: Being Indian-American has certainly limited the opportunities available to me in show business. While we’re seeing some progress in terms of varied representation, South Asian, particularly queer, representation is hugely lacking. Additionally, our industry has a way of focusing on which stories they deem important to tell, and when it comes to trans narratives, South Asian trans folks are often completely left out. Sadly, this has also been a sad reality in my experience within my own community, both industry-wise and in queer spaces. My queerness separated me from my Indian community and my Indian identity separated me from my queer community. As a generality, I see a lot of South Asian narratives and voices missing from conversations about representation.

LTA: What drew you to a performance career so early in life?
Aneesh: Partly as a way to keep me out of trouble, and partly because I seemed to enjoy watching theatre so much, my parents put me in a community theater group in my church basement when I was 6 years old. As I got older, I started taking part in more semi-professional, and ultimately professional companies. I also started studying piano at 6 years old, and voice and flute at 11, so music was also a big part of my life. Though I had been studying classical voice up through high school, I decided musical theatre was where I felt more at home and pursued a BFA in musical theatre.

LTA: What is it like being a transgender woman in your field of work? Do you deal with any obstacles when it comes to theatre and casting?
Aneesh: It is certainly challenging being a cis-perceived, South Asian Trans woman in show business. In unpacking that identity, I have come across obstacles and adversities every step of the way. Although it happens much less than it did 10 years ago, you still hear the “you’re not Trans enough/you don’t look Trans” reasoning when it comes to not being cast in Trans stories. Also, as I touched on earlier, South Asian Trans representation is practically non-existent, and often not considered in the narratives producers choose to greenlight to production.

LTA: Do you feel screen acting or theatre is more inclusive with casting, and works to include more diversity in its casting? 
Aneesh: Screen acting has a lot more flexibility in terms of the medium of storytelling, which has translated into more opportunities for queer and trans folks, as well as diversity as a whole. I think because of the sheer amount of content that film/tv has the ability to put out versus theatre allows it to be more representative of the world we live in.

LTA: How would you like to see the LGBTQ+ community move forward and improve?
Aneesh: I’d love to see a more inclusive and diverse population represented within the LGBTQ+ communities in the industry. A lot of the narratives we see focus on queer trauma, rather than queer joy! We need to see much more of the joy - because we all know we deal with trauma so much in our lives already.

LTA: And on a similar wave, for young queer folk that are trying to pave their way into Hollywood and the industry? Especially queer youth of color? 
Aneesh: BE YOU. Be yourself, and be true to yourself. Do not sacrifice any parts of you to fit into an antiquated industry. By you remaining true to yourself and your convictions, the industry will eventually catch up!

Written by: Saranya Kolli