Kiley May

Kiley May (born 1986/1987) is a Mohawk and Cayuga storyteller,[1] actor, screenwriter, filmmaker,[2] and two-spirit activist in Toronto.[1]

Kiley May
Born1986 or 1987 (age 36–37)
Alma materRyerson University
Occupation(s)Storyteller, actor, filmmaker, two-spirit activist

Life

As a child, May lived at Six Nations of the Grand River, an Indian reserve in Ontario.[2] She[lower-alpha 1] was assigned male at birth, but was feminine as a child.[3] She experienced discrimination as a result of transphobia and homophobia.[2]

In 2007, May left the reserve and moved to Toronto, where she attended journalism school at Ryerson University. While in school, she discovered a love for creative writing, but after graduating she didn't write for several years.[2] May initially identified as genderqueer and gender non-conforming, and eventually started to use she pronouns; as of June 2017, at age 30, she was using both she/her and they/them pronouns.[3]

In 2017, May was the Youth Ambassador for Pride Toronto. She was additionally crowdfunding to pay for travel to Montreal for genital surgery.[3]

In 2020, May was a winner of the Magee TV Diverse Screenwriters Award from the Toronto Screenwriting Conference.[4]

Roles

Notes
  1. May uses she/her and they/them pronouns. This article uses feminine pronouns for consistency.

References
  1. Hensley, Laura (June 7, 2018). "What Does It Mean to Identify as Two-Spirit?". FLARE. Retrieved June 8, 2021.
  2. Bruno, Natasha (August 25, 2020). "Emerging Filmmaker Kiley May Talks Trans Representation in Media". FASHION Magazine. Retrieved June 8, 2021.
  3. "Kiley May, Toronto Pride's youth ambassador, on the journey to define her 'kaleidoscope identity'". Canadian Broadcasting Centre. June 22, 2017. Retrieved June 8, 2021.
  4. McCormick, Nicole (June 23, 2020). "'No limitations': Indigenous transgender storyteller Kiley May shapes her life as a kaleidoscope". CityNews Toronto. Retrieved June 8, 2021.
  5. Viola, Joey (September 20, 2019). "EXCLUSIVE: Toronto-based, Indigenous Trans actress Kiley May on her first major movie role in "IT: Chapter Two"". TheBUZZ Magazine. Retrieved November 2, 2022.


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