Trace Lysette

In her late teens Lysette was a track athlete and performed drag in bars around her native Dayton and Columbus, Ohio. She worked as a hairstylist and makeup artist before beginning her acting career with a guest role in an episode of Law and Order: Special Victims Unit.

After initially auditioning for cisgender roles without disclosing her trans status, Lysette chose to come out during her audition for the Amazon series Transparent. She is best known for her role on the show, where she plays Shea, a transgender yoga teacher, friend and educator of Jeffrey Tambor's lead character Maura Pfefferman. After originally auditioning for the role of Davina, Transparent creator wrote the role of Shea for Lysette. The third season of Transparent contains a storyline in which Shea has a romantic relationship with a cis hetero man, which has been called "a groundbreaking TV moment for a trans character."

She has also appeared in guest roles in shows such as Blunt Talk and Drunk History. She also made an appearance in the documentary series I Am Cait.

In 2017, transgender actors and actresses including Lysette (with the help of GLAAD and ScreenCrush) were part of a filmed letter to Hollywood written by Jen Richards, asking for more and improved roles for transgender people.

Before becoming an actress Lysette had experience in the sex work industry. In an interview with The AV Club she spoke about her experiences, stating "In the past I’ve talked about my experience with survival sex work, and also with dancing in gentleman’s clubs to pay for acting classes and make all my auditions when I was pounding the pavement all those years in New York City."

Television