Speaker Series: Zoey Luna

As one of the first transgender youth public figures, Zoey has shared her life story through several documentaries and interviews. Zoey (along with her mother) was invited to be in “Laverne Cox presents: The T word”, a documentary for MTV following the lives of transgender individuals that was being headlined by Zoey’s longtime friend Laverne Cox which first aired on October of 2014.

Zoey then began a nearly 3 year shoot for the documentary “Raising Zoey” after local filmmaker Dante Alencastre saw Zoey make her first public appearance at the age of 12, speaking at Transgender Day of Remembrance (a worldwide event on November 20 each year) in West Hollywood. Dante was taken aback by Zoey’s outspoken voice and confidence and proposed the documentary which covered Zoey’s life from the age of 13 through 15.

Zoey also made guest appearances on reality shows including “I Am Jazz” and “I Am Cait”, and was a guest on HLN’s Dr. Drew show in 2015.

Zoey then shot an episode of “15 A Quinceanera Story: Zoey” which aired on HBO in the winter of 2017 after filmmaker Matthew O’Neill came across one of Zoey’s articles and realized she was an LA local, 14, and Latina. Matt was working on a film series to document the process of Latinx people in the US celebrating the Latino Quinceaneras tradition; Zoey fit all of the criteria and being a trans teen and having a quince would be outright unheard of in the past.

Zoey then started shifting her focus towards acting. Zoey previously acted in school productions, but her first professional acting engagement was for a lead role in the Rosario Dawson directed short film “Boundless” in which she played Liz, a trans tween building a high tech science fair project with her best friends and taking some huge risks.

Zoey recently appeared in the season finale of “Pose” as LACEY, a pier girl with the chance of being so much more and now has booked a lead role in the Blumhouse feature film remake “The Craft”.

At the age of 18, Zoey has a burgeoning acting career, has found love and recently has become engaged, and continues her activism to promote tolerance and inclusiveness for the transgender community.