Elliot Page

Elliot Page (formerly Ellen Page; born February 21, 1987) is a Canadian actor and producer. He first became known for his role in the film and television series Pit Pony (1997–2000), for which he was nominated for a Young Artist Award, and for recurring roles in Trailer Park Boys (2002) and ReGenesis (2004). Page also received recognition for his role in the film Hard Candy (2005), and won an Austin Film Critics Association Award.

Page had his cinematic breakthrough with the title role in Jason Reitman’s film Juno (2007), earning nominations for an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, a Critics’ Choice Award, a Golden Globe Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award. He earned praise for roles in The Tracey Fragments (2007), Whip It (2009), Super (2010), Inception (2010), and Tallulah (2016).

Page portrayed Kitty Pryde in the X-Men films The Last Stand (2006) and Days of Future Past (2014), produced the film Freeheld (2015) in which he also starred, and made his directorial debut with the documentary There’s Something in the Water (2019). He provided voice acting and motion-capture acting for the main character in the video game Beyond: Two Souls (2013). Since 2019, he has portrayed Vanya Hargreeves in the Netflix series The Umbrella Academy.

Page publicly came out as a gay woman in February 2014 and subsequently as transgender in December 2020. In March 2021, Page became the first openly trans man to appear on the cover of Time magazine.

Early life

Page was born on February 21, 1987, in Halifax, Nova Scotia. His parents are Martha Philpotts, a teacher, and Dennis Page, a graphic designer. Assigned female at birth, he was known as Ellen Page. Page attended the Halifax Grammar School until grade 10, spent some time at Queen Elizabeth High School, and graduated from the Shambhala School in 2005. He subsequently spent two years in Toronto, Ontario, studying in the Interact Program at Vaughan Road Academy, along with close friend and fellow Canadian actor Mark Rendall.

Career

1997–2004: Early work

Page first acted on camera in 1997 at age ten, starring as Maggie Maclean in the CBC television movie Pit Pony, which later spun off into a television series of the same name that ran from 1999 to 2000. For the role, he was nominated for a Young Artist Award. In 2002, Page starred as Joanie in the film Marion Bridge, which is noted for being his first feature film role. In the same year, he was cast in the television series Trailer Park Boys in the recurring role of Treena Lahey, which he played for five episodes. Page had roles in the films Touch & Go and Love That Boy in 2003, and he also starred in the television films Homeless to Harvard: The Liz Murray Story and Ghost Cat in the same year. For Ghost Cat, he won the Gemini Award for Best Performance in a Children’s or Youth Program or Series. In 2004, Page starred in the drama Wilby Wonderful, for which he won an award at the Atlantic Film Festival and was nominated for a Genie Award. Also in 2004, he had a recurring role in season 1 of the series ReGenesis as Lilith Sandström, daughter of the show’s protagonist.

2005–2010: Breakthrough and critical recognition

In 2005, Page received recognition for his role in the movie Hard Candy, where he portrayed Hayley Stark, a young girl who takes a pedophile hostage. The film was a critical and commercial success, and he received acclaim for his performance, with USA Today praising him for his role, stating that Page “manages to be both cruelly callous and likable” and gives “one of the most complex, disturbing and haunting performances of the year”. For the role, he won the Austin Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress in 2006, among a number of other wins and nominations. Also in 2005, he starred in the British film Mouth to Mouth. In 2006, Page appeared in X-Men: The Last Stand (2006) as Kitty Pryde, a girl who can walk through walls. In the previous X-Men movies, the part had been used in brief cameos played by other actors, but never as a main character. The film was a commercial success.

In 2007, he had his widespread breakthrough for his leading role as the title character in the comedy-drama film Juno. A critical and financial success, the film was widely considered to be one of the best of the 2000s, and Page’s performance earned him critical acclaim. Film critic A. O. Scott of The New York Times described him as “frighteningly talented” and Roger Ebert said, “Has there been a better performance this year than creation of Juno? I do not think so”. For his performance, Page was nominated for several awards, including an Academy Award for Best Actress, a BAFTA Award for Best Actress, a Critics’ Choice Award for Best Actress, a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress, and a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role. He also won a Canadian Comedy Award, an Independent Spirit Award, and a Satellite Award for the role, as well as numerous critics awards including Detroit Film Critics Society, Austin Film Critics Association and Florida Film Critics Circle.

Also in 2007, he appeared in The Stone Angel, and led the films An American Crime and The Tracey Fragments, the latter of which also earned him critical acclaim, with the Boston Herald writing that “It is also a further reminder that Page is the real thing. But we knew that already”. He received several awards and nominations for the role, including winning a Vancouver Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress in a Canadian Film. He was attached to play the title character in an adaptation of Charlotte Brontë‘s Jane Eyre and had planned to work on an as-yet unmade film entitled Jack and Diane, but it was announced in August 2009 that his role in Jack and Diane would be played by the actress Alison Pill. Before his death in January 2008, Heath Ledger had discussed with Page the idea of starring in his directorial debut, The Queen’s Gambit.

In 2008, Page co-starred in the comedy-drama film Smart People, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, and received a mixed response from critics. In the film, he played the overachieving daughter of a college professor. On May 3, 2009, he guest starred in the episode “Waverly Hills 9-0-2-1-D’oh” of the animated series The Simpsons as a character named Alaska Nebraska, a parody of Hannah Montana. He also starred in Drew Barrymore’s directorial debut, Whip It, in the same year. The film premiered at the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival and had its wide release on October 2, 2009.

Page was featured in Michael Lander’s film Peacock, which was released in 2010. He noted the film as “one of the boldest screenplays I’ve come across in my albeit short career; it’s a character and story I can throw myself into and exactly the type of movie I love to be a part of”. In August 2009, Page was cast in the big-budget Christopher Nolan thriller Inception, which began filming the same year. The film was released on July 16, 2010, and was a commercial success. It attained widespread acclaim from critics, being hailed as one of the best films of the 2010s. The cast, including Page, earned several accolades, with Page earning nominations from the Saturn Awards and the MTV Awards. He also starred in the 2010 film Super, which he accepted after seeing the script for the film. The film received mixed reviews, though Page was praised for his performance.

2011–present: Other ventures and current work

In April 2011, it was announced that Page would co-star as Monica in the Woody Allen film To Rome with Love, a film which is told in four separate vignettes; the film was released in 2012. In June 2012, Quantic Dream announced a video game entitled Beyond: Two Souls in which Page portrays one of the protagonists, Jodie Holmes; it was released on October 8, 2013, in North America. The game polarized critics, but Page earned praise for his performance, with GamesTM calling it “truly breathtaking one of the truly great videogame acting showcases”. He was given various awards and nominations for the role, including the British Academy Games Award for Best Performer. In 2013, Page stated that his directorial debut would be Miss Stevens, and would star Anna Faris and be produced by Gary Gilbert, Jordan Horowitz and Doug Wald; the project eventually moved forward without Page, with scriptwriter Julia Hart replacing Page as the director. Also in 2013, he co-starred in Zal Batmanglij’s thriller The East, a film inspired by the experiences and drawing on thrillers from the 1970s, and he also starred in Lynn Shelton’s Touchy Feely.

In 2014, Page reprised his role as Kitty Pryde in X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014). The film was a major box-office success, and received positive reviews from critics, being noted as one of the best films in the X-Men franchise. Page was praised for his performance and was nominated for the Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Scene Stealer and the Kids’ Choice Award for Female Action Star. In December 2014, Page portrayed Han Solo in a staged reading of Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back. In 2015, Page starred and produced the film Freeheld, a film about Laurel Hester; the film was adapted from the 2007 short film of the same name. The film had a mixed response from critics, with review site Rotten Tomatoes writing that “Freeheld certainly means well, but its cardboard characters and by-the-numbers drama undermine its noble intentions”.

In 2016, Page co-starred in the Netflix film Tallulah as the titular character; the film marked his third collaboration with director Sian Heder, with whom he also worked on Juno. In the film, his character is a young woman who abducts a baby and tries to pass it off as her own. He received praise for his performance, with The Guardian writing “…what grounds it are the terrific performances and Heder’s rich direction and screenplay”. In the same year, he had voice roles in the films Window Horses and My Life as a Zucchini, the latter of which earned critical acclaim. On November 9, 2017, it was announced that Page had been cast in the main role of Vanya Hargreeves in the Netflix series The Umbrella Academy. The show received positive reviews from critics, and Page was praised for his performance, earning a Saturn Award nomination in 2019. The series was renewed for a second season in 2019, which was released in 2020. After Page came out as transgender, it was revealed that he would continue his role as Vanya in the show, with Netflix updating Page’s name across the service. In the same year, he starred in the critically panned film Flatliners, a remake of the 1990 film of the same name, and produced and starred in the film The Cured.

Also in 2019, Page starred in the Netflix miniseries Tales of the City as Shawna Hopkins. The series received positive reviews. In the same year, Page, along with Ian Daniel, directed and produced the documentary There’s Something in the Water, which is about environmental racism. The film premiered at the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival, and was released on Netflix on March 27, 2020. The film received positive reviews from critics, with The Hollywood Reporter writing that the film, while “made in a standard documentary format that includes a voiceover and a tad too much weepy music”, “gets its job done directly enough, underlining a situation that remains dire despite what seems to be a growing level awareness around the country”. He will next have voice roles in the upcoming films Naya Legend of the Golden Dolphin and Robodog.

Personal life

Page attended the Shambhala School, a non-denominational private school based on Shambhala Buddhism in his youth, where he practiced meditation and yoga. He practices a vegan lifestyle, and PETA named him and Jared Leto the Sexiest Vegetarians of 2014. He is an atheist, having remarked that religion “has always been used for beautiful things, and also as a way to justify discrimination”. In 2008, he described himself as a pro-choice feminist.

On February 14, 2014, Page, who was then presenting as female, came out as gay during a speech at the Human Rights Campaign’s “Time to Thrive” conference in Las Vegas.

In 2017, Page alleged having previously been outed as gay in 2005, by filmmaker Brett Ratner on the set of X-Men: The Last Stand. This would be when Page was 18, nearly a decade before Page first came out publicly. In a long Facebook post, Page expressed gratitude towards people who were breaking the silence against abuse, and expressed frustration at the pattern of looking the other way in industry. Actress Anna Paquin expressed support for Page, stating she was present when Ratner made the comment.

In January 2018, Page announced that he and dancer/choreographer Emma Portner had married. The couple met after Page noticed Portner on Instagram. The two separated in the summer of 2020, and Page filed for divorce in January 2021. The divorce was finalized in early 2021.

On December 1, 2020, Page came out as transgender on his social media accounts, specified his pronouns as he/him and they/them, and revealed his new name, Elliot. GLAAD spokesperson Nick Adams stated that Page “will now be an inspiration to countless trans and non-binary people”. His wife Emma Portner expressed support for him coming out on the same day on her Instagram account, saying she was “so proud” of Page. Netflix tweeted: “So proud of our superhero! We love you Elliot!” Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and several celebrities, such as Ellen DeGeneres, James Gunn, and Kumail Nanjiani, expressed support for Page on social media after the announcement. In a March 2021 interview, Page revealed that at the time he came out, he had been recovering from undergoing top surgery in Toronto, a process which he described as “not only life-changing but lifesaving”. Page also revealed that by the age of nine, “I felt like a boy… I wanted to be a boy. I would ask my mom if I could be someday”.

In the media

Page hosted Saturday Night Live on March 1, 2008. He was one of 30 celebrities who participated in a 2008 online advertisement series for US Campaign for Burma, calling for an end to the military dictatorship in Myanmar.

In 2010, he appeared in a series of advertisements for Cisco Systems, including commercials set in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia. In 2014, he was included in The Advocate‘s annual “40 Under 40” list.

Page was on the cover of the March 29 / April 5, 2021 issue of Time, with the title “I’m fully who I am”, making Page the first openly trans man on the cover of Time. In his interview with Katy Steinmetz for this double issue, Page also described himself as queer and nonbinary.

Filmography

Film

Television

Video games

Awards and nominations