Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor

Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor is an American bisexual actress whose career spans more than two decades of powerful, politically charged performances. Shortly after receiving an Oscar nomination for her role as the Williams sisters' mother in King Richard (2021), Ellis-Taylor came out as bisexual in a landmark Variety interview: "I am Black, I am queer. This is who I am." She described her identity as integral to her sense of self rather than a separate disclosure, connecting her queerness to her long-standing activism around race, gender, and justice. Ellis-Taylor has never shied from taking on roles that interrogate systems of power: she starred in the Emmy-nominated When They See Us (2019), Lovecraft Country (2020), and the film adaptation of Origin (2023). As a bisexual Black woman in Hollywood, she has spoken about the double invisibility of being both Black and queer in an industry that often sidelines both identities, and she remains one of the most outspoken advocates for intersectional LGBTQ+ visibility.