Chella Man

Chella Man is a Deaf, transmasculine, genderqueer Chinese-Jewish American artist, actor, model, and activist whose work centers the intersections of trans identity, disability, race, and queerness. He became widely known for sharing his experiences as a transgender, Deaf, Asian, and Jewish person of color, using digital platforms, art, and film to challenge the absence of representation he faced growing up. Man began transitioning with testosterone in 2017 after experiencing gender dysphoria throughout childhood, and he has spoken openly about how medical transition and top surgery transformed his self-esteem and embodiment. In 2019 he made his acting debut as Jericho, a Deaf superhero, in the second season of Titans (2018), bringing authentic disability and trans representation to a mainstream comic-book property, and he signed with IMG Models the same year. His multidisciplinary art practice — spanning film, sculpture, tattooing, and performance — explores liberation, language, and what he calls the cyborgian experience of being trans and Deaf, and his activism and talks have made him one of the most influential young voices in queer and disability-justice movements.