Georgina Beyer

Known for being the world’s first openly transgender mayor and MP, Georgina Beyer was an actress before she stepped into politics. Her screen roles included the series Inside Straight (1984) and AIDS drama A Death in the Family (1986). In 1985 she played the starring role of Jewel in Jewel’s Darl from the About Face series, following the love story of Mandy, a man who dresses as a woman, and transgender Jewel. The role won her a nomination for Best Actress at the 1987 GOFTA awards.  Beyer has also appeared in several documentaries — in 2001 she was the subject of acclaimed documentary Georgie Girl.  She died aged 65 on 6 March 2023.

For the time, that was quite unusual, to look at people like us not as caricatures, but real people with real lives. Georgina Beyer on portraying a transgender character in Jewel's Darl, The Spinoff, 6 March 2023