IM: I definitely would like to see more of my talent being utilized outside of it being about my gender and the pain that comes with being ostracized by society. I think that's the only use that people see trans people for right now. The only time people are finding a use for our performance or our ability to act is to demonstrate pain, the pain of [being ostracized], the pain of our gender being dissected. I think we're reaching a place where we're getting to work outside of it just being about our gender. We just get to see cis people reflect and utilize their ability to perform in ways that get to represent doctors. They get to represent different occupations, cashiers, just different heroes. We get to imagine cis people outside of even everyday functions, but trans people only seem to be seen through our gender and what people dislike or like or fetishize about that. I'm waiting for us to move past that point.

I want cis people to see themselves in me. I want them to see myself in me in ways that I've been forced to see myself in cis people for so long. I think that’ll be really, really important in drawing similarities in ways that'll help deconstruct bias. I want to demonstrate anger. I want to demonstrate passion. I want to demonstrate defense and not always being a victim, because trans people are constantly, constantly victimized in our narratives all the time, but we never get to see ourselves as heroes. We never get to see ourselves as protectors. We never get to see ourselves as fighting back. We always see ourselves being oppressed. That's not my reality.

TV: What have you learned about being so vocal about these topics, especially on social media?

IM: You lose work. Oh, my God. You have to accept the consequences, sacrifice. I say things that are very uncomfortable with and make people angry, because they don't want me to use my platform to tell the truth. They don't want me to use my platform in ways that benefit the people that they help marginalize. They just want me to sit around and look pretty. That's just not who I am. Even before Pose, I was involved in activism and advocating for my community in various ways. I didn't see that stopping with my entry into this industry, but people are going to be afraid of what you're going to say. I'm going to bump heads with people that benefit from the oppression that they put trans people through. I'm putting my life at risk.

TV: What is a role that you would love to play that doesn't have to do with your gender?

IM: Even though my ancestors are indigenous, I'm still trying to understand if I can play an indigenous person. But I definitely want to play someone that is indigenous, to tell a story with my body as a gender-variant person. I want to be able to tell a story of someone who existed precolonially. I think that is going to do a lot of work in the communities trans people come from, like black trans women, for example. I think that'll help do a lot of work in how black people see the belonging of trans people because so many black trans women are killed by black people.

I think that'll create a shift in the way the ethnic communities that trans people come from, how they see trans people and gender. But I also feel like I don't know if that'll really help, because I'm very cis-assumed, I think, based on how I think I'm seen or consumed. I don't know if it'll do as much work, but I would like to see that happen. I also want to play a superhero.