Spoiler alert—it might be curtain call for actress Angelica Ross, but the Pose and American Horror Story (AHS) star has already announced her encore.
During a tell-all interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Ross metaphorically dropped the mic, announcing: “I’m moving back to Georgia to prepare to run for office. I’ve been consulting with Renitta Shannon, a former Georgia state representative who also just recently ran for lieutenant governor. I go into candidate and campaign training next month.”
“So I’m fully walking away from Hollywood. But I’m always going to be who I am. You don’t have to be on TV to be a creative person, to live a creative life,” continued Ross.
During her tenure on AHS, Ross consistently stood up against the racism and transphobia she saw on set, with some infractions being committed by a member of the crew.
Ross is not the first transgender star to speak up about being mistreated in Hollywood. Janet Mock, a writer, director, and producer on Pose, delivered a rousing speech at the season 3 premiere party a few years ago, shouting “I am angry…F*** Hollywood…Does this make you uncomfortable? It should.”
Mock was referring to the glaring pay disparity between herself and other white producers. Of note, Ross was there that night and stood up and cheered for her colleague, later speculating that this could have been the moment that incited the tensions between herself and showrunner Ryan Murphy.
As Ross shared with Vanity Fair, “[a crew member] was wearing T-shirts to the set. One day it was ‘America First,’ the next day it was ‘Build That Wall.’ The next day it was white praying hands [in front of an American flag, and it said, ‘I DON’T KNEEL.’].”
Ross recalled that “[o]ther people were recognizing it, but I was the only one to eventually say something. I refused to come out of my trailer until the guy turned his shirt inside out or changed or did something.”
But the move to advocacy isn’t a complete 180-degree pivot for Ross either; it’s actually been in the works for the past couple years. Ross said that people who know her were not surprised at all by her latest move.
“I’m getting back into my community leadership and organizing. I’m getting back to grassroots organizing, helping with Stop Cop City, helping with bodily autonomy and abortion rights there as well as trans rights in the state of Georgia. There’s so many different problems,” said Ross, adding “Police brutality, the decriminalization of marijuana, and things like that. You have a lot of Black celebrities that live in Georgia who call it the Black Hollywood, yet Black people still get arrested for weed in Georgia.”