'I Really Identified With My Character': Actor Joslyn DeFreece On 'Strange Angel', Journey As Trans Woman
(CBS Local)-- "Strange Angel" on CBS All Access is Joslyn DeFreece's first TV show and it's the perfect place for her career to begin.
DeFreece had previously been working on a project about trans women living in Nazi Germany during the 1930s and 1940s and plays a German trans woman on the show named Brigitte Kamer. As a trans woman herself, things couldn't have worked out any better.
"I was prepping to play a German trans woman in 1943 and I was researching that exact stuff at the time," said DeFreece in an interview with CBS Local's DJ Sixsmith. "It's pretty intense how everything came about."
DeFreece ended up hosting a watch party for the first episode of season two in the same hotel where she found out she booked a part on the show. "Strange Angel" tells the story of janitor turned rocket scientist named Jack Parsons who ends up joining an occultist group headed by Aleister Crowley.
"The show spans all over with sex magic, rockets, and war," said DeFreece. "It's a large array of different things happening. The more I learned about this world and Jack Parsons, I kind of built an affinity for this role. I really identified with my character. The more I settle into my gender, the more comfortable I get in my work as an actor."
The co-star of "Strange Angel" is very pleased that CBS All Access is telling the story of a trans woman with her character. Although it's her first show, DeFreece has had the opportunity to voice her opinion on several topics to the writers and showrunners.
"Everyone was so interested in doing it justice," said DeFreece. "They came to me and asked my opinion on things and that felt really empowering. It was a pretty awesome experience."
Season two of "Strange Angel" is streaming now on CBS All Access.
