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Elliot Page recounts heartwarming support from “Umbrella Academy” showrunner after coming out

"He was incredible," Page said.
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Elliot Page in The Umbrella Academy
Elliot Page in The Umbrella Academy Photo: Christos Kalohoridis/Netflix

 Transgender actor Elliot Page of Umbrella Academy – who was recently honored as a member of Time’s Most Influential People of 2024 list – told a heartwarming story at the Time100 Summit about coming out as trans to Umbrella Academy showrunner Steve Blackman.

Blackman, Page said, was one of the first people he came out to, and rather than worry about what that could mean for the future of Page’s character on the show, Blackman was nothing but supportive.

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“I feel like I was wearing a weighted vest for who knows how long. I hadn’t realized how heavy it was until I finally just put it down.”

“I was supposed to go back to shoot the third season and wanted to ideally get surgery before,” Page said. “I called him nervously, and he was incredible. If anything, he was the one who was very insistent on me having [my transition] be a part of the show and supported me to be able to access the care I was hoping to get at that time.”

Page played Vanya Hargreeves for the first two seasons of Umbrella Academy. In the third season, his character was reintroduced as Viktor Hargreeves.

The Juno star was honored in Time’s Icons category with a tribute from fellow trans activist and author Raquel Willis, whose own transition memoir came out at the same time that Page’s memoir Pageboy hit bookstores.

Willis wrote that Pageboy “ultimately landed at a time when conservatives were — as they still are — [passing legislation against] trans people’s bodily autonomy and self-determination. But Elliot remains undeterred, letting down the shield that his platform and privileges afford, and championing grassroots activist efforts like the Gen Z–guided Trans Prom at the U.S. Capitol. In whatever he does, Elliot is aware that his truth and power serve as a light in which others can see their own.”

Page has credited gender-affirming care for helping him experience joy, and since coming out as transgender in 2020, he has advocated for the right to receive this care.

“Trans youth deserve gender-affirming care and to be able to live their true, authentic selves without fear and oppression. I stand with trans youth and their families,” Page has said.

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