The Goal is to be Forgotten
In Conversation with Jen Richards
Photo by Ryan Pfluger
Jen Richards is a writer and actress, as well as a consultant and advocate. She can currently be seen in the independent feature Gossamer Folds. Prior to that, she played opposite Kathryn Hahn in the HBO series Mrs. Fletcher. She also played the lead in a critically acclaimed episode of Netflix’s revival of Tales of the City, which looks back at a young Anna Madrigal (played by Olympia Dukakis) arriving in 1960’s San Francisco.
She has guest-starred and recurred on several popular broadcast and cable shows including Better Things, Blindspot, Doubt, and Nashville. As a creator, she was nominated for an Emmy for her digital series, Her Story, about the dating lives of trans women, which she wrote, produced, and starred in. She is currently writing projects for Sarah Jessica Parker’s company, Pretty Matches, and a project for Sony produced by Gabrielle Union. She was also recently seen in the Netflix documentary Disclosure, which looks at the history of transgender depictions in film and television.
We spent an hour talking to Jen about Shakespeare, joy, rage, writing, and the fact that each of us has a moral responsibility to allow room for redemption in everything we create. The following interview has been condensed for clarity; to learn more about Jen and her ongoing work visit her website.