American actor, writer and filmmaker John Cameron Mitchell was BOTD in 1963. Born in El Paso, Texas, he was the eldest son of a US Army major-general, and grew up in US military bases in America and West Germany. He studied theatre at Northwestern University, leaving before graduation to pursue a professional career. Between 1990 and 1992, he appeared in the original Broadway productions of the musical The Secret Garden and the play Six Degrees of Separation, and starred in an Off-Broadway production of Larry Kramer’s play The Destiny of Me. In the mid-90s, he began performing at New York drag club Squeezebox alongside musician Stephen Trask, developing the character of Hedwig, an East German transsexual glam rock singer. In 1998, he and Mitchell co-wrote and produced the Off-Broadway musical Hedwig and the Angry Inch, with songs inspired by glam rockers David Bowie, Iggy Pop and Lou Reed. First performed in a derelict West Village hotel, the show became a cult success and eventually the toast of New York theatre, attracting celebrity New Yorkers including Larry Kramer, The Lady Bunny and Parker Posey. A successful film adaptation followed in 2001, directed by and starring Mitchell. Premiering at the Sundance Festival, the film won the Audience Award and Best Director for Mitchell and later earned him a Golden Globe acting nomination. The film became a critical and commercial hit, hailed as a breakthrough for representations of LGBTQ characters onscreen. Cameron’s next film Shortbus, a dramedy about young LGBTQ New Yorkers who meet at an underground sex club, was workshopped and co-written over three years with its cast (including Justin Vivian Bond) and featured several scenes of unsimulated sex. Premiering at the 2006 Cannes Festival, it was praised for its forthright and diverse portrait of sexuality. Mitchell also directed the films Rabbit Hole and How to Talk to Girls at Parties, both starring Nicole Kidman, and executive-produced Jonathan Caouette’s 2004 experimental documentary Tarnation. In recent years, he has appeared in the TV series Girls and played Andy Warhol in Vinyl. In 2015, Mitchell won a Special Tony Award for reprising Hedwig as part of the musical’s Broadway premiere, sharing the role with Neil Patrick Harris. Openly gay since forever, Mitchell was in a six-year relationship with Hedwig musician Jack Steeb. He identifies as non-binary, preferring the terms “androgynous” or “natural androgyne”, though continues to use he/him pronouns. His current relationship status is unknown.