American filmmaker Lana Wachowski was BOTD in 1965. Born in Chicago, Illinois, she was assigned male at birth and named Larry. She studied at Bard College in New York, dropping out before graduating to pursue a screenwriting career with her younger sister Lilly (formerly Andy). Their screenplay Assassins was produced by Warner Brothers and adapted into a 1994 film. Their script was extensively rewritten, prompting their unsuccessful attempt to have their names removed from the film’s credits. Bruised by the experience, they resolved to become directors to retain creative control over their work. Their first film as writers and directors, the 1996 lesbian crime thriller Bound, became an instant LGBTQ classic, praised for its queer reworking of film noir tropes and scorching-hot chemistry between actors Gina Gershon and Jennifer Tilly. They achieve global success as the writer-directors of 1999’s The Matrix, a dazzlingly inventive sci-fi action film about computer hackers fighting rogue robots. Tapping into ideas of cyberspace, virtual reality and anti-capitalist anarchy, the film showcased balletic fight scenes drawn from Hong Hong martial arts films and a cyberpunk Helmut Lang wardrobe. A critical and commercial juggernaut, it became one of the definitive films of the 1990s, reinvigorating the sci-fi genre. Capitalising on their success, the Wachowskis wrote and directed back-to-back sequels The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions, released in 2003. Their screenplay for the 2005 dystopian thriller V for Vendetta attracted praise and criticism for its portrayal of an anarchist terrorist group. After an unsuccessful adaptation of David Mitchell’s novel Cloud Atlas, they co-created the queer-themed TV series Sense8. Lana married Thea Bloom in 1993 while still identifying as Larry, separating in 2002. In 2006, she announced her gender transition to Lana, becoming the first major Hollywood director to come out as transgender. In 2016, Lilly also came out as a transgender woman. Since the completion of Sense8, the siblings work separately. Lana’s most recent project is Matrix Resurrections, the fourth film in the Matrix franchise. She is married to Karin Winslow.