American filmmaker Lilly Wachowski was BOTD in 1967. Born in Chicago, Illinois, she was assigned male at birth and named Andy. She studied at Emerson College in Boston, dropping out before graduating to pursue a screenwriting career with her younger sister Lana (formerly Larry). 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. In 2016, Lily announced her gender transition, following Lana’s public announcement of her own transition in 2006. Since the completion of Sense8, the siblings work separately. In 2019, Lilly directed, wrote, and executive-produced the queer-themed TV series Work in Progress. Wachowski married Alisa Blasingame in 1991, while still identifying as Larry, though have since separated. She is in a relationship with art professor Mickey Ray Mahoney.