The film Becoming a Man in 127 Easy Steps details the nuances of Schofield’s coming-of-age.Andrea James and Rachel Garcia Dunn/Supplied
As an award-winning actor, activist and Hollywood consultant, Scott Turner Schofield never planned to leave Los Angeles.
But when U.S. President Donald Trump was elected in 2024, Schofield – the first out transgender man to earn an Emmy Award nomination for acting – knew it was time to take advantage of his dual Canadian citizenship. As anti-trans political ads took over American airwaves and social media channels in advance of November’s election, Schofield started making exit plans: He quickly began assembling a go bag and selling off furniture, and within months of Trump’s victory, he relocated to Toronto.
Now, safely on the northern side of the border, Schofield is ready to release Becoming a Man in 127 Easy Steps, a filmed version of his one-man show of the same title. Captured at live performances over several years – and at various points in his transition – the film details the nuances of Schofield’s coming-of-age, from the pains of frequent harassment to the joys of living as his true, authentic self.
Despite exciting developments for Schofield since his move – the film’s Jan. 27 release on digital distributor Kinema, plus a handful of yet-to-be-announced screen roles – the artist is keenly aware of the dangers that accompany his success.
“As a well-known transgender person in the United States, my life is under threat,” he says, speaking at a coffee shop in Toronto. “It’s not a joke. It’s not an exaggeration… It’s not a little thing to say, ‘I’m going to pack up my entire life.’ I was working on a career in Hollywood, and I’d been there for 10 years. I never wanted to leave California, but it didn’t seem like there was any other option if I didn’t want to have a very, very hard life.”
Scott Turner Schofield as a child.Schofield Family/Supplied
As a trans actor with deep roots in the American South, and particularly Georgia, Schofield’s life has been plenty challenging – but more so since so-called “gender ideology” has become a central talking point for conservative politicians and pundits. “It’s been far more intense recently than anything I’ve experienced in 25 years of being out,” he says.
“The dehumanization process is a playbook that I hope Canadians are smart enough not to follow,” he continues, referencing Project 2025’s references to “culture warriors” and “transgender extremists.” Often referred to as a right-wing wish list for Trump’s second presidency, Project 2025 explicitly decries “the toxic normalization of transgenderism,” and features several passages about the dangers of “woke gender ideology.”
A still from Becoming a Man in 127 Easy Steps.Andrea James and Nano Segler/Supplied
Since Trump’s election in 2024, his administration has moved to restrict gender-affirming care for trans youth, and to bar trans women from competing in women’s sports. (According to GLAAD, only a handful of collegiate athletes are trans – “fewer than 10” out of more than 510,000 athletes, per NCAA president Charlie Baker.)
In Becoming a Man in 127 Easy Steps, Schofield unpacks how it felt to come out 25 years ago – and to continue the lifelong process of transitioning within the famously difficult industry of show business. While he’s not opposed to continuing to perform the stage play, the film, he says, comes at a time when he’s ready to pivot his attention to other projects.
He acknowledges, as well, that the world is a fundamentally different place for trans people now than it was when he first started creating the play, owing in large part to the internet.
“That visibility has made us such a huge target,” he says of online access to resources about queerness in all its forms. “I’m very happy to have community, and to know I’m not alone in this. But that amazing visibility has also been incredibly problematic for all of us. It’s endangered us – and it’s why we are where we are right now.”
On the U.S.'s Project 2025, Schofield says: 'I hope Canadians are smart enough not to follow.'Andrea James and Nano Segler/Supplied
As a consultant, Schofield works with film and TV productions to help ensure respectful representation of trans characters in contemporary media: His clients include HBO’s Euphoria and Peacock’s They/Them. On set, he helps actors process any difficult emotions that might arise from trans storylines, and he occasionally writes dialogue that ends up on the air.
“I’m on the ground as the creator is creating,” he says. “I’m having conversations. I’m a gut-check. I’m a sounding board. I’m there to help these creators who really care about authenticity. There’s also the reality that, on any given day, our government could say or do something horrible, and someone on set might bring that to work. It’s about engaging empathy – it’s not about jargon and pronouns, it’s about empathy.”
In the end, Schofield is ready for this next chapter, from adjusting to life in Canada (a process which he says has been “a dream” so far) to continuing to embed in this country’s cultural landscape. The filmed version of Becoming a Man in 127 Easy Steps, he says, marks an exciting juncture in what’s already been an eventful career.
“It’s sort of like Black Mirror, being here,” he says. “You have a sense of civil discourse. I can speak to people I vehemently disagree with, but it takes me half an hour into a conversation to realize that, because it’s so civil. It’s not just politeness. The social fabric here is still intact in a way that is utterly profound, when you come from someplace like where I was before.”