Leyna Bloom is an American transgender actress, dancer, and fashion model who made history as the first colored skin transgender to appear in the Indian version of Vogue. Bloom also set the pace as the first transgender of color to star in a movie at the Cannes Film Festival when she appeared in a film titled Port Authority.
Since her transition to the female gender following surgery, Leyna Bloom, who says she wants her life and career to be a source of inspiration to other people who are facing the same challenges she faced on her transgender journey, has steadily drawn the attention of the public and this article looks to answer the burning questions such as her early life history and what her life was like as a male.
Leyna Bloom As A Kid
Leyna Bloom was born Leyna Bloom Davis on April 25, 1990, in Chicago, Illinois, United States of America. She spent most of her childhood in Illinois, where she was exposed to the family’s dancing legacy.
Even as a kid, Bloom understood what it requires to be a dancer, and she was heavily inspired by her grandmother, who owned a dance studio, and by her paternal aunt, who was also a dancer. Records also show that Bloom has a cousin named Lee Howard, who is now reportedly a tap dancer.
With all the dancing influence she was surrounded by, it was not much of a surprise that Bloom became very interested in dancing and started to exhibit her dancing skills at school. These skills became evident when she was in the sixth grade, and things took off from there.
She showcased her dancing abilities with the Joffrey Ballet in Chicago and then shared a stage at the age of 14 with Misty Copeland while turning out for the American Ballet Theatre. Many institutions recognized her abilities as a dancer, and she was eventually granted a scholarship to study at the Chicago Academy of Arts. It was a scholarship she would eventually abandon midway when the academy insisted on only recognizing her as a male.
What is Leyna Bloom’s Ethnicity?
Leyna Bloom has a mixed racial identity. Her mixed racial identity results from the fact that her father, Aaron Davis Jr., is an African-American United States citizen, while her birth records show that her unidentified mother is a Filipino from the Philipines. Bloom’s national identity as an American, however, is not in question, and it is all down to the fact that she was born on American shores.
Who Are Leyna Bloom’s Parents?
Leyna Bloom was born to Aaron Davis Jr. and an unidentified mother. The transgender actress’ parents were not married since her mother, who was not an American citizen, was deported when Bloom was still a baby. Leyna once stated that she has since not heard from the woman who gave birth to her.
She was raised by her paternal grandmother and her father, who, for all intents and purposes, got married to another woman and gave Leyna three half-siblings in the process, two half-sisters named Julia Davis and Sierra Davis and a half brother named Shaun Davis.
Leyna Bloom As A Man
It is no longer news that Leyna Bloom was initially identified as a man. Her birth certificate said she was male at birth. However, the transgender trailblazer once revealed in an interview that she became aware of her more realistic status as a female from a very young age.
She also revealed that she was raised as a girl and enjoyed the unwavering support of her father and grandmother in that regard. While her transition to the female gender happened a long while back, she is regularly accosted with pictures of herself as a man.
It would seem that there are no such pictures online at the moment except for one where she also looked like a little girl in a school uniform with long flowing hair. As previously mentioned, she got a scholarship to study dance at the Chicago Academy of Arts, and she decided to discontinue the program when the academy insisted on recognizing her as male.
However, it is not common knowledge that she had already transitioned before taking the scholarship. To seize an opportunity she wasn’t sure would come around often, she tried to conform to the norm by shaving off all her hair and passing off as male, thereby briefly giving in to the pressure.
Leyna Bloom Has Achieved Success As A Transgender Celebrity
Bloom is a celebrated actress and model who has overcome adversity and the stigma usually associated with the LGBTQ community to achieve a substantial measure of success in the spotlight. The road to success is often fraught with peril and challenges, even more so for someone who openly identifies as transgender, and Bloom herself will tell you how much of a herculean task it was.
When she left the academy in Chicago, she moved to New York City with nothing but a red suitcase and the little money she had saved up by working part-time at McDonald’s and Starbucks on Chicago’s South Side. Her little savings were not sufficient for rent, and she had to spend her first few weeks in the big apple sleeping on trains and making do with $1 pizza slices.
It is important to note that Leyna was only 17 years old at the time. As time progressed, she got a job as a waiter, and in her spare time, she found time to model. Her modeling career got a big boost in 2017 when she achieved success as the first openly transgender woman of color to be featured in the Indian edition of Vogue magazine. She was also featured in an ad campaign for H&M and Moschino.
Several other brands, including Tommy Hilfiger, Gigi Hadid, Soo Joo Park, and Stella Maxwell, soon came calling. Over time, Bloom has achieved success as an actress as well. Her first movie as an actress came in the 2019 movie titled Port Authority. The movie was like a mirror into the life of the bold and talented transgender model.
Her IMDb page currently shows that she has acted in a further four movies to date, and there are no signs she is slowing down any time soon. Records show that Leyna Bloom’s career as a fashion model, actress, and dancer has helped her accumulate a healthy net worth which is estimated to stand at $5 million as of 2022.
