Fonte: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBTaOLpKLns - Ezra Michel
Laith Ashley De La Cruz (born July 6, 1989) is an American model, actor, activist, singer, songwriter, and artist of Dominican descent.
He grew up in a Dominican-American family in Harlem, New York. He practiced individual and team sports and by the age of 9 was already practicing boxing, baseball and especially basketball, his favorite sport. He continued to play sports in high school, including competitively, sometimes on the men's team. He was voted the best athlete among boys and girls by the school’s athletic director.
Raised in a church-oriented family, his father
was Roman Catholic and his mother a Pentecostal Christian, which influenced
some of the attitudes held by the family during his “coming out”. First, Laith
came out as gay when he was 17, though he never called himself a lesbian. He explained, “Being assigned a woman at
birth, I thought I was a lesbian, even though I hated the word”. Later, at age 19, he realized he was
transgender after watching videos produced by transgender people on YouTube.
This led him to come out as a transgender man in 2013. Laith began the medical
transition in January 2014 with masculinizing hormone therapy. His voice
deepened and he quickly grew a beard. Nine months later, he had a double
mastectomy and adopted the name Laith (meaning “lion” in Arabic) because he
admired the works of Laith Hakeem.
Laith attended business school and studied psychology at Fairfield University in Connecticut. Subsequently, he worked at Callen-Lorde Community Health Center, where he worked with homeless LGBT youth as a social worker.
He did musical and television work. In 2016, Laith appeared on Strut, a television show about transgender models, produced by Whoopi Goldberg. In June 2018, Ashley performed his music, including his single “Can't Wait” at LA Pride. The project included artists such as Jessica, Icona Pop, Keke Wyatt, Eve, Cece Peniston, Kim Petras, Jesse Saint John, Allie X, Gio Bravo, Karisma and Saturn Rising. In September 2018, Ashley released a music video for his song “Before You Go”. Additionally, in 2018, Laith became the first transgender member of the boxing team on Rupaul’s Drag Race. He appeared in the mini challenge “Pants Down Bottoms Up” in season 10. In 2019, he collaborated with Kay'Vion on the latter's album Braille, jointly releasing the single “Favorite”. In January 2023, he starred as the love interest in Taylor Swift's music video Lavender Haze.
The Latin AIDS Commission has announced that it will honor singer, actor and model Laith Ashley with its esteemed Ilka Award at the upcoming Cielo Gala. The Commission will hold its annual charity event on Friday, June 2, 2023, at Cipriani Wall Street in New York City, kicking off Pride month with the commitment to Zero Homophobia and Zero Transphobia in communities, recognizing the fifth anniversary of the ZERO Campaign. The event historically honored the late actress Ilka Tanya Payán by awarding the ILKA AWARD to a sincere and supportive celebrity who dedicates their voice and time to the causes of HIV and AIDS.
