A day after winning the Tony Award for best leading actor in a musical, Some Like It Hot star J. Harrison Ghee headed to the White House.
Ghee made history at the Tony Awards on Sunday as one of the first openly nonbinary actors to win a Tony Award for performing. Alex Newell, a nonbinary actor who won for featured actor in a musical for their role in Shucked, became the first performer to reach that milestone, after winning the award earlier in the evening.
Ghee visited the White House, alongside Some Like Hot castmembers Adrianna Hicks, NaTasha Yvette Williams and Kevin Del Aguila after receiving an invitation from White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre as part of Pride month. The castmembers discussed the need for greater representation for trans and nonbinary individuals with Jean-Pierre and later met with second gentleman Douglas Emhoff.
In Some Like It Hot, Ghee plays Jerry/Daphne, a performer who begins the show identifying as Jerry, and then, after witnessing a crime, has to disguise himself as a woman named Daphne. Throughout the course of the show, the character realizes that Daphne is their most authentic self.
“I’m so humbled and honored to be here today at the White House after having just won my first Tony Award,” Ghee said in a video on the White House Instagram account. “This moment of visibility, of representation, it means everything, not just for the industry of entertainment and art and removing boundaries and labels and limits, but really for society. As an artist, Toni Morrison said our art can be effective and beautiful at the same time. And so with my art I hope to be intentionally walking in my purpose and doing it all with love and sharing that with audiences eight times a week and making a difference and making people leave the theater a little differently than when they came.”
Newell and Ghee had already made history earlier this season as the first openly nonbinary nominees in their respective categories. Both chose to be nominated within the best actor categories, as the Tony Awards did not have a non-gendered performance option.
Justin David Sullivan, a nonbinary actor who appeared in & Juliet, withdrew from nomination consideration due to the gendered categories. This follows a similar decision by Asia Kate Dillon, a nonbinary actor who appeared in Macbeth in the 2021-2022 season. Six co-creator Toby Marlow became the first openly nonbinary artist to win a Tony Award, after his co-win for best original score in 2022.
