Occupational Inheritance: NA
Social Class:
Race/Ethnicity/Sex Orientation: Gay (black)
Family:
Education:
Training:
Teacher/Inspirational Figure:
Radio Debut:
TV Debut:
Stage Debut:
Broadway Debut:
Film Debut:
Breakthrough Role:
Oscar Role: Transgender woman Dil
Other Noms: The Crying Game, 1992; age 24
Other Awards:
Frequent Collaborator:
Screen Image: character actor
Last Film:
Career Output:
Film Career Span:
Marriage:
Politics:
Death:
Jaye Davidson (born Alfred Amey; March 21, 1968) is an American-born British model and retired actor. He is best known for his role as the transgender woman Dil in the 1992 suspense-drama thriller film The Crying Game, for which he was nominated for the Best Supporting Actor Oscar.
Among science fiction fans, he is known for his appearance in 1994’s Stargate as the god-like Ra.
Davidson, who had no prior professional acting experience, was discovered at a wrap party for Derek Jarman’s Edward II and was invited to audition for The Crying Game.
He was cast in the role of Dil. The film was a critical and popular success. It is known for a surprise plot twist: a love scene in which Dil undresses and main character Fergus (played by Stephen Rea) discovers that Dil is transgender and there’s a scene that required full-frontal nudity.
Rea later said, “‘If Jaye hadn’t been a completely convincing woman, my character would have looked stupid'”. When the film was released, Miramax requested that reviewers keep Davidson’s gender a secret.
For his work in The Crying Game, Davidson was nominated for the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for the BAFTA Award for Supporting Role in 1993.
Davidson also received nominations for the Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Most Promising Actor.
Davidson starred as Ra, an alien impersonating a god, in the 1994 science fiction adventure film Stargate.[13][14] His fee was $1m, which surprised him.
Davidson later retired from acting, stating that he “genuinely hated the fame” he was receiving. He became more involved in modelling, and has since worked on several high-profile photo shoots.
Davidson was born in California, but grew up in Borehamwood in Hertfordshire, England. His father is a black African and his mother is a white Englishwoman.
Davidson is gay. During his acting career, he said that his androgynous look alienated him within the gay community; he stated that gay men “love very masculine men. And I’m not a very masculine person. I’m reasonably thin. I have long hair, which isn’t very popular with gay men.”
He later adopted a more traditionally masculine look, with a shaved head, tattoos, and a more muscular physique
