While she has been a New Yorker for most of her life, she was born in Lexington, Kentucky and grew up in and around Dayton, Ohio. In her late teens, Lysette was a track athlete and performed as a showgirl in bars and clubs around Dayton and Columbus, Ohio. She moved to New York City after high school in search of opportunities. Lysette was estranged from her biological family due to her transition for a period of time which led her to find family in the undergroundNew York ball culture scene, of which she has been a respected member since young adulthood. She began her actor training in New York City, studying at various acting studios in 2007. Her television debut was a guest appearance as Lila in an episode of in 2013, making her one of the first trans people to appear in a non trans speaking role on primetime television.
Career
After working in non-transgender roles, Lysette came out publicly as trans through her role as Shea on the Amazon series Transparent. On the show, she plays a transgender yoga teacher and friend of Maura Pfefferman. Lysette originally auditioned for the role of Davina. The third season of Transparent contains a storyline in which Shea has a romantic relationship with a cisgender heterosexual man, which has been called "a groundbreaking TV moment for a trans character." In 2019 she arrived on the big screen starring along side Jennifer Lopez, Constance Wu, Cardi B, Keke Palmer, and Lizzo among others in the critically acclaimed box office hit Hustlers, by Lorene Scafaria. She has also appeared in guest roles in shows such as Blunt Talk, David Makes Man, Midnight Texas, Pose, and Drunk History. She also made an appearance in Caitlyn Jenner’s documentary series I Am Cait. Additionally, she has appeared as a muse in several high profile music videos for artists such as Maroon 5, Cher, Teyana Taylor, The Shins, and Laverne Cox. In 2017, transgender actors and actresses including Lysette were part of a filmed letter to Hollywood written by Jen Richards, asking for more and improved roles for transgender people. In June 2020, in honor of the 50th anniversary of the first LGBTQ Pride parade, Queerty named her among the fifty heroes “leading the nation toward equality, acceptance, and dignity for all people”.
