Biography

Jessica Violeta Vásquez Velarde is an actress, artist, composer and director, born in La Paz, Bolivia. Assigned male at birth, she started acting at school at the age of 5. When she was 15 she directed her first short film. She won an scholarship to study filmmaking in Havanna, Cuba, where she acted and directed in many other short films. When she returned to Bolivia, she began her transition, taking many male and female roles in TV. In 2016 she directed the short film "Face", and the one-hour film "Eternity", and appeared in the Bolivian featured films "Las Malcogidas", "Averno" and made her international debut with the Argentinian movie "The Unseen", here, she played the role of a black market seller in the 16 de Julio fair in El Alto, called Edwin. Jessica won two awards for her film "I was a born a woman". Since then, she began her advocacy about rights for transgender people, after an important part of the Gender Identity Law in Bolivia was declared unconstitutional. She recorded many songs, some of them speak about her transition. She became radio host of "Las InTRANSigentes" in Radio Deseo, a show about LGBTIQ issues . In 2021, she directed the short film "An Empowered Woman", about a transgender woman who loses her job, and started working in a new big project of her own.

- IMDb mini biography by: Samantha Q.