Nickelodeon Actor Reveals He Transitioned Before Coming to Hollywood

Actor Michael D. Cohen has opened up publicly for the first time with the revelation that he was assigned female at birth and transitioned back in 2000.

Cohen, who is most recently known for his role as Schwoz on the Nickelodeon show Henry Danger, told Time that he doesn’t use the term transgender to describe himself, but feels that he “was misgendered at birth” and therefore “had a transgender experience — a transgender journey.”

“I have worked so hard to get to the truth and I’ve taken on labels in the past that didn’t feel true for the sake of convenience at that moment,” he explains.

His history has remained private for the nearly two decades he’s been working in Hollywood, a rarity in the entertainment industry. But the political landscape is shifting in a way that Cohen felt it was his duty to step forward and share his truth with the world.

“This crazy backlash and oppression of rights is happening right in front of me,” he says. “I can’t stay silent. This level of — let’s be polite — misunderstanding around trans issues is so profound and so destructive. When you disempower one population, you disempower everybody.”

And he says Nickelodeon and the cast and crew of Henry Danger have been supportive since he decided to speak up, despite the likelihood of backlash from less accepting parents of kids who watch his show.

“[People] think this has to do with pushing an agenda on kids and it doesn’t,” he says. “What it does is send a message to kids that whoever they are, however they identify, that’s celebrated and valued and okay.”