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Who is Abril Zamora? Netflix's 'The Mess You Leave Behind' praised for 'real' representation of trans identity

Viewers are applauding the series for showing a transgender character for what they are, without any exaggeration, thus keeping it real

Netflix’s latest Spanish thriller series ‘The Mess You Leave Behind’ has caught the attention of the viewers for several reasons. While the majority of viewers are raving about the latest release by the ‘Elite’ creators for leaving them spellbound with the most unexpected twists and turns, a few have applauded the series for showing a transgender character for what they are, without any exaggeration, thus keeping it real. The role of Tere, a transgender character in ‘The Mess You Leave Behind’ is essayed by real-life transgender female actor Abril Zamora. 

Who is Abril Zamora? 

Abril Zamora is a transexual Spanish actress, writer and director who is famous for playing the role of Moon in Fox Spain’s ‘Vis a Vis’. The actress was featured as a transgender female prisoner in the Spanish series. Talking about her representation in the show, Zamora said in an interview, "There was never talk of it being trans, although it was obvious because it was played by a trans actress in a very early transition process. However, its plot does not focus on transsexuality: it can be mentioned at some point as a trait, but you never influence that. I think that is integration."

Explaining how she landed the role, Zamora explained, "I started the transition in April 2017 and the casting director of Globomedia — Tonucha Vidal — called me in October. She told me that the character for Vis a vis was a girl with a drug problem, that it was for a single sequence, that I did not have a name and that I believed that I could do it well. As they liked my test very much, they made the character grow."

In ‘The Mess You Leave Behind’, she is seen as Tere and appears in six episodes. The 39-year-old actress has performed in a series of films and television shows including ‘Paquita Salas’, ‘Undetectable’, ‘Anchored’, ‘The One That Looms’ and ‘Perfume: The Story of a Murderer’. She has also written the second season of ‘Elite’ for Netflix. 

Meanwhile, on watching 'The Mess You Leave Behind', many have congratulated the series on doing a commendable job with respect to the representation of a transexual character.

One tweeted, "Hey so ive been watching The Mess You Leave Behind and yea its good but you wanna know what’s better THEY HAVE A TRANS ACTRESS PLAYING A TRANS CHARACTER WHOSE MAIN CHARACTER TRAIT ISNT BEING TRANS let’s f***in GOOOOOOOOO." While another added, "It's amazing to see #Trans representation in #TheMessYouLeaveBehind from @netflix In an ordinary role, leading an ordinary life where being trans isn't the sole focus of her inclusion. It helps that the actress, #abrilzamora, is brilliant in the role too."

The audience has also praised the overall series for its drama and suspense that's "weirdly" appealing. One tweeted, "Y’all the show 'the mess you leave behind' on Netflix is wild as hell." Another added, "I recently started watching 'the mess you leave behind' on netflix, it’s really weird and interesting hehe if i had to te anything i’d say tw suicide, grooming, drugs (as far as i have watched just that)."

All the episodes of 'The Mess You Leave Behind' is available to stream on Netflix.