Elliot Page talks of fully embracing transgender identity

Elliot Page has shared what life has been like after coming out as transgender last year, in a cover story for Time magazine.

The Oscar-nominated Canadian actor, 34, said spending time in quarantine during the pandemic helped him fully accept his gender identity. He also said he's looking forward to the future and returning to acting.

"I'm really excited to act, now that I'm fully who I am, in this body," Page said in the interview, published online Tuesday. "No matter the challenges and difficult moments of this, nothing amounts to getting to feel how I feel now."

He said while growing up in Halifax in the 1990s, there were "no examples," or role models to help anyone identifying as queer, transgender or non-binary to see who they are and what they're feeling "reflected back to them."

Page said he now hopes to be an advocate for others.

"My privilege has allowed me to have resources to get through and to be where I am today, and of course I want to use that privilege and platform to help in the ways I can," he told Time.

Page recalled knowing his true identity at age nine when his mother allowed him to cut his hair short — and talked about the happiness he feels with having short hair again.

The actor, who is known for his Oscar-nominated role in Juno, as well as Inception and, most recently, The Umbrella Academy, said when he came out on social media as transgender, he knew there would be both negative and positive reactions.

He said he was anticipating support and love but also a "massive amount of hatred and transphobia, adding: "That's essentially what happened."