Lana and Lilly Wachowski

What makes Lana and Lilly Wachowski Global Shakers?

Collectively known as The Wachowskis, Lana and Lilly are filmmakers, directors, writers and producers. The duo launched into stardom after the commercial success of The Matrix franchise, which is arguably the most famous work of art produced by transgender artists.

Following the success of the franchise, the pair went on to create V for Vendetta, Speed Racer, Cloud Atlas, Jupiter Ascending and Sense8.

After the series finale of Sense8, the Wachowskis have been working separately in different projects.

Lana is working on the fourth Matrix film. Written with David Mitchell and Aleksander Hemon, the movie is planned to be released in 2021. Lana is producing the film alongside Grant Hill.

“Many of the ideas Lilly and I explored 20 years ago about our reality are even more relevant now,” Lana told the Hollywood Reporter. “I’m very happy to have these characters back in my life and grateful for another chance to work with my brilliant friends.”

Lilly is an executive producer, writer and showrunner of the Showtime series Work in Progress, a show about a middle-aged queer woman who is gender non-conforming, overweight, and struggling with depression.

“To be able to talk about suicidal ideation and to do it with humor is important,” Lilly told Vox in an interview. “We do enough of not talking about suicidal ideation. So we do it with humor as an entry point for people to enter into this discussion and get seriously involved in this kind of dialogue.

“When we talk about the character, for me, it super resonates as somebody who’s battled depression and my gender dysphoria. Knowing that Abby has gone through her own depression, I think we’re definitely being sensitive about it. But it’s more like a welcome mat to start talking about these topics.”

Lana came out as a trans woman in 2012, and Lilly came out four years later. Being known for wanting to maintain their privacy, both gave speeches soon after they officially came out to the public.

“There are some things we do for ourselves, but there are some things we do for others,” Lana said during a speech in October 2012, after she’d received the Human Rights Campaign’s Visibility Award. “I am here because when I was young, I wanted very badly to be a writer, I wanted to be a filmmaker, but I couldn’t find anyone like me in the world and it felt like my dreams were foreclosed simply because my gender was less typical than others. If I can be that person for someone else, then the sacrifice of my private civic life may have value.”

Lilly came out in an interview with Chicago’s Windy City Times, mentioning that a reporter from The Daily Mail had bombarded her trying to get an interview.

“There is a political aspect to coming out, particularly for someone in my position, and I was acutely aware of that,” Lilly stated during her speech at the GLAAD Media Awards. “In some ways, it’s a burden, but I know that I would have to come out at some point and I wanted to do it in such a way that I could help as many people as I could.”

Last updated: March 31, 2020

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