Alexis Arquette obituary

The actor Alexis Arquette, who has died aged 47, could have coasted by on her famous surname: she was part of an acting family that included her sisters Rosanna (Desperately Seeking Susan) and Patricia (who won an Oscar in 2014 for Boyhood), and her brother David (the Scream series). Instead, this playful and likeable performer, who was born male but identified in the latter part of her adult life as transgender and “gender suspicious”, carved out a career of idiosyncratic and often uncommercial character work before concentrating on promoting awareness of trans issues. This included appearing as the subject of the documentary Alexis Arquette: She’s My Brother (2007), in which she both invited and openly questioned interest in her gender and sexuality.

She made a strong impression playing the transvestite Georgette in the 1989 film of Hubert Selby Jr’s novel Last Exit to Brooklyn: the New York Times called her performance “first-rate”. In Jumpin’ at the Boneyard (1991), she was second-billed as Dan, the estranged, crack-addicted brother of Manny (Tim Roth). The siblings are reunited in unlikely circumstances after Dan tries to rob Manny’s apartment.

But Arquette’s impish charms were put to their best use in lighter material. Even when the roles were confined to one or two scenes – a wannabe criminal in Pulp Fiction (1994), Boy George impersonators in two Adam Sandler vehicles, The Wedding Singer (1998) and Blended (2014) – she delivered some memorably oddball moments.

Given the chance to explore a character in more detail, she could be funny and disarmingly tender. A notable example was Grief (1993), a bittersweet comedy-drama set behind the scenes on a daytime television show called Love Court; the film, which mixed camp humour with a storyline about Aids and bereavement, was made by Richard Glatzer, who went on to co-direct Still Alice. Arquette’s sense of humour was also evident in horror films including Bride of Chucky (1998), in which she played a goth murdered by a possessed doll, and Killer Drag Queens on Dope (2003), where she was billed under her cabaret name, Eva Destruction.

She was born Robert Arquette in Los Angeles, the second youngest child of Brenda (nee Nowak), a therapist, and the actor Lewis Arquette. “Our parents were into this religion thing called Subud; they basically believed in allowing children to run free,” Alexis said in 2000. “The whole thing was about self-expression. They didn’t believe in discipline. When we were little, it was great. We literally did anything and everything we wanted to. We smoked tobacco and pot and then moved on to other drugs. I got into acid. There was nothing we could do to shock our parents.” She came out as gay to her father at 13 before understanding that this wasn’t the whole story. Patricia recalls Alexis realising: “That’s not what’s different about me, it’s not that I’m a gay man. It’s that I’m in the wrong body: I am a woman.”

Through Rosanna’s connections, Alexis got a part at the age of 12 in a music video by the Tubes. She went on to work in various jobs, including designing toys for Mattel, and made her fleeting film debut in Down and Out in Beverly Hills (1986), an updated remake of Jean Renoir’s Boudu Saved From Drowning. Other film roles followed, including Of Mice and Men (1992), with John Malkovich, and the New Zealand horror romp Jack Be Nimble (1993).

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She was understandably angry when her role in Threesome (1994) as an openly gay student was turned into the butt of the movie’s jokes. “What that film says is: ‘If you want to be gay and you want to be respected, stay in the closet. Don’t let your love be known, don’t let your desires be known to anyone … But if you’re going to be openly gay, you’re going to have to be a mincing, obnoxious queen.’ That’s how I was directed, and I fought [Andrew Fleming, the director] all the way.” She knew she was perceived by some in the industry as a troublemaker. “So often I’m labelled the ‘outsider’ or the ‘bad boy’ because I speak my mind … I’ll walk in and say, ‘Who wrote this shit?’ I do speak my mind. ”

Arquette also appeared in Frisk (1995), a controversial adaptation of Dennis Cooper’s novel, the screwball comedy I Think I Do (1997) and the teen hit She’s All That (1999). In 2006, her participation in the Celebrity Big Brother-style reality TV show The Surreal Life was widely credited with helping to increase the visibility of trans people. A statement by Arquette’s family after her death, for which no cause was given, helped to explain why her acting work had became rarer in recent years: “Despite the fact that there are few parts for trans actors, she refused to play roles that were demeaning or stereotypical. She was a vanguard in the fight for understanding and acceptance for all trans people.”

She is survived by her siblings, Rosanna, Richmond, Patricia and David.