Former Disney Actor, 'Champions' Star Josie Totah Comes Out as Trans

Former Disney actor and the star of Mindy Kaling's NBC series "Champions" Josie Totah, 17, came out as transgender in a moving essay published in Time magazine.

"In the past, I've halfway corrected people by telling them I identify as LGBTQ," the former "Jessie" star wrote. "I wasn't ready to be more specific. I was afraid I wouldn't be accepted, that I would be embarrassed, that the fans who knew me from the time when I acted in a Disney show would be confused.

"But I realized over the past few years that hiding my true self is not healthy. I know now, more than ever, that I'm finally ready to take this step toward becoming myself," Totah wrote. "I'm ready to be free. So, listen up y'all: You can jump on or jump off. Either way this is where I'm heading."

She added: "My pronouns are she, her and hers. I identify as female, specifically as a transgender female. And my name is Josie Totah."

Totah, who also starred in the 2016 dramedy "Other People" alongside Molly Shannon and Jesse Plemons, went on to say that she will be attending college soon and hopes to continue her acting career after graduating.

"I plan to play roles I haven't had the opportunity to play," she wrote for Time. "And I can only imagine how much more fun it's going to be to play someone who shares my identity, rather than having to contort myself to play a boy. I'm going to gun for those roles, be it a transgender female or a cisgender female. Because it's a clean slate - and a new world."

Kaling took to Twitter shortly after the essay was published to show Totah support.

Click here to read Totah's piece in full.