Rising Star Yoshi Opens Up On Career Challenges And Life Goals

After years in the entertainment industry, transgender actress Yoshi Rinrada Turapan says this year marks her biggest career challenge yet, landing her first leading film role in the cyberpunk horror movie "Rinrada" and taking on a girl-love series "Hak Na My Boss" opposite veteran actress Dearna Flipo. In an interview, Yoshi discusses the acting roles she wants to prove herself with, her life goals, and an update on her romantic status.

When asked if this year has been a challenge to her acting skills, Yoshi explained: "I think this year is when everyone will see my work. Last year was the production year, and this year people will see the results of my acting. There's the Rinrada film that's currently in theaters, which is my first leading role. The character Rinrada has many different emotions—about childhood friends, about myself as a child, about romance. Every stage of growth has ups and downs, even the emotions when still alive, then dying and coming back with vengeance. There's a lot of work to do. Then at year's end there's the girl-love series Hak Na My Boss with Dearna Flipo, which is another challenging project. I'm grateful for these good opportunities. Being transgender in Thai entertainment does open some doors, but not many. I got this chance and I want to do my very best, whether it's the ghost movie or the girl-love series. I work at full capacity because I don't know when another opportunity like this will come. I want everyone who follows me to support me. I will try to do the best I can."

When asked if she feels pressure to prove she's a real actress and not just a pretty face, Yoshi responded: "Honestly, I've had this thought many times. When filming Rinrada and I had to lie in the rain or lie down next to rotting pig brains that smelled awful, I'd ask myself what I was doing there and whether I was really an actress. But every time I had those thoughts, I'd swallow them and remind myself that this is what makes me a better actress. If I didn't push through, I might not have become a good actress. So I swallow that feeling and do my best. As time passes, I can look back and know I gave it everything and have no regrets."

On whether she's experienced bullying because of her appearance, Yoshi said: "In Thailand it's not that common, but there are internet fans with different opinions. Some praise me and some bully me. When I played in a GL series, they said it wasn't really GL but a normal male-female couple, because they still see me as male. Even when my TikTok clip went viral internationally, foreigners commented saying no matter how pretty I am, I'm still not a real woman and that I had facial surgery. There are comments like that, and I do read them and feel hurt deep down. But what can I do? It's just internet comments, so I choose to ignore them. If I hold onto them and think about it, the one who won't be happy is me. They typed and moved on, but I'm the one still focusing on that comment. Eventually I decided to let go because I don't want to carry the stress. Life has so much else to do. If I hold onto comments like that, I'm the only one drowning in them."