Chaz Bono | |
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 Bono in 2017 | |
| Born | Chastity Sun Bono (1969-03-04)March 4, 1969 (age 56) Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Other names | Chaz Salvatore Bono |
| Occupations |
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| Years active | 1972–present |
| Parents |
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| Relatives | Elijah Blue Allman (half-brother) Georgia Holt (grandmother) |
Chaz Salvatore Bono[1] (bornChastity Sun Bono; March 4, 1969) is an American writer, musician and actor. His parents are entertainersSonny Bono andCher, and he became widely known in appearances as a child on their television show,The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour.[2][3]
Chaz Bono is atrans man. In 1995, while then presenting as a woman, and several years after beingouted as lesbian by the tabloid press, Chaz publicly self-identified as a lesbian in a cover story in a leading American gay monthly magazine,The Advocate. Bono eventually went on to discuss the process ofcoming out to oneself and others in two books:Family Outing: A Guide to the Coming Out Process for Gays, Lesbians, and Their Families (1998) includes his coming-out account. The memoirThe End of Innocence (2003) discusses his outing, music career, and partner Joan's death fromnon-Hodgkin's lymphoma.[4]
Between 2008 and 2010, Bono sought out agender transition. In a June 2009 two-part CBS TVEntertainment Tonight feature, Chaz explained that his medical transition had started a year prior.[5] In May 2010, he legally changed his ID to match his gender and name.[6] A documentary on Bono's experience,Becoming Chaz, was screened at the 2011Sundance Film Festival and later made its television debut on theOprah Winfrey Network.[7][8]
Bono was born inLos Angeles, California, the only child ofCher andSonny Bono of the pop duoSonny & Cher, stars of a TV variety show on which the young child often appeared. Bono was named after the filmChastity, which was produced by Sonny and in which Cher (in her first solo role in a feature film) played abisexual woman.[9] Through his mother, Bono is ofArmenian, Irish, English, and German ancestry. He is of Italian descent through his father.[10][11]
Bono was enrolled at theFiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts in New York City.[12] Bono came out to both parents as a lesbian at age 18. InFamily Outing, Bono wrote that, "as a child, I always felt there was something different about me. I'd look at other girls my age and feel perplexed by their obvious interest in the latest fashion, which boy in class was the cutest, and who looked the most like cover girlChristie Brinkley. When I was 13, I finally found a name for exactly how I was different. I realized I wasgay."[13]
Bono began a short music career in 1988 with the band Ceremony,[4] which released one album,Hang Out Your Poetry, in 1993. The band featured Bono on vocals, acoustic guitar, and percussion. Other members wereSteve March Tormé (backup vocals), Heidi Shink a.k.a. Chance,Pete McRae, Steve Bauman, Louis Ruiz, and Bryn Mathieu. All but one of the band's songs were written or co-written by Bono, Shink, andMark Hudson. They used no synthesizers or digital effects on the album; Shink noted, "We turned our back on technology. [ ... ] It's reminiscent of the 60s, but more a tip of the hat than emulating it. We took the music we love and rejuvenated it, made it 90s."[14] Critical reception of the album was lukewarm, with Roch Parisien of Allmusic describingHang Out Your Poetry as a mildly psychedelic take on early 1990s pop, "pleasant, accessible, well-produced ear-candy that's ultimately toothless".[15]
The songs "Could've Been Love" and "Ready for Love" were released as singles from the album. Sonny and Cher also recorded backing vocals for the track "Livin' It Up" on the album.
In April 1995, Bono came out as a lesbian in an interview withThe Advocate, a national gay and lesbian magazine.[16] The 1998 bookFamily Outing detailed how Bono's coming out "catapulted me into a political role that has transformed my life, providing me with affirmation as a lesbian, as a woman, and as an individual."[17] In the same book, Bono reported that Cher, who was both a gay icon and an ally ofLGBTQ communities, was quite uncomfortable with the news at first and "went ballistic"[18] before coming to terms with it: "By August 1996, one year after I came out publicly, my mother had progressed so far that she agreed to 'come out' herself on the cover ofThe Advocate as the proud mother of a lesbian daughter."[17] Cher has since become an outspokenLGBTQ rights activist.
Bono's paternal relationship became strained from November 1994, when his father was elected as aRepublicanCongressman from California. Their differing political views separated them, and they had not spoken for more than a year at the time of Sonny's fatal skiing accident in January 1998.[16]
Bono worked as a writer at large forThe Advocate.[4] As a social activist, Bono became a spokesperson for theHuman Rights Campaign, promotedNational Coming Out Day, campaigned for the reelection ofBill Clinton for US president, campaigned against theDefense of Marriage Act, and served as Entertainment Media Director for theGay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD).[4] Bono was a team captain forCelebrity Fit Club 3 (2006) and was supported by girlfriend Jennifer Elia, who orchestrated exercise and training sessions.[5]
In June 2016, theHuman Rights Campaign released a video in tribute to the victims of theOrlando nightclub shooting; in the video, Bono and others told the stories of the people killed there.[19][20]
In mid-2008, Bono began undergoing a physical and socialtransition fromfemale to male. This was confirmed in June 2009 by his publicist,[5] who identified Bono's name asChaz Bono and said, "It is Chaz's hope that his choice to transition will open the hearts and minds of the public regarding this issue, just as his coming out did."[21]GLAAD and theEmpowering Spirits Foundation were quick to offer praise and support for the announcement.[22] Bono's legal transition was completed on May 6, 2010, when a California court granted his request for a gender and name change.[6][23] Bono madeBecoming Chaz, a documentary film about his transition that premiered at the 2011Sundance Film Festival. TheOprah Winfrey Network acquired the rights to the documentary and debuted it on May 10, 2011.[24]
In September 2011, he became a competitor on the13th season of the U.S. version ofDancing with the Stars, paired with professional ballroom dancerLacey Schwimmer.[25] The duo was eliminated on October 25, 2011.[26] This was the first time an openly transgender man starred on a major network television show for something unrelated to being transgender.[27]
His book,Transition: Becoming Who I Was Always Meant to Be was published in 2012, making him the first person of Armenian descent to publish a memoir about being an openly transgender man.[28]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1994 | Bar Girls[a] | Scorp' | |
| 2004 | Fronterz[a] | ||
| 2016 | Dirty | Jerry the Hoarder | |
| 2019 | 3 from Hell | Digby Neville | |
| 2020 | Disclosure: Trans Lives on Screen | Himself | Documentary film |
| 2020 | Reboot Camp | Herbert | mockumentary |
| 2023 | The Bell Keeper | Sheriff Carlson | |
| 2024 | Little Bites | Paul | Also executive producer |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1972–77 | The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour[a] | Himself | 32 episodes |
| 1975 | Cher[a] | Himself | Episode 2.14 |
| 1997 | Ellen[a] | The Moderator | Episode: "Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah" |
| 2011 | Becoming Chaz | Himself | Documentary film |
| Dancing with the Stars | Himself | 6 episodes | |
| 2012 | Degrassi: The Next Generation | Himself | Episode: "Tonight, Tonight: Part 2" |
| 2013 | The Secret Life of the American Teenager | Himself | Episode: "To Each Her Own" |
| 2014 | RuPaul's Drag Race | Himself/Guest Judge | "Queens of Talk"[29] |
| 2016 | The Bold and the Beautiful | Reverend Rydale | 5 episodes |
| American Horror Story: Roanoke | Brian Wells (Lot Polk, re-enactment) | 4 episodes | |
| Where the Bears Are | Gavin Kelly | 3 episodes | |
| 2017 | American Horror Story: Cult | Gary K. Longstreet | 8 episodes |
| 2018 | Adi Shankar's Gods and Secrets | Upcoming series | |
| 2020 | Curb Your Enthusiasm | Joey Funkhouser | Episode: "The Spite Store" |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Artists | |
| Other | |
