Hot List 2012

Photography by Nicholas Maggio. Styling by Alison Brooks. Hair: Candace Bossendorfer at Exclusive Artists. Makeup: Agostina at Exclusive Artists. Producer: Richard Villani. T-Shirt by Jet by John Eshaya Growing up in the Carolinas doesn't exactly present a buffet of major gigs for a young aspiring actor. So when Michael Johnston graduated high school a year early, he went to live with his father in Chicago, home of the renowned improv outfit the Second City. It's the same institution that fostered the talents of Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, and Bill Hader, and after studying acting there, Johnston packed his bags and moved to California.A small role on the upcoming season of MTV's Awkward led to a coveted spot on the fifth season of Teen Wolf (premiering June 29), MTV's homoerotic, howl-at-the-moon teen drama. "When I see relationships on Teen Wolf, they're all treated the same," says Johnston, 19. "They don't make a big deal over a gay relationship in the show -- it's just like any other relationship, which is really close to what life is like."Johnston's mysterious character will be introduced alongside an unspecified new supernatural threat to the show's main characters, and he'll cross paths with Mason, a cheeky gay human played by Khylin Rhambo. "There's some hope that we'll start out as friends, but maybe more will happen," teases Johnston. As for Teen Wolf's penchant for naked torsos? Johnston isn't sure yet if his character will be showing a lot of skin, but he's physically preparing just in case. After all, there are only two certainties on Teen Wolf: death and abs. Keep Reading →

From left: Mya Taylor, James Ransone, and Kitana Kiki Rodriguez. Photography by Nicholas Maggio. Styling by Alison Brooks. Hair: Candace Bossendorfer at Exclusive Artists. Makeup: Agostina at Exclusive Artists. Producer: Richard Villani. James: Suit by Klein Epstein & Parker, shirt by Dior Homme, shoes by Tommy Hi. Mya: Dress by Haute Hippie. Kitana: Dress by A.L.C."Merry Christmas Eve, bitch." That's the line that opens director Sean Baker's stirring new film, Tangerine. It's vulgar and funny and sweet, and it's delivered by a transgender Los Angeles prostitute named Alexandra, played with marvelous ease by newcomer Mya Taylor, as she presents her best friend and fellow trans sex worker, Sin-Dee, with a sprinkled doughnut. Set in a sad little fast-food joint, the moment also establishes their relationship: We soon discover that this offering, and each other, are virtually all these women have.Tangerine's premise is quite simple: As they sit at Donut Time during the holidays, Alexandra reveals that Sin-Dee's lover and pimp, Chester, was cheating on her with a "fish" (slang for a cisgender woman) while she was locked up in prison for 28 days. The news enrages Sin-Dee -- a foul-mouthed wrecking ball that Kitana Kiki Rodriguez, another newcomer, was seemingly born to play -- so much so that the scorned spitfire decides to storm through the sordid streets near the intersection of Highland Avenue and Santa Monica Boulevard to hunt down Chester and his new fling. Along the way, we meet an array of call girls and meth heads, and Razmik (Karren Karagulian), an Armenian-American cabbie who sleeps with trans hookers (including Alexandra) during his shifts and then returns home to his wife and infant.At times, the film possesses an unhinged, camp sensibility a la John Waters or The Jerry Springer Show (expect an abundance of cursing, hair-pulling, and trash-talking, as well as a metaphorical car-wash fellatio scene that's as subtle as a flying stiletto). Yet its rawness and lived-in performances, and the way that Baker conveys his characters' clashes and mishaps without bias or judgment, elevate Tangerine from a farcical, exploitative romp to a poignant, empathetic look at life on the outskirts."The storyline is connected to something very serious," says Taylor, a Houston-born transgender club performer whom Baker befriended at the LGBT Center in Hollywood. When he expressed his interest in profiling her neighborhood, notorious for its illegal activity, Taylor was immediately drawn to the idea. She, Baker, and co-screenwriter Chris Bergoch soon began researching the area, interviewing the trans prostitutes who roam its blocks. "I took the movie as an opportunity to showcase what really goes on and try to get the word out," Taylor says. "This is what's happening here, and it needs to stop."Taylor introduced Baker and Bergoch to Rodriguez, a friend and trans advocate, who, through her work as a health educator at an HIV/AIDS research center, was also very familiar with the film's illicit backdrop. "This was a chance to show a part of the world that people rarely acknowledge," says Rodriguez. "I also love that Sean and the crew were so comfortable working with girls like us, because a lot of people seem to ostracize us. I was happy he gave us the opportunity to make Tangerine the way we wanted -- by holding nothing back."Accentuating his leads' often improvisational acting is Baker's bold, novel shooting technique: The entire movie was captured on iPhone 5s, lending Tangerine an intimate, fly-on-the-wall quality. As the cameras follow Sin-Dee and Alexandra, their movements often soundtracked by deep, pulsing EDM, the pair's various encounters are jerky, intense, and almost too close for comfort. The furtive style of filming also granted Baker and his team access that typical equipment wouldn't allow. Viewers are immersed in the tale's squalid spaces, rendering the action all the more gripping and real."This is a contribution to American film as an art form," says James Ransone, a two-time Baker collaborator who plays Chester, and manages to make the oily, thuggish manipulator strangely charming. "All these gigantic studio movies are event things. I miss movies like Tangerine. I thought, Here's another way to humanize an otherwise marginalized culture that is taboo in American society. That's how we tend to accept what might otherwise seem foreign to people -- by humanizing it."Taylor says she relates to her character's struggle, specifically citing the challenge she's faced trying to secure work while transitioning. "I had applied for 186 jobs in one month, and at the time I wasn't doing that well with money," she explains. "I'd gotten a ticket, and the state wouldn't let me get my name changed legally until that was paid. So whenever I'd go and apply for a job, they'd see the name was a male name, but it didn't match up with what I look like. It really prevented me from getting a lot of jobs. Take that and translate it to the street with these girls. I've seen some of them get dressed up and go on interviews, but they're not getting the jobs. So they resort to sex work, because it's fast and easy money."While its release comes at a pivotal time -- new TV series like Transparent and Orange Is the New Black, with Laverne Cox, have placed trans characters front and center -- Tangerine could be interpreted as a step backward: Transgender women have long been associated with prostitution, primarily because of how they've been represented in the media. But Taylor doesn't see it that way. "I'm not saying that every trans woman does sex work," she says. "But this is real. It happens, and it needs to be addressed."Ransone echoes her sentiments. "What's being depicted might not fit into the safe worldview of how you want Laverne Cox to be presented to you as a trans person," he says, "but by denying the experience of trans sex workers, we are denying that the problem still exists." Keep Reading →

Photography by Luke Fontana. Styling by Michael Cook. Hair: Christopher Naselli at Exclusive Artists. Makeup: Talia Sparrow. Dress by Diesel Black Gold. "I love that she takes matters into her own hands," says Jessica Szohr. The former Gossip Girl star, who for four seasons embodied cutesy fashion plate Vanessa, a character she once referred to as "a badass girl from Brooklyn," is discussing her new role as an actual badass.In the thrilling new USA series Complications, Szohr plays Gretchen, a tattooed lesbian nurse and avenging angel of mercy for her boss, a Good Samaritan doctor (Jason O'Mara) who saves the victim of a drive-by shooting and then must dodge ruthless gang members. Gretchen is also a steadfast advocate for patients jerked around by the system: In early episodes, she falsifies a bad diagnosis to shield a battered woman inside the hospital, and then beats the shit out of the woman's attacker in her downtime."Gretchen always tries to make the best of a bad situation," says Szohr, "even if it's not the right way." But she's more than just a renegade: Gretchen is multidimensional (a product of foster care and childhood abuse) and totally likable. Szohr is clearly having a blast playing her.The actor, 30, snagged the role after submitting an audition tape with her 12-year-old sister reading the lines of O'Mara's doctor protagonist, a choice that proved fortuitous. "Matt [Nix, the show's creator, a veteran of the USA hit Burn Notice] said, 'That's when I knew you were coming back in [to read for the part],' " she recalls. It turned out that Gretchen has a sister, too, with whom she has a contentious relationship. "I come from a large family, and I could relate to Gretchen being a caretaker," Szohr says, "but she has more of a chip on her shoulder than I do."Still, Szohr relished the idea of trading in high-fashion gloss for the chance to throw villains through glass tables. "They're really going for it with this show," she says. "Gretchen is a real go-getter, just like me. I go after what I want." Keep Reading →

Photography by Luke Fontana. Photographed at The High Line Hotel, New York. Styling by Marc Anthony George. Groomer: Angela Di Carlo. Jeans by Calvin Klein Jeans. Underwear by Calvin Klein. Keep Reading →