Iris Menas Wiki
In December 2021, the Oscar-awarded movie “West Side Story” had its premiere in the United States, and besides the lead roles portrayed by Rachel Zegler, Ansel Elgort and Ariana DeBose, one role caught the eye of the viewers. It was the character of Anybodys, a trans youth who wants to be accepted as a member of the Jets. In all previous adaptations, the character of Anybodys was presented as a girl who acts like a boy, however, in the 2021 film adaptation, Anybodys is portrayed as a trans, a boy who was assigned female at birth.
You might think that this introduction has nothing in common with Iris Menas but let us introduce you to the following; the first thing to know about Iris is that is a non-binary person and Iris uses zie/hir pronouns. Zie portrayed the character of Anybodys in the mentioned adaptation of the famous musical, based on the novel of the same title written by Arthur Laurents.
Iris was born as Sophie Menas, under the zodiac sign of Cancer on 20 July 1990, in Wichita, Kansas USA; zie holds American nationality and hir ethnicity is White. Zie is an actor, with four credits to hir name, however, zie started hir career as a stage performer, and eventually started using the name Ezra, and now zie uses the name Iris.
Zie was raised by hir parents in Wichita, where zie attended a local high school, and upon matriculating in 2008, Iris enrolled at the University of Oklahoma, from which zie graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Arts (Musical Theatre), in 2012.
Iris had an interest in music from an early age, performing and acting, zie shared in hir interview for broadwayworld.com how she decided to be an actor saying: ‘I saw Hairspray on Broadway. My family and I took a trip over Thanksgiving when I was a junior in high school. And that’s when I was like, “Whoa, these people look like they’re having so much fun. And this is so freakin’ cool.” And it wasn’t my first Broadway show. It’s funny that just Hairspray for some reason dropped in. I was like, “I want to do this. I want to do that for my job-for my life.’
Iris played in the Music Theatre of Wichita, in the musical “Legally Blonde”, in which zie was credited as Sophie Menas, and then zie moved to New York City, and played in The Pearl Theatre Company, then in 2014 performed under the name Iris as a dancer and dance captain for three production shows on Norwegian Cruise Line’s Norwegian Gem, entitled “Encore”, “Rock You Tonight”, and “The Look of Love”.
There isn’t much known about Iris before zie became famous, however, it’s known that zie made hir Broadway theatre debut in 2021, in the ensemble of “Jagged Little Pill”; the jukebox musical is based on the eponymous album by Alanis Morissette and the book written by Diablo Cody, and had 15 award nominations, winning the Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album.
Acting career
Iris made hir debut on television as a voice actor in 2021, voicing the character of Odee Eliot in the animated series “Madagascar: A Little Wild”, and then zie was heard as Fred in the animated adventure comedy “Ridley Jones”.
The interesting fact about the character of Odee Eliot is that it’s a non-binary bison, and Iris was thrilled to voice this character saying that zie knows that many children watch the series and zie could help them to realize who they are.
Iris said in hir interview for ew.com: ‘I think seeing Odee and the care from Odee’s friends would have made me not feel so isolated. At times, I felt so isolated in my experience. I didn’t know I was non-binary as a kid.
I didn’t even have that language as a kid.’, adding that as a non-binary person zie appreciates the care for authenticity, and for learning that people who aren’t non-binary need to accept others for who they are.
Soon after, zie was cast to play hir most notable role so far, as Anybodys in Steven Spielberg’s adaptation of the musical “West Side Story”, which follows the story of forbidden love and the rivalry between The Sharks and The Jests, teenage street gangs of different ethnicity. The movie had 277 award nominations and 67 wins, including the Oscar for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role (Ariana DeBose), while Iris shares the nomination for International Online Cinema Award (INOCA) Best Ensemble Cast with the rest of the movie crew.
Currently, hir fans can enjoy watching Iris as Alex in the series “Way Down”, also starring Aury Krebs and Alexis Floyd in this drama that follows the story of Alex, a non-binary photographer who struggles through life, and keep questioning their life, their job, and their relationships. The series started broadcasting in January 2022, and is available on Home Box Office (HBO) Max.
Love life and relationships
There were various rumors both concerning Iris’ love life and hir sexual orientation, however, when it comes to hir sexuality zie identifies as a non-binary lesbian.
Zie once said: ‘Stepping into my identity allowed and continues to allow me to bring my full self in the room. Into every room. It allows me to speak truths to myself and therefore translates to my relationships, my craft, my whole life.’
Iris’ fans are very supportive and zie has become one of the favorite people amongst the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender (LGBT) community.
Speaking about hir relationships, zie prefers to keep hir personal matters a secret, and hasn’t spoken about hir love life, and although zie had an Instagram and Twitter account, they are now defunct, thus it’s hard to find out more about Iris’ personal life.
As of early 2022, Iris hasn’t been married or engaged and doesn’t have children.
Age, appearance, and net worth
Iris’ age is 31, zie has short brown hair and brown eyes, weighs around 145lbs (65kgs), and is 5ft 8ins (1.75m) tall.
According to sources, the movie “West Side Story” had a budget estimated at $100 million, and it earned over $10 million on the opening weekend in the US and Canada. Being a member of the movie cast certainly brought Iris a decent amount of money, so as of April 2022, hir net worth has been estimated at over $500,000.
