As part of our Pride month celebrations, we were thrilled to welcome Zach Barack, transgender actor, singer, and comedian.
Zach joined us for an engaging talk about his life and journey as he ventured into his career in entertainment as a marginalised actor. Titled Gay and Impatient – Trust the Process, Zach’s talk featured stories and videos set to inspire our teams to build courage and to live their best lives.
Following his talk, our very own Boyan (Bobby) Georgiev (Unreal TD, DNEG Animation) interviewed Zach for an interactive Q&A, where he shared insights into the importance of diversity in the entertainment industry and the impact of queer media in helping young people accept who they are.
Speaking of diversity in the VFX industry, Zach said, “The more folks we have behind the camera doing things that are diverse, the more the space opens up for other folks and the more that it genuinely shows on screen.”
And on the importance of trusting the process, Zach emphasised that, “The moments of joy [along the way], they’re just as valuable as the end product.”
Zach Barack is credited as the first openly transgender actor in a Marvel film – Spider-Man: Far From Home. You can learn more about Zach’s origin story in his TED Talk here ‘What is Your Origin Story?’
Based in our London headquarters, Boyan (Bobby) Georgiev oversees the DNEG Proud Group’s activities as Chair. We caught up with him at the beginning of June to learn more about DNEG Proud, life as a member of the LGBTQIA+ community working in VFX, and the power of film to share LGBTQIA+ stories. You can read his interview here.
We were honoured that Zach joined us to celebrate Pride and support DNEG’s journey towards becoming a more equitable, diverse and inclusive workplace.
A huge thank you to Zach for sharing his story and creating conversations to elevate our LGBTQIA+ community, and to Bobby for moderating the session!
To learn more about our Proud Group, click here.
To find out more about Equity, Diversity and Inclusion at DNEG, click here. And if you are interested in joining our team and building your career at DNEG, check out our open positions.