Grey moved to Los Angeles with the hopes of beginning a career in singing or acting. In 2016, she was cast as Elizah Parks in the third season of
Transparent. Grey played a troubled foster youth living in
South Central Los Angeles,
California who calls Maura, played by
Jeffrey Tambor, on the LGBT suicide hotline for help. The season went on to win the
GLAAD Media Award for Best Comedy Series and later earned seven
Primetime Emmy Nominations in 2017. She then guest-starred on Season 4 of the
Comedy Central series
Drunk History where she portrayed gay rights activist
Marsha P. Johnson. The episode was nominated for a
GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Individual TV Episode. Grey was also considered for
Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series. On June 3, 2016, it was announced that she was cast alongside
Michael K. Williams,
Phylicia Rashad, and
Whoopi Goldberg to play trans activist and civil rights pioneer Seville Anderson in the
ABC mini-series
When We Rise. The series was directed by Oscar winner
Dustin Lance Black. In the fall of 2016, she was cast in
Chicago Med, in which she plays Denise, the older sister of head charge nurse Maggie Lockwood. She appeared as a guest star on the legal drama
Doubt in 2017 with co-star
Dulé Hill. Grey played Delilah Johnson, a woman on trial for the murder of a famous athlete. The story line was based on the real-life story of
CeCe McDonald. As a singer, she opened for Swedish singer-songwriter
Zara Larsson in October 2016, and completed a twelve city summer music tour in 2017. She has also opened for
Kesha and
Jordin Sparks at various pride music festivals. In 2017, transgender actors and actresses including Grey (with the help of
GLAAD and
ScreenCrush) were part of a filmed letter to Hollywood written by
Jen Richards, asking for more and improved roles for transgender people. Later that year she starred as Lucy Jones in
Asher Jelinsky's critically acclaimed short film
Miller & Son (2019), which won the
BAFTA Student Film Award and gold medal for "Best Narrative" (Domestic) at the 2019
Student Academy Awards. It was announced in Fall 2018, that she would star as Gossamer Bryant in the new coming of age drama
Gossamer Folds alongside
Shane West,
Yeardley Smith, and
Sprague Grayden. The drama tells the story of afriendship between a black midwestern trans woman and a 10 year old kid played by
Jackson Robert Scott in 1980s Kansas City. In April 2022, the film was nominated for
Outstanding Film – Limited Release at the
GLAAD Media Awards. Grey then landed her first national print campaign in 2019 with
Absolut to commemorate Pride and 38 years of acceptance with the brand. In January 2019, she returned to the series
Transparent in her role as Elizah Parks on for its fifth season which premiered later that year on Amazon Prime. The series went on to win the
GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding TV Movie or Limited Series in 2020. In September 2019, it was announced via
Deadline Hollywood that Grey had joined the sixth and final season cast of
Empire to play Melody Barnes, a pop singer and songwriter who was signed to Empire Records by
Lucious Lyon ten years earlier and has now reemerged under a new label headed by
Cookie Lyon. Currently, Grey is starring as
Lucy Hicks Anderson in the
HBO Max miniseries
Equal from producer
Greg Berlanti. In February,
Deadline Hollywood announced that Grey had joined the fifth-season cast of the
CBS action/adventure series
MacGyver. She played the role of Parker Phillips, an ambitious electrical engineer and the newest addition to the MacGyver team, until the show's cancellation in early April 2021. In the summer of 2021, it was announced that Grey would star opposite
Mickey Rourke and
Jeremy Luke in the romantic thriller
Replica. She will play the main character Tonya, a
trans woman whom travels from Mississippi to California to pursue her dreams but finds love in all the wrong places. Variety also announced later in the year that she would lead another romantic thriller,
Dope Queens starring opposite
Pierson Fodé. The film is set to release in 2022. In March 2022, Grey starred in a City Center
Encores! production of the Broadway musical
The Life in her New York City stage debut. She played the main character Queen, an charismatic sex worker whom longs for acceptance and family, adapted and directed by
Billy Porter. Before rehearsing with the full cast, she trained with a vocal coach in Los Angeles for four weeks. Grey's role marked the first time a transgender performer lead a production in
New York City Center ENCORES twenty-eight year history. == Filmography ==