Daniielle Alexis couldn’t be more excited to tell her story. “Thank goodness you’re here – I’ve been waiting my whole life for this!” she exclaims when Woman’s Day arrives at her home in Perth.
Daniielle stars as Dana Malouf, the new inmate in season five of the hit TVNZ 2 prison drama Wentworth, and her debut telly role has given her the confidence to reveal a secret she’s long been keeping.
“My original name was Shayne and I was born a boy,” she says, relief creeping across her face. “I can finally say that name and feel safe that I’m not about to get teased.”
It’s been a long road to this point for the 31-year-old transgender actress.
“I’ve felt like a girl on the inside from the very start,” admits Danii, who juggles a part-time job as a gym manager with her acting career in Melbourne.
It was a dream come true for Danii when she was given the role of Dana (far right), Wentworth Prison’s new inmate.
“Mum understood and never tried to change me,” she remembers. “I grew my hair, wore colourful clothing, collected My Little Ponies, and was dancing and performing from when I was four.
“Dad, however, never supported my feminine pursuits and when he bought me a yellow boy’s mountain bike for my fifth birthday, I bawled my eyes out, wondering why I was being punished. He got annoyed and thought I was ungrateful, but it was his way of trying to get me thinking like a boy.”
It didn’t work and soon after, Shayne told his mother that when he grew up, he was going to be a girl.
By Year Seven, he felt different from his peers. His hair was long, he used the disabled bathrooms and he always sat down on the toilet. During puberty, Shayne didn’t grow body hair, failed to develop an Adam’s apple and began growing breast tissue – a phenomenon his doctor dismissed as “teenage puppy fat”.
Danii says her peers didn’t accept her. “When I dressed as a girl and wore make-up, I knew it needed to happen behind closed doors.
“I was nudged and rammed into school corridors daily and all I wanted to say was, ‘Stop, I’m a girl.’ I knew I had male genitalia, but I felt I was a girl.”
Tormented and scared, acting was Shayne’s escape during his troubled teenage years. He was tutored by coach Tiffany Edwards, aka Maureen Bates, the first wife of Bee Gees legend Barry Gibb. “I loved performing and must have been pretty good as Tiffany told me one day I’d be famous,” recalls Danii.
After high school, Shayne officially began the journey to womanhood and started having hormone therapy.
“I also announced to my mum that I was transgender and going to have sexual reassignment surgery,” says Danii, who was blown away by her mum Leonie’s response.
As a young boy, Shayne used to pray he’d die and be reborn as a female.
“She said, ‘I have been waiting your whole life for you to say that, let’s go. Here’s the money to do it – I’ve been saving, along with your grandfather.’
“I cried for days afterwards and thank the universe for my mum. I am alive because of her.”
With breast and penile reassignment surgery now behind her, Daniielle says she’s never been happier.
And she’s more confident about pursuing acting, inspired by stars such as Bruce Jenner, who publicly became Caitlyn in 2015, and fellow Aussie actress Jessica Marais, who played the titular character in Carlotta, a telemovie about one of the first people in Australia to undergo sex reassignment surgery.
Thanks to the support of her mum, Danii can live her life without fear.
“I emailed every producer in Australia and Fremantle Media offered me Wentworth,” she tells. “It feels amazing and I am so grateful. My social media has gone up by thousands – even Elle Macpherson and [Aussie model] Cheyenne Tozzi are fans.”
Now Danii, who is single, is looking forward to starting a family of her own.
“My sexual function is like that of a person born female,” she explains. “I obviously don’t menstruate and can’t have a baby, but I plan on being a mother through surrogacy one day.
“My path of pain has been worth it and I love the fact I’m a face of diversity in this country now.”
