Jesse James Rose (she/they) is an author, actor, & labor leader based in New York City. She is best known as @jamesissmiling on social media, and for her memoir, sorry i keep crying during sex.

Jesse holds degrees from NYU in Music Theatre and Child & Adolescent Mental Health Studies, and a certificate in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion from Cornell Univeristy. 

As an actress, Jesse made queer theatre history as the youngest openly non-binary performer to take on the title role of Hedwig and the Angry Inch professionally. The same year they co-starred in the indie film “Adelphe” which premiered at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival. Most recently Jesse starred as the Emcee in Barrington Stage’s production of CABARET followed by a sold-out run of their debut solo show, Men I’ve Had, at 54 Below.

After publicly speaking out against sexual violence in theatre, Jesse turned her attention to the labor movement and was elected to National Council for Actor’s Equity Union where she sits on the Committee to Prevent Harassment among many others. She hopes to build a world where this committee is rendered obsolete.

She gained worldwide attention as the transgender activist attacked by Donald Trump, as covered by Rolling Stone and THEM. She continues an unwavering dedication to trans liberation. #StopTransGenocide.

In 2023 Jesse was appointed an ambassador for Planned Parenthood where they created educational content on transgender healthcare, reproductive justice, and sex education. They also consulted for Instagram’s headquarter company Meta to assist in eliminating pro-eating disorder content on the platform. As of 2021 users are now able to report content that glamorizes, glorifies, or promotes disordered eating as a violation of the app’s community guidelines. 

Their work lives largely on social media, where Jesse writes (& yaps) about gender, queerness, politics, survivorship, mental health, their feelings on Instagram & Tik Tok, reaching a community of 600,000+ people. Jesse values authenticity, political action, and hopes to make the internet a little better than she found it.