Alexis Arquette

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American actress, musician, cabaret performer, and underground cartoonist, who started her career in early childhood and spent 43 years in the entertainment industry, dying at age 47. Arquette was well known for her gender transitioning, and for her activism in supporting other people making similar transitions. Arquette was born Robert Arquette to Brenda Olivia "Mardi" (née Nowak), an actor, poet, theatre operator, activist, acting teacher, and therapist, and Lewis Arquette, an actor and director. Her paternal grandfather was comedian Cliff Arquette. Arquette's siblings are actors Rosanna, Patricia, Richmond, and David. In 1986, Arquette debuted on the big screen in an uncredited role as Alexis, the androgynous friend and bandmate of the sexually ambivalent, angst-filled teenager Max Whiteman (Evan Richards) in the comedy film Down and Out in Beverly Hills. At nineteen, Arquette landed her first featured film role, playing transvestite Georgette in Last Exit to Brooklyn. The majority of her film work was in low-budget or independent films. She appeared in I Think I Do, Children of the Corn V: Fields of Terror, Sometimes They Come Back... Again, and Killer Drag Queens on Dope, among 40 other independent pictures. Arquette appeared in supporting roles in Pulp Fiction as well as other mainstream films, including Threesome and Bride of Chucky. In 2001, Arquette played the Roman emperor Caligula in two episodes of the cult television show Xena: Warrior Princess. That same year, Arquette guest starred in the Friends episode, "The One with Chandler's Dad" and had a cameo appearance in Son of the Beach. In 2006, she transitioned from male to female, an experience that was documented in the film, Alexis Arquette: She's My Brother, which debuted at the 2007 Tribeca Film Festival. On 31 January 2007, Arquette was a featured celebrity client and guest judge on the premiere episode of Bravo's reality television show Top Design. Arquette also made a cameo appearance in Robbie Williams' "She's Madonna" video. Arquette died of a heart attack at 12:32 AM on 11 September 2016 in Los Angeles. Also, according to her death certificate she had bacterial endocarditis (a bacterial infection of the heart) for 3 weeks prior to her death, and was HIV+ for 29 years. Link to Wikipedia biography