Chaz Bono has returned to acting
playing the U.S. president in a recent musical send-up of the 1996
film Independence Day.
Bono, 44, the child of Cher and Sonny
Bono, attended the High School of Performing Arts in New York. He
recently appeared on ABC's Dancing With The Stars and in
several cable television cameo spots.
But his recent portrayal of President
Thomas J. Whitmore in Thirty Minute Musicals: Independence Day
at the Celebration Theater in West Hollywood was the first time Bono
played a male character on stage since he began transitioning in
2009.
“My senior year of high school I got
cast as a male character and for the first time I really excelled,”
Bono told PEOPLE.com.
“But I told myself, 'This will never happen as a professional so I
need to find another career.'”
After Dancing With The Stars,
Bono returned to acting classes.
“A lot of times there is an
assumption that someone like me doesn't have skill or talent,” Bono
said. “That is the battle that I feel I am up against. But I am
doing the work to counteract that.”
“I've decided that hopefully it is
never too late to do what you want to do,” he added.