During the 2018 Oscars, the Chilean actress Daniela Vega was invited not only for "A fantastic woman" (Sebastián Lelio, 2017), a story she starred in and which was nominated for Best Non-English Language Film, finally conquering the first Oscar for Chile.

Daniela was also invited as one of the presenters of the night, being the first openly transgender actress to do so in 90 years of the award history. With a brief previous speech, delivered in perfect English, she asked the world: "I want to invite you to open your heart and your feelings, to feel the reality, to feel love."

And the world listened.

By the end of last year, both TIME and OUT magazines had chosen her as one of the most influential people in the world, highlighting not only her exceptional talent in the arts (she is also a lyric singer,) but also her importance for representation of minorities in the world mainstream media, and in her country, Chile, which is quite conservative.

Daniela won in 2018 the love of the critics and the public. She also won three awards for Best Actress at international film festivals and was included in two projects that will elevate her artistic career to the next level.

One of those projects will be released next June 7th, when premieres on Netflix the miniseries "Tales of the city" by the American novelist Armistead Maupin, which marks the first full performance of Daniela in English. She will play Ysela, the best friend of the lead character Mary Ann (played by Laura Linney), and will share the cast with actress Ellen Page and Jen Richards, another transgender actress.

The show, which is a remake of a successful series from the 90s, will have ten episodes and, according to Netflix, is composed by a diverse and inclusive cast and production crew, mostly LGBT+.

Daniela's other television project for this year is "La jauría," a psychological gender crime thriller influenced by the Latin American feminist movement #NiUnaMenos and inspired by the case of "La Manada" from Spain. Produced by Pablo and Juan de Dios Larraín (Fábula), along with Fremantle (UK), the series will be directed by Argentine filmmaker Lucía Puenzo and broadcasted on TVN, the Chilean public television.

She is playing the police detective Elisa Murillo, who will lead the search for a missing girl who was raped by several men at the same time.

In an interview with EW, the actress said that art allows the trans community, "usually silenced," to tear down walls and open the ways to understanding.

And that's the focus of her life.

Daniela studied in a boys-only school where she suffered bullying for living her unapologetic femininity. She came out to her parents as a teenager, and they supported her without hesitation, walking alongside her in her transition from the age of 18.

Before her big breakthrough, she was a stylist and make-up artist in a beauty salon in Santiago de Chile. At that time she began to study acting and music, and she starred in plays for several years before making her debut in the cinema with "La visita" (Mauricio López Fernández, 2013).

Art made her visible, free. And a fantastic woman.

This month the Chilean actress was invited by the also Chilean visual artist Voluspa Jarpa, to perform with her in the official representation of their country at La Biennale di Venezia, closing the Chilean pavilion.

Yes. Some are still afraid of people who live freely. But that, instead of stopping her, motivates her.

She told The Guardian: “It actually gives me a physical pleasure to annoy conservatives. I don’t have to be violent; I don’t have to insult anyone – my mere existence shakes those people up”.