The malleable non-binary actor has shone onscreen in Topline, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, and Dream Scenario, and onstage in Let the Right One In.is a monthly column by Radheyan Simonpillai profiling a new generation of Canadian screen stars making their mark in front of and behind the camera.
Lamanna is a youthful-looking, non-binary 32-year-old of Italian, Jewish and Chinese ancestry. They've often struggled to figure out where they fit in an industry that can be pretty prescriptive and narrow when it comes to roles that fit in certain boxes.
They add that acting was the only way they could see themselves participating in capitalism, though they often would opt to perform in something rewarding for free, like community shows with the collective, rather than pursuing more parts as day players in police procedurals or "nacho commercials.
That scene isn't in the play, but Lamanna incorporates the ambiguity in their performance. "It was important to my understanding of the character that I had been a boy and was living in the world as a girl for the sake of my survival," they say. "It made sense to move through the world as a girl.