User:AlantMerit/Thorn Roos de Vries

Thorn de Vries (of Thorn Roos de Vries) (Blaricum, 26 July 1995) is a Dutch actor, drag king and activist.

De Vries became well known for being the first non-binary character in Dutch film and television.

Personal Life
De Vries is engaged to chief editor of Dutch girl magazine LINDA.meiden, Mandy Woelkens. In January of 2021 the couple announced on their Instagram that they had had a baby.

Gender identity
De Vries grew up in Hoevelaken with their parents and sister. Aged 17, De Vries moved to Amsterdam in the hope of finding a freer and happier life. However, this life in Amsterdam did not bring them the joy they had expected, which resulted in a dark and depressing time in their life. At the age of 21 they realized they needed to explore their gender identity rather than their sexual identity.

De Vries' realization about their gender identity came when a doctor at a HIV clinic explained to them what it meant to be non-binary. They have not looked back since that day. Ballroom and drag have given them the opportunity to further explore their masculinity.

Name
The name Thorn originated from their drag king alter ego, Thorn Vineyard. A name they used in the ballroom community, which was given to them by their ballroom mother, Amber Vineyard. ‘Thorn’ derives from the thorns of a rose, which is a reference to their birth name.

Career
Before starring in the teen television series SpangaS: De Campus, de Vries worked as a video-editor. As a child de Vries had fantasized about becoming an actor but was too scared to follow through with these fantasies. Via a casting call for non-binary actors on Facebook, de Vries got into contact with SpangaS. This was their first acting project.

Acting
De Vries has starred in the teen television series SpangaS: De Campus as Lesley Huf, as Lesley Huf, a student at the fictional Spangalis College. In the Netflix movie Anne+ de Vries portrayed the character Lou. De Vries was the first non-binary character is Dutch television as well as Dutch film.

Podcast
In October 2019 Thorn, together with their partner Mandy, started a podcast, called Couple Goals de Podcast. Here, the couple discusses everything relating to relationships and love, inviting a different couple every episode, asking them about their relationship and their ideas about love. Following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the couple made a Couple Goals mini series on Youtube called "CoupleGoals in Quarantine", before starting with the second season of the podcast.

Book
In October of 2021 de Vries published 'FAQ Gender' together with their partner Mandy Woelkens. A book answering all questions related to gender. Using their own experiences, they hope to answer all those Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) and make discussions on gender easier to grasp.

Drag King
Thorn de Vries started performing as drag king in 2017, after being inspired by their own experiences with nightlife and drag queens. Shortly after starting they were already performing on the main stage at Pride Amsterdam. They became a member of the House of Vineyard under the nickname Thorn Vineyard. The House of Vineyard is a first house of the Dutch Ballroom scene, founded by Mother and Pioneer Amber Vineyard. It was created to make a safe space for those who did not fit into society's expectations. The house empowers the members to express themselves the way they want to.

De Vries has explained in an interview with Priscilla Nelom that, for them, performing as a drag king is a protest against the binary gender norms between men and women, and they want to show that it is not as black and white as it often seems to be. Besides it being part of their activism, it also had personal reasons. Namely, to help in discovering more about their identity after leaving their hometown in the Dutch Biblebelt.

Museum Exposition
De Vries is one of the faces of the “What a Genderful World” museum exposition. The exhibition, previously exhibited at the Tropenmuseum in Amsterdam, runs until the 5th of March 2022 at the Wereldmuseum in Rotterdam.

De Vries can also be seen in the latest season of de Slimste Mens.

Activism
De Vries describes their activism in two ways. On the one hand, they organize workshops in schools about gender diversity and drag workshops through The Netherlands. They volunteer for COC Amsterdam, which is an activist organisation for lgbtq+ communities and works as GSA-coördinator, which is a club active towards tolerance in high schools. Furthermore, they organise protests and marches. On the other hand de Vries says in an interview with Vice that simply going out in the world as a queer person is an act of activism, because you do not conform to the norm