Zach Barack honoured to be Marvel's first openly transgender star

Zach Barack is honoured to be the first openly transgender actor to star in a Marvel film.

Zach is set to portray an as-yet-unnamed friend and classmate of Tom Holland's Peter Parker, who gets caught up in mysterious forces as a result of the multi-verse, in the upcoming Spider-Man: Far From Home.

The 23-year-old gushed about the role during an interview with Variety at the movie's Los Angeles premiere on Wednesday. And reflecting on his casting, the star admitted his Hollywood debut still hasn't sunk in.

"I'm kind of losing my mind a little bit, but I'm acting like I'm not. I don't know that it fully has (sunk in)," he confessed. "I don't quite have the capacity to explain how meaningful it is to me."

Referencing comics as an "important" part of his childhood, Zach went on to explain that there's "something very inherently trans about those stories", where a character has to balance life as a teenager and their secret self.

"Especially being a transmasculine person, because sometimes there's a pressure to be a different way than I feel naturally inclined to do because I want to fit in, and I have to actively fight that instinct," he reflected. "The fact of the matter is, being in this movie is so beyond incredibly meaningful, and I hope that it means something to other people."

Spider-Man: Far From Home, which also stars Zendaya, Jake Gyllenhaal and Samuel L. Jackson, debuts in cinemas on 2 July.