Movie actress Ellen Page announced at a conference in Las Vegas Friday evening that she is gay.
Page, who will appear in X-Men: Days of Future Past as Kitty Pryde (Shadowcat) this May, stated her sexuality at the Time to Thrive conference in Sin City to an audience made up of LGBT teens, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Update: Watch a video featuring Ellen Page’s inspiring speech below:
“I’m here today because I am gay,” she said. “And because maybe I can make a difference. To help others have an easier and more hopeful time. Regardless, for me, I feel a personal obligation and a social responsibility.”
“It’s weird because here I am, an actress, representing — at least in some sense — an industry that places crushing standards on all of us. Not just young people, but everyone. Standards of beauty. Of a good life. Of success. Standards that, I hate to admit, have affected me.”
She continued, “You have ideas planted in your head, thoughts you never had before, that tell you how you have to act, how you have to dress and who you have to be. I have been trying to push back, to be authentic, to follow my heart, but it can be hard.”
After speaking, Page tweeted:
Thank you @HRC and everyone for all the love and support. X
— Ellen Page (@EllenPage) February 15, 2014
Other actresses like Anna Kendrick supported her remarks after hearing the news:
Mad mad mad mad mad mad crazy love and praise for @EllenPage today. Congrats to you, you light, talent, and beauty.
— Anna Kendrick (@AnnaKendrick47) February 15, 2014
Page will turn 27 years old next week and is best known for her role in Juno opposite Michael Cera.