Sydney Mae Diaz
2 min read
Sydney Mae Diaz (born May 16, 1995, in Queens, New York) is an American actor, musician, and songwriter who identifies as a trans man. He made his first screen appearance in the web series Strangers (2017) and built his profile through a series of streaming roles that placed LGBTQ+ characters at the center of their stories. His breakthrough came with the role of J in HBO Max's Genera+ion (2021), a witty and easygoing character navigating identity and sexuality alongside a diverse group of high school students; Diaz has spoken about drawing on his own experiences to inform the performance. He has also appeared in High Fidelity (Hulu), The Consultant (Prime Video), and was a member of the Long Island rock band Anxioushum as a singer and songwriter.
Ghostbusters: Afterlife (2021) marked his feature film debut. Diaz portrays Swayze, a teenager who works at Spinners Roller Hop, a drive-in restaurant in Summerville, Oklahoma, and is friends with Lucky Domingo. Within the film, Swayze is part of a group of teenagers who hang out near the Shandor Mining Company property and witnesses a spectral face forming far down the mine shaft that speaks the word "Gozer" before the group laughs it off as a joke. Later, Swayze overhears Phoebe, Trevor, Lucky, and Podcast discussing Gozer and Ivo Shandor at the diner. His casting was announced on February 6, 2020, and Diaz spent two separate weeks filming on location in the Summerville production area.