While The Bold and the Beautiful 's Maya Avant is not the first transgender character to appear on a daytime drama (that distinction goes to All My Children's Zoe, played by Jeffrey Carlson in both pre- and post-transition stages in 2006), Maya is making history as the soap world's first transwoman of color. She's also the first trans role to be portrayed by a long-term contract player. As groundbreaking as AMC 's Zoe was, she was meant to be a short-term character. Jeffrey Carlson agreed to portray Zoe in-between musical theater gigs, giving the AMC producers a firm departure date. Not so with Maya Avant. As portrayed by actress Karla Mosley since January 2013, Maya promises to be part of the B&B canvas for some time to come.
For the first year of her B&B tenure, Maya was believed to be a cisgendered woman. Viewers enjoyed her often melodramatic romantic entanglements, as well as her glamorous life as a model. But last month Maya's long-lost sister Nicole stumbled upon the truth about Maya's past: Maya was once known as Myron, a brother Nicole had lost track of.
"I was nervous," Mosley told the B.A.R. "It kept me up at night. I was nauseous for three weeks, because I care about this story so much. I want to represent people correctly." She said that friends of hers had to "toss me off the ledge," figuratively, so she could dive into the pool and play out this new storyline. "I do have friends who are trans," she said. "I turned to them for advice and inspiration."
The storyline wasn't all that shocking to American viewers, who might have been prepared for it by the emergence of transgender celebrities such as Laverne Cox and Janet Mock. Mosley was quick to point out that The Bold and the Beautiful is seen in over 100 countries, some of which do not yet have a visible trans community.
"We're seen in places where being LGBT is still illegal," Mosley said. "It'll be interesting to see the ripple effect around the world. I hope we open people's hearts."
The actress said that studying the works of feminist icons assisted her in preparing for her portrayal of the "new" Maya. "It's so wonderful researching this character by reading the works of modern feminist authors like Audre Lorde," she said. "And now it's exciting to see Maya living her life."
Mosley reported that the response to Maya's outing has been 80-90% supportive. "I tend to engage with people online," she said. "I made a point to answer people's questions. I get the best tweets!" She said that some of her Twitter followers have told her that she's telling their story. "That means a lot."
Veronika Fimbres, a leader in the San Francisco transgender community, offered her critique of Maya's coming out scene. Fimbres was generally satisfied with Mosley's performance, but she did raise one issue.
"I would like to have trans actors play trans people," Fimbres said. "All too often, straight men and women play those parts and then attempt to get awards for them. There are enough trans men and women actors who are more than qualified and happy to play these parts."
Karla Moseley concurred. "It's controversial for me to play trans when I'm cisgender," the actress said. "I want to do justice to Maya's story."
The Bold and the Beautiful airs weekdays at 12:30 p.m. on KPIX-TV.