One thing I find so refreshing about the show is that your character’s gender identity is never explicitly discussed. How did it feel to work within that framework?
Honestly, the first thing that I thought was, “Wow, is this what it’s like for cisgender people? Do they just get to go in and play a character and it’s not all about their gender or all about one part of them?”
I went to a really tiny high school and we did all these super low-budget plays. I fantasized about playing characters like I got to play in The Politician. But because my high school was so gendered, I usually only got to play girl characters because I wasn’t out yet. I had one opportunity to play a male character when a boy got kicked out of the musical for not showing up to rehearsal. After doing that for the first time when I was 16, I was like, “I want to do this all the time.” My gender identity is all over the place sometimes, but I always knew I wanted to play boys. I want to play men. Whenever I got to play those characters, I felt seen.
There is also the subplot about your affair with Payton’s girlfriend, Alice, so you also get to be a romantic interest.
One of the scenes that I auditioned with was around that secret relationship, and I was like, “Oh my god! I get to be the other man? That’s so exciting!” I know that maybe he wasn’t necessarily doing a good thing, but I want to be able to do things where I’m not the good person.
That’s another thing that’s going on as writing evolves and the content that trans characters are working with evolves. Sometimes, people with really good intentions say they want to be able to project this person really positively. “We don’t want to portray them in a negative way.” But then, the person becomes inspiration porn and doesn’t really have any flaws and is not grounded or real. So it was so fun to be caught.
"This work has given me a sense of stability that I haven’t had since I was maybe 8 or 9 years old. So instead of thinking that it’s scary that I’m working on two very different projects, I’m excited, because I get the opportunity to stretch myself and be vulnerable in different ways in front of people on TV."
Was there a specific moment from filming that has stayed with you?
This is a funny thing that sticks in my head. Janet Mock directed episode three and I had a scene with Trey and Trevor Eason, who play Payton’s older brothers. Janet came up to me beforehand and she was like, “Listen. This is the first job that these two have ever had, so they have a little bit less experience. Just do whatever you can to help them out a bit.” Outside, I nodded, but inside my head, I was like, “Janet, I don’t know what I’m doing. I’m a newbie too! I’ve never done television! You’re asking a dog to lead two other dogs.” But it was exciting for somebody like that to have confidence in you and believe in you to help other people.
This December, you’ll also be in the new Showtime series Work In Progress. Can you talk a bit more about that?
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