Thursday, September 27, 2007

Blond Ambition

What a huge step forward for the LGBT population that New York's own Candis Cayne has landed the role of Billy Baldwin's transgender mistress, Carmelita, on ABC's new drama "Dirty Sexy Money." What's obvious to many of us in the queer world has been slow to make its way into the gay-filled-yet-self-loathingly-homophobic world of Hollywood -- that gays can play gays, and trannies can play trannies. As a result we've had to sit back and watch two plum transroles in the past two years have gone to XX women, with Rebecca Romjin playing Alexis on "Ugly Betty" and Felicity Huffman getting the lead in "TransAmerica." (Oh, wait. Maybe that wasn't such a good example. She is a transsexual, right?)

I didn't catch the "Dirty Sexy Money" premiere last night (I loved "Melrose Place" in the '90s, but never saw a episode of "Dallas," "Knots Landing" or "Dynasty" in my life, which I think "Dirty" takes its cues from, so ...) and based on the reviews I've read something tells me it's not going to be around much longer. But this doesn't diminish my excitement for Candis and the transgender community. Candis told Access Hollywood that when she began transitioning 10 years ago she realized she'd probably never work again. And while she's thrilled to hit prime time in this new role, her hope is to one day play a natural-born woman. "We’re all actors and actresses," she explained, "so I’d like to get to the point where I could play just female roles you know and not always be categorized." To which I say: You go, girl ...
Related:

  • Gentlemen Prefer Blondes
  • Curb Your Transsexualism?
  • Candis Cayne Stops Traffic
  • Who's That Guy?
  • 2 comments:

    pj said...

    I let out a squeal of delight when she made her entrance! ! ! Awesome! ! ! Would love for this to become the new Dynasty/Dallas.

    CinJen said...

    I loved the premiere show & hope your prediction of cancellation is wrong, Dear Kenneth!

    I applauded when her name flashed in the opening credits & screamed like a proud fan after her scene.

    Me so proud.