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Meet Maya’s Pal, Nick!

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Scott Turner Schofield debuts on THE BOLD & THE BEAUTIFUL on Friday, May 8, as Maya’s transgender friend, Nick, and he’ll continue to recur on the show in the weeks to come.

An activist, playwright and public speaker who has toured the country sharing his own story as a transgender individual, Schofield says the soap role answered a request he’d recently made of the universe. “I knew I wanted to make a career change [and focus on acting], so I asked for abundance,” he explains. “I said, ‘Let this change be big. I want to be an artist, but I want so many more people to be affected by that.’ And, um, I got it! I got one of the biggest audiences on earth!”

Though Schofield has performed to crowds of more than 1,200 people – and reached many more viewers online as a prestigious TED speaker – the actor tells Soaps In Depth he was shaking like a leaf during his B&B audition. “I had the jitters, to say the least,” he says. “I left the meeting and thought, ‘I blew that, man.’ When they later called to offer me the role, my legs lost all functionality. I literally fell to my knees!”

Fortunately, Schofield says his nerves were instantly allayed on his first day of taping when he met Karla Mosley (Maya). “It turns out, we have a very close friend in common, and that put me right at ease,” he says. “I knew we were going to be friends from that moment. Right before our first take, I took her hand and said, ‘You’re participating in my dream coming true.'”

While transgender characters are becoming more prevalent in the entertainment industry, they’ve predominantly been portrayed by cisgender (that is, not transgender) actors. “It’s been one of the transgender community’s biggest beefs,” says Schofield, noting examples like Jared Leto’s character in_ Dallas Buyer’s Club_ and Felicity Huffman’s portrayal in Transamerica. “While I will say those actors have done an astounding job, it’s also like, ‘Why can’t we get a job?'” It’s one of the reasons the actor can’t say enough about B&B’s decision to give him this opportunity. “It’s a step forward, one I hope all production companies will take,” he says. “There are a lot of us out here that can do great things and are available!”

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