This ‘Dirty Sexy’ Actress Is A Real Groundbreaker
JANUARY 15, 2008
NEW YORK (TNA) -- When it came to casting the role of Carmelita, William Baldwin’s gorgeous transsexual mistress in ABC’s “Dirty Sexy Money,” the producers literally gave viewers a “switch” from the norm by hiring hottie Candis Cayne.
'Dirty Sexy Money' star Candis Cayne is the first transgendered actress to play an ongoing character on a TV series.
They could have selected an actress with a husky voice. Or they could have cast a very effeminate male drag performer. Or even slapped a wig and dress on a tall, broad-shouldered actor and played the illicit romance for campy laughs.
Instead, the “D$M” producers went a different way, one that’s radically and refreshingly simple: Like her character, Cayne is a she who used to be a he!
It’s a groundbreaking stroke of casting – a first for a major broadcast network TV series, Cayne has been told – to have a transgendered character as an ongoing presence in a TV series played by an actual trans actress.
In other words, one of TV’s naughtiest dramas was admirably responsible when it came to casting this part.
Cayne, who has been in six of the first 10 episodes, says she never set out to be a social crusader or to open doors.
“It’s not something that I thought I wanted or would ever do,” she says. “I’m just trying to be happy in my life and do good work as an actress.
“But then it hits you that you’re doing something that has never been done before and you realize that this goes way beyond just you as an actress. It’s something that’s history-making. When that happens, you have to step up and take it as it comes. And I’m completely positive and ready for it. I’m totally happy being the person who says, ‘Hey, look at me – accept me for who I am.’”
Mind you, Cayne – who underwent the sexual reassignment transition a decade ago, after first making a name for herself in New York as a popular drag performer – has been winning people over with grace and subtlety for years.
“Most people, if they meet me without knowing anything about my past, just think I’m a normal, down-to-earth girl,” Cayne says. “Then they find out that I’m transgendered, but they can’t change their minds about me as a person, because they met me and they liked me for who I was and who I am.”
Similarly, Carmelita is actually “the most honest character on the show,” Cayne notes. “I love the fact that they made her real and strong, instead of a cartoon or somebody who gets walked over or somebody who’s weak or somebody who’s a drug addict. There are so many ways that transgendered people are written and most of them are negative.”
Cayne's career took off 10 years ago after she had sexual reassignment surgery.
Granted, Carmelita is having an affair with a married man.
“So she’s not the most positive role model,” Cayne concedes. “But remember, this is a primetime soap. It has to be juicy. And Carmelita’s story is definitely juicy.”
For the uninitiated, “D$M” is the story of Nick George, an earnest and ethical attorney (played by Peter Krause) who winds up serving as family lawyer to the rich, powerful, and privileged Darlings of New York.
Everyone in the family gives Nick headaches with erratic, eccentric, over-the-top behavior. That includes son Patrick Darling (played by Baldwin), who is New York state’s attorney general and a political up-and-comer. His hopes of becoming a U.S. senator will be ruined, however, if news of his extramarital affair with Carmelita leaks out.
“The main thing I like about the show is that the writing is so addictive,” Cayne says. “That, and the actors. To be in a cast with Donald Sutherland and Jill Clayburgh and Billy Baldwin and Peter Krause, to be in a repertory group with so many amazing actors, goes beyond just being on a normal show. This is acting with legends. It’s very cool.”
Cayne, who began life as Brendan McDaniel, discovered a passion for performing at an early age.
“My earliest memory of doing this is a school play,” she says. “I got goosebumps seeing my teacher cheering in the audience and I thought, ‘Wow, this is what I want to do with my life.’”
An interest in movie musicals like “Singing in the Rain” and a love of dance (“I idolized Cyd Charisse”) cemented it: Brendan was born to be an entertainer. And eventually, several years after he “came out” and made it in New York as a drag queen, he also realized he was born to be a woman.
“When I was starting my transition, I thought for sure I was giving up any hope that I could go to another level in my career as far as acting or dancing,” Cayne says. “But you get to a point as a human being where you just say, ‘This is what I need to do and I’m willing to sacrifice everything I’ve worked for to be completely whole and happy.’
“The first week that I started my transition, I was happier then than I had ever been in my entire life. The initial taking-the-jump is scary. But once you’re in the air, there’s nothing you can do but accept it and enjoy it.”
If 'Dirty Sexy Money' doesn't work out, Cayne hopes to play a wacky supermodel neighbor on a sitcom.
Today, she feels like she has it all: In addition to her great “Dirty Sexy Money” role, she still regularly performs her one-woman show (in New York at the Ritz on Sundays and Brite Bar on Mondays). What’s more, away from work, she says she has a fulfilling home life. The highlight, she says, is a five-year relationship with Marco, who is also the DJ in her nightclub act.
Cayne still has no idea who she competed against when she auditioned for “Dirty Sexy Money.” She has no clue whether her rivals were mostly women with deep voices, men in drag or other trans actresses.
“I’ve always been really, really curious about that,” she admits – although not curious enough yet to ask executive producer Craig Wright about it.
Mostly, she’s just happy and humbled to have booked the gig.
In the early days of Hollywood, it wasn’t uncommon for white actors to play Charlie Chan or Geronimo in movies. Now, of course, that kind of casting would be considered outrageous. Today, there even are pressure groups that complain if a handicapped character is played by an actor who can walk or if a gay character is played by someone who’s straight.
“There is a similar sentiment with trans actresses,” Cayne notes. “And at this point in our culture and society, it’s moving more toward reality, from characters like John Lithow’s in ‘The World According to Garp’ to Rebecca Romjin in ‘Ugly Betty.’ And I think that, through me playing this role, people will now realize that there are trans actors who play roles like this.”
That said, Cayne ultimately believes if you’re an actor, you’re an actor.
“So I have no problem with a straight person playing a gay role or vice versa.”
Nor is Candis Cayne locked in on playing only trans characters for the rest of her career. As she puts it, “I could totally be the kooky supermodel next door neighbor in a sitcom!”
Comments (1 posted)(Warning: adult content)
