Should trans screen roles be played by trans actors?

Transsexual characters promote positive discussion, regardless of who plays them. But trans actors need more opportunities

    Juliet Jacques | guardian.co.uk, Saturday 14 January 2012 10.00 EST

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/jan/14/trans-characters-actors?newsfeed=true



Victoria Atkin, right, on the set of Hollyoaks with transgender Benson Bell, who has acted as a consultant on the storyline. Photograph: Colin McPherson
     
"He's playing a transsexual," said Ben Stephenson, controller of drama commissioning, as the BBC announced that Sean Bean would star as Simon, an English teacher with an "alter ego" named Tracie in legal drama Accused. "[It's] a brilliant story," Stephenson told the Broadcasting Press Guild, "untold, I think, on mainstream television." Bean's appearance is the latest to raise an issue constantly debated within certain circles: should trans roles on screen be played by trans people?[/img]