Scott Turner Schofield is a diversity speaker who has created a pathway into acting on television.
Schofield debuted this past May on The Bold and the Beautiful as Nick becoming the only transgender actor that is part of a regular broadcast daytime television cast.
Several shows created by Schofield, Becoming a Man in 127 Easy Steps and Debutant Balls, have traveled the world.
Windy City Times: Let's go over your history...
Scott Turner Schofield: I grew up all over the place. I call Atlanta home. I went to college there at Emory University and stayed there for quite a while afterwards.
WCT: How was living in the South for you?
STS: It is one of those things where I wouldn't do it differently but, at the time, I wished it was different. I [went to] high school in Charlotte, North Carolina. It was at a time where it was very anti-LGBT. As an adolescent just coming out it was easy to internalize that. It was pretty rough.
I juxtaposition that with when I came out, I didn't lose a single family member. When things are horrible there is room for grace. There is no light without the dark.
WCT: The world has changed over time, luckily.
STS: Oh, yeahespecially in the South. When people get a chance to be different than how they were raised, they can take that up really strongly. I live in LA now and when you are trans here, it fades into the background. People know many people or have many family members that are.
WCT: How did you feel about the Bruce Jenner interview with Diane Sawyer?
STS: I think it was important for two reasons. When I was watching it, I thought about having that exact awkward conversation in the past where someone asks if you are gay, and what does that mean. It is where you have to dispel all of the myths and stand in your truth. Bruce did it in front of 17 million people. I thought it was wonderfully honest. I thought it was necessary for people to see that and that vulnerability. I have nothing but praise for that interview.
I also think we have had that conversation and we need to talk about that. We need to change the conversation when trans women are being murdered. It is not about transition or coming out, it is about hard-lived realities. I hope the interview sheds light on that.
WCT: Did you always want to be in acting?
STS: Oh, definitely. I wanted to be an actor when I was a child. I was excited in high school, when I could ask to play boy roles because there weren't enough boys. When I was in college they tried to put me in professional roles and I just wouldn't fit. I was too feminine for a man's role and too masculine for a woman's role. I really lost out on that. My mentor in my junior year told me not to wait for a role to be written for me and to write my own. That was when I was going through my trans coming-out experience so I wrote about that and performed it for my thesis. I went on tour with it before I was out of college. I spent over a decade touring the work. Some of my friends went to Broadway while I toured the world in little underground queer venues.
WCT: Isn't it interesting that some women are okay being called actors?
STS: It is all about equality. I think women grew tired of it when they were defined by their sex in the '70s. Now they are taking it back.
WCT: So you are the first transgender person in a major recurring role on network television?
STS: On daytime television, Candis Cayne was on nighttime TV before [such as in Dirty Sexy Money]. Bold and the Beautiful is the only show on broadcast TV to have a transgender character as part of their recurring cast.
I'm a transgender actor playing a transgender character. Karla Mosley, who plays Maya Avant, is a cisgender actress playing a transgender character. Bold and the Beautiful made one of their star characters transgender. I am her best friend from way back on the show. I come in and explain the whole thing to people on the show.
WCT: How did this groundbreaking storyline happen?
STS: Bradley Bell is the executive producer. There is not a transgender writer on staff, which would normally worry me, but one of the writers is a friend and ally of mine. They also take scripts to GLAAD to make sure the story is progressive and is told correctly.
With 30 million people watching The Bold and the Beautiful all over the world, is one of the most-watched shows ever.
Someone told me at the beginning if there is something in the script that doesn't sit well then it can be changed. There is no actor on earth that has that kind of power. I haven't had to at all they have done such an amazing job.
WCT: How does it feel to be a part of this show, overall?
STS: To have this platform where my character actually does what I do in life is the culmination of a lot of passion, sweat, and dreaming coming true. It is a really big deal and I am so grateful.
WCT: How about visiting Chicago and performing your live act here sometime soon?
STS: I actually premiered one of my shows in Chicago back in 2004. I love how Chicago is a theater town. I should talk to About Face Theatew about performing through them. I've got to get on that!
The Bold and the Beautiful full episodes can be viewed on CBS.com . Look for Scott's Ze Said, She Said at scott-t-schofield.com .