Transgender Character Makes a Splash on Daytime TV

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Long-running soap opera All My Children plans to introduce a character who transitions from man to woman, a television first. The unfortunately named “Zarf” will shake things up as a rock star who hooks up with the soap’s resident lesbian character, Bianca.

All My Children was looking for something new, and knows its audience is always interested in anything to do with sexuality, said Julie Hanan Carruthers, the show's executive producer.

"After 36 years, you start rehashing," she said. "It's inevitable. We didn't want to fall back on the baby-switch story again."
While this isn’t the first transgender character to be featured on network television (CBS’ The Education of Max Bickford and defunct ABC soap The City both had post-surgical transgender characters), it is the most-high profile character. To avoid catastrophe, Carruthers brought in representatives from GLAAD and several transgendered individuals to act as consultants on the storyline.

Although producers are unsure how long the character will stick around the fictional town of Pine Valley, the actor who portrays Zarf is up for the challenge.
Actor Jeffrey Carlson portrays Zarf, an American who nonetheless speaks in an exaggerated British accent. He was on the show for one day last summer and was surprised to get a call pitching him the new story.

Carlson said it can be intimidating feeling that he is representing the entire transgender community.

"I worry about missing something, but I guess that would be the same with any character," he said. "I want the `All My Children' audience to go along. It's not for shock value. It's just another person who's story is being told in Pine Valley."

After Zarf establishes a bond with Bianca that leads to the kiss, an angry Bianca tells him she's a lesbian. It triggers something within Zarf about why it made such sense to be falling in love with a lesbian.

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