Nicole Maines, the state’s best-known transgender teen, will make her acting debut next week on national television.
E!News reported Wednesday that the 17-year-old high school senior will appear in an episode of “Royal Pains” at 10 p.m. Tuesday.
In the episode, which airs on the USA network, Maines will play Anna, a transgender teenage choreographer whose hormones may be endangering her health.
She will be treated by Dr. Hank (played by Mark Feuerstein), according to the E!News report.
“Playing Anna on Royal Pains was an incredible experience and the amount of warmth and encouragement that I received from the cast and crew was so unexpected, but welcome,” Maines said in a statement. “Everyone’s words were so supportive and kind and they made me feel part of the cast immediately, and made my very first television acting experience a pleasure – one I will remember forever.”
Maines made history in 2014 when she won a transgender rights case.
The Maine Supreme Judicial Court ruled transgender students were allowed to use bathrooms that align with their gender identity.
The case stemmed from an incident in 2007 when Maines was a student at the Asa Adams School in Orono.
Maines, who was in the fifth grade, was forced to use a unisex staff bathroom instead of the girl’s bathroom after the guardian of another student objected.
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