Ahead of the premiere of the first, Black-led, one-hour daytime soap opera, Beyond the Gates, star Karla Mosley is reflecting on her time on The Bold and the Beautiful, when she played a groundbreaking character on that soap.
Mosley is returning to daytime after starring in both The Bold and the Beautiful and Guiding Light. The former went off the air during a time during which many people thought soaps were dying, but now, years later, they are still thriving and a new one is about to premier. She spoke to Blavity’s Shadow and Act ahead of the Beyond the Gates panel at SCAD TVfest.
“So many people ask us, ‘How does it feel to be on a dying genre?’ And I’m like, ‘Y’all, what other genre has been around since like for hundreds of years?’ I was also on the last year of Guiding Light, and that show, including radio, had been on for 72 years. And now we’re about 20 years past that. So it’s like there’s an energy that I think everyone in daytime is so excited about. But even beyond daytime, I think the viewers are excited to have new stories and to be able to come back; the nostalgia of it, but also doing something new.”
Mosley’s portrayal of Maya Avant on The Bold and the Beautiful was groundbreaking as she became the first transgender main character on a daytime soap opera. Her storyline, which revealed Maya as a trans woman in 2015, was praised for its representation and helped bring trans visibility to mainstream television. However, Mosley played a trans character as a cis woman. And she says she’s happy that even though she made history back then, if the role was being cast in now, the character would be played by a trans actress because of the strides that have been made. Three years after Maya was revealed to be trans, Cassandra James, as Dr. Terry Randolph on General Hospital, became the first openly transgender actor to play a recurring trans character on a U.S. soap opera.
“My mission through my art is always to do something that is meaningful with people I love, that’s also creating some sort of change or reflection to help us move forward as humans. And I was so blessed to have that storyline with Maya. And I’m really happy that it is no longer appropriate for me to play that role, because it would now be cast with a trans actor. And I’m just overjoyed that now this other opportunity has opened up where I get to be performing this historic show with people who look like me and all kinds of people telling stories that are important and meaningful…and spicy. So, I couldn’t be more excited.”
As for what’s to come on Beyond the Gates, Mosley says “expected the unexpected.” She plays Dani Dupree, the youngest daughter of Anita (Tamara Tunie) and Vernon Dupree (Clifton Davis).
“She’s such a tornado…she’s such a force,” Mosley said. “But the other thing is, there’ll be moments when she pisses you off, because she’s not all sugar and spice. She’s not all sugar, I’d say. She’s a lot of spice. But you always are rooting for her. I think you see there’s something about her that we can all relate to. She says the things that we wish that we could say, and there’s something really fun about that.”
Beyond the Gates premieres Feb. 24 at 2 p.m.
