When Connecting…, NBC’s newest sitcom about a group of friends staying in touch via video chat during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, debuted in October, it made history for transgender visibility. Shakina Nayfack, who rose to acclaim with her turn in the Transparent musical finale now plays the out-of-work sports fan Ellis in the ensemble, becoming the first trans person to have a starring role on an American network comedy series.
“I was so excited to play an out trans character on an NBC sitcom because that is the cornerstone of family entertainment,” Nayfack tells ET, crediting the network as well as creator Martin Gero and executive producer Brendan Gall for being open to casting a trans performer and then standing behind the decision. “Appearing as a series regular on a network sitcom is revolutionary.” null
Originally asked to audition for Michelle, a role currently played by Jill Knox, Nayfack had to turn it down since the character is married to Garrett (Knox’s husband, Keith Powell) and her partner is not an actor. However, when asked if there was anyone else she could read for, they came back with Ellis.
“When I came on board, I asked them, ‘Is Ellis trans?’” Nayfack recalls. “Then they said, ‘Well, we didn’t write her to be but we hope that she’ll be now that you’re playing her.’” That decision then led to a discussion about what issues and experiences to bring into the show that are authentic to what trans people are going through. null
Furthering the revolution is the fact that after Nayfack was cast, the series also added a trans writer, Chloe Keenan, to the team. “I thought that was just such an awesome idea because that’s what trans actors have been advocating for for years,” Nayfack says.
By having Keenan in the writers’ room, there’s less pressure on the actor “to educate the entire creative team,” Nayfack says, comparing it to her experience on the Hulu comedy Difficult People, starring Julie Klausner and Billy Eichner. On the short-lived series, Nayfack not only played the scene-stealing “trans-truther” waitress Lola but she was hired as a consultant. In the case of Connecting…, “because there was a trans writer in the room — I certainly weighed in and pitched ideas — but there was someone else there advocating for authentic representation
