Transgender actress Candis Cayne has
joined the cast of the CBS daytime soap opera The Young and the
Restless.
Cayne is best known for her portrayal
of transgender mistress Carmelita on ABC's Dirty Sexy Money,
which made her the first transgender actress to play a recurring
transgender character on primetime television.
People.com reported that Cayne will
guest-star as Nona Richards, a wedding planner, on the long-running
series starting December 2.
“I am incredibly excited to join The
Young and the Restless family!” Cayne
told People. “Everyone, from the casting team to the producers
and network executives, have been so welcoming and gracious.”
“I look forward to working with the
wonderful cast and crew, and I hope the viewers enjoy my character,”
she said.
Of her friendship with I Am Cait's
Caitlyn Jenner, Cayne, 44, said that she had changed the conversation
on transgender rights.
“We were a back-alley conversation or
a Jerry Springer conversation,” Cayne said. “Caitlyn has changed
it in the fact that everyone in the world knows her name and knows
that she is transgender. Seeing the way that she has embraced that
means a lot to me.”