Thirty-seven years and six Emmy nominations after his first on-screen acting job, on Kojak, Jeffrey Tambor stars in Jill Soloway’s new Amazon series Transparent, as a father of three self-involved adults (played by Amy Landecker, Gaby Hoffmann, and Jay Duplass) who transitions, at the age of 70, into life as a female. (Hence the show’s title.) During a phone call with VF Hollywood earlier this month, Tambor called his character Maura (né Mort) the most “transformative” role of his career. And given that Maura is the first transgender character to anchor a TV series with the potential to reach a mainstream audience, the part comes with a responsibility to accurately represent the larger transgender community.
“In the second episode, when I had to come out to [my character’s eldest daughter] Sarah, I was shaking and throw-up nervous,” Tambor said. “Not because I wanted to get a good review or do well but because I wanted to do it right.”
Tambor said he did not know much about the community when he first got the script from Soloway, whose own father came out as transgender in recent years. But Tambor immediately recognized how extraordinary a character Maura was.
“I am 70 years old and to be handed a role like Maura is like winning the lottery,” he said.
Tambor immersed himself in transgender culture as much as he could, poring over the books of bestselling transgender author and activist Jennifer Finney Boylan, with whom he eventually met. (Soloway has hired about 80 members of the transgender community to work as cast, crew, and extras on Transparent.)
“She was an enormous help to me,” he said, “And on our show, we have two amazing consultants, Zackary Drucker and Rhys Ernst. I asked personal questions. We got into what it is like to transition and some of the fears and some of the phobias and the prejudices they encounter.”
Asked if there were any key revelations during these conversations, Tambor said, “What I got when I met Jennifer and Zackary and Rhys were very human stories about people struggling for the freedom to change and [claim] their authenticity. That is very real to me. That was and still is an eye-opening experience.”
Part of Tambor’s preparation involved dressing up as Maura—in a shoulder-length gray wig, full makeup, and long skirt—and going in character on real-world “field trips.” The first was an excursion to a nightclub in North Hollywood with Rhys, Zackary, Soloway, the show’s director of photography Jim Frohna, and Transparent co-star Judith Light (who plays Maura’s ex-wife).
To ready Tambor for the experience, the group gathered first at his hotel room for a long talk, then makeup and wardrobe. Struggling to find words to best describe the experience, he said, “I will never forget that night as long as I live. I was so nervous.”
Walking past people in the brightly lit hotel corridors scared the actor more than his experience at the club.
“I was so worried about walking through the hotel and all of the people that would look and gawk, which was good for me," he said. "I kept telling myself, ‘Remember this. Don’t ever forget this. You’re an actor. You must understand what is going on here and bring it to this performance.’”
The other “field trip” was a day of shopping in the Valley with Zackary. After surviving a few looks from other store patrons, the two sat down for lunch at a nearby market, beside a man on his cell phone who stared at Tambor the entire meal. The actor, in turn, spent the lunch fearing questions from the the man. But eventually, the man stood up and bid farewell with five words that made Tambor’s day.
“He said, ‘Have a nice afternoon, ladies,’" Tambor recalled. "I just beamed from ear to ear.”
Tambor’s Maura is sweet, earthy, and understandably unsure of herself in a way that should make her relatable to most viewers.
“My hope for the show is that the conversation moves forward and light is shed on this very, very important area,” he said.
That hasn't come without some discomfort. When promoting the new series on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon earlier this month, the host seemed unsure of how to describe Transparent to his fun-loving audience. He snickered while clumsily telling them that the show depicts Tambor in a wig and “dressed as a woman.” Stone-faced, Tambor described Maura’s plight on the show as if he were speaking of someone he loved dearly.
And after filming the first full season as Maura, Tambor has come to love every part of his alter-ego, even her time-intensive upkeep.
“You have to understand that I have been seeing myself in the mirror for the last 70 years,” Tambor tells us. “[So] it was very, very nice to even get to sit in the hair and makeup departments after all of these years. And I am not being coy with you when I say this, but I think [Maura] is a very handsome woman.” He paused, then added: “In fact, I think Maura is easier on the eyes than Jeffrey.”
Transparent premieres on Amazon on September 26.
