Trans Supergirl actress Nicole Maines was bullied at school and called ‘it’
Maines will play the first trans superhero on TV (Mike Coppola/Getty)
Supergirl actress Nicole Maines has opened up about her life growing up in an interview on the Ellen DeGeneres Show.
The 21-year-old, who is the first trans superhero on TV, said she began to identify as female at a young age.
“I really started thinking something wasn’t right. My case was kind of unique because I have an identical twin brother and so growing up with him, he was identifying with all these male things and he was feeling very comfortable in his body,” she said.
“As soon as I could, I tried to voice to my parents that something’s off.”
Maines said her father grew up in a conservative family. “So when I came out to him, that did not fit into his plan of what raising twin boys was going to be like,” she said.
“So he blocked that out. He ignored it. He focused on his hobbies, and that left my mother on her own for a while. She didn’t grow up with the same expectations that my father did.”
The actress said her father’s attitude changed when she was bullied in school.
Nicole Maines walks onstage at the Supergirl Q&A during Comic-Con (Mike Coppola/Getty)
“He really stepped up and he said, ‘I don’t get this, but I love my child and I’m going to protect my child. Whatever it takes,'” she said.
Maines said she was targeted by other children at school.
“When I would ride the bus — I couldn’t take the bus anymore — because kids would refer to me as ‘it’ on the bus.
“Then in fifth grade it really kind of peaked. A male student in my class’ grandfather was a part of a special interest Christian right group, and he had his grandson follow me into the girls’ bathroom and he said, ‘My grandfather says we don’t have to have any faggots in our school.’”
Maines will play the first trans superhero on TV (Rich Polk/Getty)
Earlier this year, Maines was cast as the character of Nia Nal – AKA the superhero Dreamer – in The CW’s Supergirl.
Maines said she had no plans to pursue an acting career before being cast in the series.
“It was weird. I always loved theatre growing up and I was always like, ‘Wow, it would be so fun to be an actor’.
“But my next thought was, like, ‘I’m from Nowhere, Maine.’ You know, no one’s from Maine,” she told DeGeneres.
“Every day I walk on set and I’m waiting for someone to be like, ‘Ma’am, you can’t be here’”.
