TV’s First Trans Child Actor Will Appear on ‘Modern Family’

via ABC

The hit TV show Modern Family has always been at the forefront of displaying modern types of families, from blended families, to two-dad families, to even families created by adoption. We were too happy to hear that they will also make history this week by casting TVs first transgender child actor to appear on the show.

Though trans actors are not new (perhaps still rare) to TV – think, Orange is the New Black and Nashville — before now, there has never been a child actor that openly identifies as trans.

So meet Jackson Millarker, the eight-year-old actor who will be playing Tom on Modern Family. Apparently, the premise of his role is that Lily, played by Aubrey Anderson-Emmons, will invite him over for a play date. During the play date, an insult will occur which leads to a teachable moment.

Both Jesse Tyler Ferguson, who plays Mitchell, Lily’s father, and the show’s director, Ryan Case, shared their excitement for this moment in history on social media.

Check out their tweets and posts below and congrats to Modern Family and Jackson Millarker for making history and showing that representation always matters.

Super proud of this weeks episode of @ModernFam! #Equality #ModernFamily https://t.co/UAZVr0nT19

— Jesse Tyler Ferguson (@jessetyler) September 27, 2016