Transgender activist Nicole Maines will soon become television’s first trans superhero.
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The 20-year-old New York native will play the visionary and charismatic scientist Nia Nal in the fourth season of CW's "Supergirl," a series based on DC Comics.
Maines’ role is a new take on DC Comics character Nura Nal, or Dream Girl, described as a “soulful woman with a fierce drive to protect others.”
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"I haven't really wrapped my head around it," Maines told Variety's Debra Birnbaum. "It feels fitting to say with great power, comes great responsibility."
But there is the added desire to “do it right,” she said. “We’ve had trans representation in television for a while but it hasn’t been the right representation.”
She hopes to move past the “damaging” trans TV roles of dolled-up sex workers or drug addicts — typically played by cisgender men in the past.
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“I think we’re in a time right now where more than ever representation in the media matters. And what we see on television has a very dramatic effect on our society,” Maines said.
The actress, who previously appeared on USA’s “Royal Pains,” was also one of 11 trans Americans featured in the 2016 HBO documentary, “The Trans List,” along with Laverne Cox, Caitlyn Jenner.
Maines grew up in Portland, Maine, with her identical twin brother, both of whom were adopted at birth.
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While she was assigned male at birth, Maines said in a special with ABC News that she knew she was supposed to be a girl at age 3.
In 2014, she made history as the plaintiff in Doe v. Clenchy, a Maine Supreme Court case that gave way for allowing trans people to use the bathroom that matched their identity.
"I hope I can help convince people there that being transgender is not a big deal, and that we are just average people trying to go to school, work and live good lives," she penned in a Time op-ed.
Catch Maines in the new season of "Supergirl," which returns Oct. 14 on the CW.
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