Jeffrey Carlson obit

Trailblazing Stage and Screen Star Jeffrey Carlson Dies at 48

Carlson made history playing one of the first transgender characters on daytime television in the series All My Children.

 He was not on the list.

Actor Jeffrey Carlson has passed away at the age of 48. The stage and screen star notably played the one of the first trans characters on daytime television in the series All My Children. Carlson's death was announced by his close friend and colleague Susan Hart, who shared that he passed July 6.

Born in 1975, Carlson's future in acting was immediately foreshadowed, being given the first name "Jeffrey" because his mother was a fan of the character Jeff Martin on the daytime television series All My Children. Carlson grew up in Long Beach, California, and first studied dramatic acting at the University of California Davis. After graduating in 1997, he moved to New York City to train at Julliard as a member of their Drama Division's Group 30. He completed his training in 2001, and it wasn't long before he made his Broadway debut.

In 2002, Carlson appeared on the Broadway stage for the first time in Edward Albee's The Goat or Who is Sylvia?. The next year, he starred in the Broadway revival of Molière's Tartuffe. Shortly after, he played the role of Marilyn in Boy George's Broadway musical Taboo, for which he received a Drama Desk nomination. He then began his television and film career with a role in the romantic comedy Hitch starring Will Smith.

In 2006, he first appeared on the very television show for which he received his name: All My Children. His groundbreaking onscreen character was a British rockstar named Zarf, who discovered though an arc on the series that she was a transgender woman, transitioning as Zoe. She also falls in love with a lesbian character, Bianca. Zoe's journey throughout the television series showed her attending support group sessions and meeting with an endocrinologist for gender-affirming healthcare.

Zoe is believed to be the first transgender character on daytime television to come out and go on a transition journey, whereas many other early instances of transgender representation on television were characters who were already out, or had already begun their journey. All My Children received a GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Daily Drama in 2007 due to Zoe's storyline and Carlson's performance.

Carlson went on to have a prolific career with classical works, particularly those by Shakespeare. At the Shakespeare Theatre Company in Washington, D.C., he performed in several productions, including the titular roles in Lorenzaccio and Hamlet. At the Goodman Theatre, he performed in Measure for Measure. And at Chicago Shakespeare Theater, he starred in a number of productions, including Henry IV, Parts 1 and 2 and Christopher Marlowe's Edward II.

Carlson was most recently living and teaching in Chicago, and was beloved within the Shakespeare community. Broadway's Patrick Page reflected on Carlson's passing in a Facebook post, describing him as a "great classical actor and a sensitive, luminous human being." He wrote: "I was fortunate to be Claudius to Jeffrey Carlson’s Hamlet, and experience his quicksilver talent at close range. It was, as Coleridge said of Kean, 'like reading Shakespeare by flashes of lightning.' There was no one like him."

In a Facebook post, Shakespeare Theatre Company also expressed their condolences and grief for Carlson's passing, and shared a quote from Hamlet's fifth act: "Good night, sweet prince, and may flights of angels sing thee to thy rest."

 

Actor

Susan Lucci, Debbi Morgan, Rebecca Budig, Cameron Mathison, and Darnell Williams in All My Children (1970)

All My Children

Zoe LuperZoeZarf

TV Series

2006–2007

59 episodes

 

Marc Blucas in The Killing Floor (2007)

The Killing Floor

Jared Thurber

2007

 

Backseat (2005)

Backseat

Jason

2005

 

Will Smith in Hitch (2005)

Hitch

Egon

2005

 

Mariska Hargitay in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (1999)

Law & Order: Special Victims Unit

Justin Wexler

TV Series

2004

1 episode

 

Aidan Quinn and Rachel Griffiths in Plainsong (2004)

Plainsong

Dwayne

TV Movie

2004

 

Happy End (2003)

Happy End

Luke

2003

 

Stuart Frank in Revenge of the Whale (2001)

Revenge of the Whale

Thomas Nickerson (voice)

TV Movie

2001