Every actor knows that there are roles you take to get you to the next paycheque, roles you’re lucky to land and enjoy doing, and, just occasionally, roles that transform your life.
For Jeffrey Tambor, the part of Maura Pfefferman in Transparent, which won him a Golden Globe last night, is the latter.
“I’m 70 years old, and this is the gift of a lifetime,” he says down the phone from Los Angeles, sounding slightly hoarse after an emotional acceptance speech followed by a day talking to the press.
“These sort of roles don’t come along every often, and this one’s not only a gift but also a great responsibility.”
It’s easy to see why Tambor would feel that way. Transparent, created by Jill Soloway, previously known for her work on another great family drama, Six Feet Under, is the story of Maura, a 70-year-old father of three who is transitioning into a woman and dealing with her family’s reaction. Last night, in addition to Tambor’s award, the Amazon show also took home the award for best comedy, becoming the first online TV service to win a Golden Globe for best TV show.
“She’s still in creation so sometimes she acts as a teenager,” says Tambor, affectionately, of the woman he plays. “I had huge help from consultants Jenny Boylan, Rhys Ernst and Zackary Drucker. They helped me build her up step by step.”
Was he concerned people would complain about a cisgender man playing a transitioning woman? “I was a little ignorant about that at the time [of casting],” he admits. “And there were some complaints but not as many as you would think. The way I see it we need to have this conversation and I’ll take any part in it I can.”
It helps that the conversation Transparent is having is so wide-ranging. This is a comedy not simply about Maura’s attempts to find her way in the world, but also about the nature of families, and the small daily cruelties we commit in their name. It’s detailed, resonant and believable – almost excruciatingly so. Perhaps not surprising, considering the show is based on Jill Soloway’s own experience of having a trans parent.
“People come up to me in the street and say: ‘We didn’t really know what to expect, or we weren’t sure whether we’d like the show because we didn’t think we’d be comfortable with the material – but then we realised it was all about family’,” Tambor says, adding that sometimes they have more intimate secrets to share.
“I’ve had three or four people come up and tell me secrets about their own family. The thing about it is I do believe that, as the Greeks said, comedy is more important than tragedy, because it heals revelations and is very effective as a way of communicating and teaching.”
Certainly it’s true that a great deal of Transparent’s power comes from the way in which it refuses to make the occasionally ungainly Maura, a woman with a tendency towards billowing kaftans and bad accessories, a figure of fun. She might make mistakes but the show is always clear that this is her late flowering. At 70, she is coming into her prime. Does Tambor, who landed this role at a time when most actors are thinking of winding down rather than assuming centre stage, feel the same way?
“Interesting. I’ve never put the two together in that way before,” he says. “I didn’t really think at all about it. I read the script and said get me a meeting as fast as possible because I could see myself playing her. She just stuck in my mind.”
What’s next for the warring Pfefferman clan? “We start filming the second season in June, so I don’t know,” he says. “But I trust Jill with my life and know whatever’s going to be will be great.” As for the show’s wider importance: “Transgender rights is a civil rights issue, there is no doubt about that,” Tambor says. “People come up to me and discuss their own transitions. It’s saving people, and that is so, so important.”
Transparent Season One is available on Amazon Prime
