Bradley Whitford: It Was Fun, Exciting and Scary Taking On Transgender Role
After playing Josh Lyman for seven seasons on the classic TV series “The West Wing,” Bradley Whitford has been indelibly associated with that long-running role. But his new role as a transgender man named Mark who’s transforming into a woman named Marcy on the new Amazon.com sitcom “Transparent” has even more personal significance for him.
“It was a very fun, exciting, scary thing to do. It was an acting job that scared me, putting heels on and wearing a dress terrified me,” says Whitford.
Whitford revealed has had several transgender relatives himself, and when offered the chance to portray such a character in the Golden Globe-winning series, he saw it as a chance to bring greater public awareness and understanding to their journeys. Whitford took time to discuss the show and its attendant controversies with host Carl Kozlowski on the podcast “Kozversations” on www.radiotitans.com.
“I play a guy named Mark, who is kind of actually homophobic when we meet him, but he’s in a marriage and secretly cross-dressing,” says Whitford. “He meets Jeffrey’s [Tambor] character and dresses for the first time with another man…and it was an amazing experience.”
While “Transparent” won Golden Globes for star Jeffrey Tambor and for Best Comedy Series, there surely are pockets of America where the show’s themes aren’t so welcomed and respected. Yet Whitford says that the show’s ability to straddle both funny and serious, makes it truly special.
“I don’t think as an actor in it. I get a very objective view of how it’s being received, but what I’m hearing is very, very positive,” says Whitford. “One thing I really love about the tone of this show is that it treats the issues I think very sensitively and with dignity, and at the same time you have these moments where confusion about gender and about sexuality all turns it into a sex farce while simultaneously dealing with very complicated issues. That tone is a very unique combination. Usually with issues like this they get treated either obnoxiously broadly comically or in a kind of irony deficient, earnest way. I love the combination.”
To hear the rest of Whitford’s interview, including the difference between “The West Wing” and “Transparent” experiences, whether the show’s social agenda overpowers it, and this sense of using acting as a mission for social change, visit www.radiotitans.com and find it in the archives on the “Kozversations” show page, located at www.radiotitans.com/kozversations-2.
Carl Kozlowski is the Co-founder of www.radiotitans.com, and host of its shows “The Koz Effect” and “Kozversations.
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