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When Jeffrey Tambor took the role of Maura Plefferman in Amazon’s Transparent it was de rigueur for men to play transgender characters in TV and film.
The last couple of years have seen more trans actresses land roles however, and now Tambor thinks the time has more than come for it to be the norm.
After accepting the Emmy for best actor in a comedy series for Transparent last night, Tambor said backstage: "I just hope there are more opportunities for transgender talent," he said. "I would very much like to be the last cisgender male playing a transgender female. I think we are there now."
Emmy Awards 2016 winnersShow all 30 1 /30Emmy Awards 2016 winners Julia Louis-Dreyfus (C), winner of the Best Actress in a Comedy Series Award, as well as Outstanding Comedy Series Award for 'Veep', poses with the cast in the press room during the 68th annual Primetime Emmy Awards ceremony held at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles
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Cast & crew of "Game of Thrones", winners of Best Drama Series, pose in the press room during the 68th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards at Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles
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Actress Sarah Paulson, winner of Best Actress in a Mini-Series or Movie for The People v. O. J. Simpson: American Crime Story, poses in the press room during the 68th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards at Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles
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Actor Jeffrey Tambor, winner of Best Actor in a Comedy Series for 'Transparent', poses in the press room during the 68th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards at Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles
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Actress Kate McKinnon accepts Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for 'Saturday Night Live' onstage during the 68th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards at Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles
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Actress Regina King, winner of Best Supporting Actress in a Mini-Series or Movie for "American Crime", poses in the press room during the 68th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards at Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles
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(L-R) Laura Ricciardi and Moira Demos winners of the Outstanding Documentary for "Making a Murderer"
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RuPaul winner of the Outstanding Host For A Reality Show Or Reality-Competition Program
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Actor Hank winner of the Outstanding Guest Actor in Drama Series
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The team from "Jim: The James Foley Story", Peter Kunhardt, Sheila Nevins, Jacqueline Glover, Eva Lipman, George Kunhardt, Teddy Kunhardt receiving award for Exceptional Merit In Documentary Filmmaking
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Joe Celli, David Korins, Jason Howard winners of the Outstanding Production Design For A Variety
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Cast from Born This Way, winners of Outstanding Unstructured Reality Program
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Aziz Ansari (R) and Alan Yang, winners of the Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series Award for 'Master of None', pose in the press room during the 68th annual Primetime Emmy Awards ceremony held at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles
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'Archer' was a winner of the Outstanding Animated Program
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TV personality Anthony Bourdain, winner of Outstanding Informational Series Or Special
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Directors Thomas Kail (L) and Alex Rudzinski accept Outstanding Directing for a Variety Special for 'Grease: Live' during the 68th Emmy Awards show at the Microsoft Theatre in downtown Los Angeles
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Tina Fey and Amy Poehler received award for the Outstanding Guest Actress in Comedy Series
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Carson Daly (3-L) and Mark Burnett (4-R) and crew, winners for Best Reality-Competition Program Award for 'The Voice', pose in the press room during the 68th annual Primetime Emmy Awards ceremony held at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles
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Rami Malek winner of the Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama
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(L-R) Writers Larry Karaszewski and Scott Alexander, writer/producer Ryan Murphy, actor John Travolta and production team accept Outstanding Limited Series for 'The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story' onstage during the 68th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards at Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles
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Actress Tatiana Maslany, winner of Best Actress in a Drama Series for "Orphan Black", poses in the press room during the 68th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards at Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles
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Director Susanne Bier, winner of Best Directing for a Mini-Series or Movie for "The Night Manager", poses in the press room during the 68th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards at Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles
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Actor Sterling K. Brown poses backstage with his award for Outstanding Supporting Actor In A Limited Series Or Movie for FX Network's " The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story" at the 68th Primetime Emmy Awards in Los Angeles
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Cast and crew of Robot Chicken, winner of Outstanding Short Form Animated Program (Robot Chicken)
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Actor Peter Scolari, winner of Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series for 'Girls,' attends the 68th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards Governors Ball at Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles
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Comedian Patton Oswalt, winner of Best Writing for a Variety Special for Patton Oswalt: Talking for Clapping
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Costume designers Lou Eyrich, Marisa Aboitiz and Helen Huang, winners of Outstanding Costumes For A Contemporary Series, Limited Series Or Movie
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Actor Louie Anderson winner of the award for Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series for his role on the FX series "Baskets"
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Actors Keegan-Michael Key (L) and Jordan Peele, winners of Best Variety Sketch Series for "Key & Peele"
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Jill Soloway poses with her award for Outstanding Directing For A Comedy Series for "Transparent" backstage at the 68th Primetime Emmy Awards in Los Angeles
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This was a doubling down on his powerful acceptance speech, in which he declared: "It would be one thing if trans people had told their stories for hundreds of years, but they haven’t. It’s really a problem. It's time to hand out the keys to the kingdom and open the gates."
Transparent creator Jill Soloway also used her acceptance speech as a podium to discuss LGBTQ topics - you can watch that here .
In spite of the pair’s words, several projects with cis men playing trans women are in the work, the most recent set to star Matt Bomer .
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