Ash Palmisciano is "happy" his ‘Emmerdale’ character is helping with "awkward" transgender conversations.
The 29-year-old star plays transgender character Matty Barton – who was previously known as Moira Dingle’s (Natalie J. Robb) daughter Hannah Barton – on the ITV soap, and he is pleased to have helped out a school pupil who has come out as trans.
Ash shared a message from a student, which read: "Heyo I’ve recently came out as trans to everyone at school and today one boy comes up to me and goes "oh your like the guy from emmerdale right?" [crying laughing emoji] (sic)"
And Ash has reassured the pupil, admitting it can be a "scary" time but he is glad Matty has helped out.
He wrote on Twitter: "Thats right I got you!Only a few people in the world happen to be Trans!So it’s really hard explainin it when ur growin up Especially with little help out there. It can be scary but Just Know there’s nothin more ‘normal’ than bein u, happy the character helps those awks convos x (sic)"
Ash previously admitted he had "no role models" while growing up as a transgender teenager.
He said: "I spent a long time when I was growing up being really confused because there were no role models out there.
"There was no one to reference. As an actor it has been a great opportunity to work in such a high-profile soap. To be able to play that out in a soap which reaches seven million a night is a dream come true.
"Sometimes it can be hard to go back to those awkward moments. But I’m past all that, I’m an actor. And Hopefully, it can help other people."
Emmerdale’s Ash Palmisciano ‘happy’ Matty is helping trans conversations
