“The Bold and the Beautiful” Alum Karla Mosley Reveals Why She 'Stepped Away' from Role: 'Truly Inappropriate' (Exclusive)

After portraying one of the first transgender characters on daytime television, Karla Mosley now says she wouldn't sign on for a role like that again.

Mosley starred as fashion model Maya Avant on CBS' The Bold and the Beautiful from 2013 to 2019, and Maya came out as transgender in an episode that aired in March 2015. Her latest groundbreaking role is the divorced ex-model and mom-of-two Dani Dupree on Beyond the Gates, the first hour-long soap opera led by a Black cast.

Reflecting on her time as Maya in an exclusive interview with PEOPLE, Mosley, 43, says she had been portraying Maya for three or four years when the character came out as transgender. Initially, Mosley was hesitant to continue in the role.

"When my boss asked me if I would do this story, I first was going to say no because it felt inappropriate for me to play that role as a cis woman," she explains. "I do identify as queer, but I’m not transgender."

Related: Tamara Tunie Says Her Roles as Cissy Houston in Whitney Biopic and Beyond the Gates Matriarch Are 'Very Much the Same' (Exclusive)

She adds that Maya's storyline premiered after Caitlin Jenner came out as a transgender woman, shining a brighter light on the trans community. "It was crazy weird, literally at the same time. It was wild the way that it panned out. So it was a very specific time," Mosley says. 

When considering if she would continue portraying Maya, she sought advice from friends who told her, "‘If you don’t accept this story, this story won’t be told,' " Mosley recalls.

The actress says she was so invested in how her role was received, that after the episode of Maya coming out aired, she logged onto social media to answer any questions viewers had for her. "I just fielded questions for hours. I was like ‘Here’s a resource, here’s what this means.’ It was such a powerful moment."

"I am so grateful for that character because people who loved Maya and then had issues with what she said had to ask themselves like, even with a family member, ‘Well, if I loved her yesterday, why don’t I love her today?’ I actually had to grapple with that question, and I had so much feedback around healing that was able to happen within families and communities because of that storyline."

Still, Mosley says wouldn't play a transgender role again. (Actor Scott Turner Schofield later joined The Bold and the Beautiful as Nick, a “transgender mentor” Maya. He was the first transgender actor to appear on daytime television.)

Related: Clifton Davis' Amen Costar Anna Maria Horsford Gave Him This Advice for His New Role on Beyond the Gates (Exclusive)

"At a certain point it really became truly inappropriate for me to play that role," says Mosley of Maya. "That’s why I stepped away from it. So no, I will not be playing another trans role."

But when it comes to other impactful roles, Mosley is ready to jump in.

"I would love to play a role with the kind of gravitas and importance that Maya had for sure," she says.

On Beyond the Gates, Mosley's Dani, the younger daughter of the Dupree patriarch and matriarch, appears to be that kind of character. The lead cast also features Clifton Davis as Dani's father, Vernon Dupree; Tamara Tunie as Dani's mother Anita Dupree; and Daphnée Duplaix as Dani's sister, Dr. Nicole Dupree Richardson.

The Duprees are the most affluent family in Fairmont Crest, a leafy suburb just outside of Washington, D.C., and one of the most upscale African-American communities in the nation. Though the neighborhood touts country clubs and five-star restaurants, it's laced with secrets and scandals that the Duprees are forced to navigate.

For Mosley, a soap opera vet, Dani is a welcome twist on the "nice girl" characters she's portrayed in the past.

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"I’ve always played the nice girl. I think Maya got to delve into her saucy side for a couple of months, and then she sort of flipped back to being this heroine, sometimes a damsel in distress," Mosley says. "Although all my characters were very strong — that’s important to me to always find strength in whomever I’m playing. But Dani is such a wild card; that is the role that everyone wants to play in their life."

"To have the opportunity to play someone who is audacious, you don’t know where she’s going next," Mosley continues. "I don’t even know. Sometimes I get the scripts, and it gives me anxiety because I’m such a nice girl and a follower and Dani is not at all. But it’s fun. It’s fun to dig into that.”

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Mosley is also embracing the fresh representation on Beyond the Gates.

"It’s really nice to be in a place where so many different kinds of Black folks are celebrated," she says. "I just feel very valued in this cast and in this space. I think that’s true for everyone who walks in. It’s a really warm environment."

Beyond the Gates airs weekdays at 2 p.m. ET on CBS.

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