I suppose it depends on what story you are trying to tell. For example, LaVerne Cox is the perfect choice (I daresay the only choice) to play her character in Orange is the New Black because both her appearance and personal experience bring authenticity to that role. But you couldn’t cast an especially feminine-looking trans woman for Jeffrey Tambor’s character in Transparent because the whole premise of the show is that the character spent her whole life living as a man and only comes out as trans around age 70. So for that particular part you’d have to cast either a cisgendered man or a trans woman who could easily “pass” as a cisgendered man.
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