Jeffrey Carlson, Who Played Transgender Rocker on All My Children, Dead at 48 — Eden Riegel Mourns ‘Kind Soul’

Jeffrey Carlson, whose acting credits included playing one of daytime-TV’s first transgender characters (on ABC’s All My Children), has died at age 48.

The news was shared on Twitter by Time Out New York theater critic Adam Feldman; a cause of death was not given.

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Carlson made his All My Children debut in August 2006 as Freddie Luper aka Zarf, a British rock musician. Zarf fell in love with Bianca Montgomery and tried to kiss her, unaware that she was a lesbian. That New Year’s Eve, having come to realize why she had been attracted to a lesbian, Zarf came out as a transgender lesbian named Zoe. (The City‘s Azure, a fashion model played by Carlotta Chang in 1995, was daytime-TV’s first trans character.)

“Devastated beyond measure to hear of the passing of the beautiful and gifted Jeffrey Carlson,” Eden Riegel, who played Bianca, shared on Twitter. “I feel fortunate to have called this kind soul a friend and see his brilliant work up close. Gone far too soon — an unimaginable loss. Love you, Jeffrey. Rest friend.”

Time Out New York‘s Feldman remembered Carlson as both an “exposed-nerve star of Broadway” and “a powerful actor,” while the Shakespeare Theatre Company stated on Facebook that Carlson “gave beautiful and nuanced performances during a career which took him from television and film to Broadway and, fortunately for us, to STC.

“His memorable performances,” STC said, “include Lorenzaccio (2005), Hamlet (2007, and 2008’s Free For All), and Romeo and Juliet (2016, and 2017’s Free For All).”

Carlson’s other acting credits included the Will Smith movie Hitch and a 2004 episode of Law & Order: SVU.

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