Karla Mosley Reveals Why She Quit Playing Maya on ‘The Bold and the Beautiful’

Dan Clarendon March 1, 2025, 10:33 am

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Karla Mosley of The Bold and the Beautiful — Cliff Lipson / CBS

Now that she has a part in the new daytime drama Beyond the Gates, Karla Mosley is looking back on the role that put her on the map: Maya Avant on The Bold and the Beautiful.

Mosley played Maya from 2013 to 2019, appearing in hundreds of episodes of the soap and earning an NAACP Image Award nomination for her performance.

Her job took a turn, however, when Maya came out as transgender in a 2015 episode. “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,” Mosley recalled in a recent People interview. “I do identify as queer, but I’m not transgender.”

Mosley’s friends, however, advised her that she had to accept the storyline if she wanted it to see the light of day, she said. And so Mosley continued the role, and after the coming-out episode aired, she spent hours talking with viewers on social media. “I just fielded questions for hours,” she said. “I was like, ‘Here’s a resource, here’s what this means.’ It was such a powerful moment.”

Despite her reservations about her B&B role, Mosley acknowledges the impact Maya made. “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?’” she said. “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.”

Karla Mosley Explains Why 'Beyond the Gates' Is 'Best of What Soaps Have to Offer'

But Mosley eventually realized that she, as a cisgender woman, had to leave the character behind. “At a certain point, it really became truly inappropriate for me to play that role,” she said. “That’s why I stepped away from it.”

And though Mosley said she “will not be playing another trans role,” she’s hoping to break new ground in the future. “I would love to play a role with the kind of gravitas and importance that Maya had for sure,” she said.

The Bold and the Beautiful, Weekdays, CBS