When we sat down with her during a roundtable before the panel, she became teary-eyed talking about Tony, the transgender clone she played for the first time in Season 2.

“I did a lot of research and it’s a subject that’s really important to me,” Tatiana said, tears forming in her eyes. “Yeah, it just means a lot to me that we could tell that story. And you know, I’m not a trans actor so is there a political sort of situation there and it’s not the most ideal, but what our show does is it explores identity. And what better way to explore it than through a trans male? We don’t see trans men on screen very often at all. And, you know, the best thing for me was when we heard the response to Tony, which was very polarized. But the best thing about it is it opens up a debate, and it opens up a discussion, and it makes the subject relevant and important and present in people’s thoughts, regardless of how they felt about Tony, whether they felt represented, whether they didn’t understand—whatever it is, these stories need to be told and we need to talk about trans stories and we need to have them represented to the point where it’s just, it’s just a given and it’s not exceptional anymore and trans actors get to step up and play these parts as well in the same way cisgender people have been doing it for a while. I felt a responsibility but I felt a large amount of gratitude and—”

“Joy?” co-star Maria Doyle Kennedy offered.

“Fuck yeah, joy!” Tatiana said. “Totally.”

More here.