Hari Nef’s first job out of college was a recurring role in the second season of the acclaimed Amazon family drama "Transparent" and she didn’t even have to audition. But that doesn’t mean there wasn’t any struggle.

The 23-year-old publicly documented her difficult transition from male to female on Tumblr while in college. “And when people were liking, commenting, re-blogging, that was my way of getting by,” Nef says. She quickly realized how important her candor was to others who were transitioning. “They look at the world around them, they look at the representations that are available and they do not see themselves. And they feel crazy. And they feel alone.”

Nef’s prolific writing (along with artful black-and-white Instagram selfies) would eventually help her land the role of Tanta Gittel on "Transparent," a show she believes is a square one in helping trans people feel less alienated by the dominant culture. “I am scared that the representations of trans people are going to become one-dimensional,” she says. “It has to be a squeaky clean, just like you and me, one-hundred percent sympathetic trans person. I’m bored of that.”