'Bold and the Beautiful' star Karla Mosley on transgender storyline: This is the next frontier

Soap opera characters tend to have many surprising secrets up their sleeves, but CBS' long-running soap "The Bold and the Beautiful" unveiled a groundbreaking shocker for one of its characters Wednesday.

"She's a transgendered woman," said actress Karla Mosley of her character Maya Avant, a model who is currently dating Rick Forrester on the storied soap. "This is just the next frontier. It's the next community that deserves to be recognized and respected in our media."

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Maya has been keeping her secret under wraps until her younger sister Nicole (Reign Edwards) arrived in town and threatened to expose that her older sister was once her older brother Myron. While Maya is fearful of the truth coming out, Mosley was thrilled to learn about the surprising development for her character.

"This is the kind of opportunity that I've prayed for," the actress told ET, "to make change in the world through my art in a big way."

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Mosley acknowledges that "20 years ago this would be a different story," but embraced the opportunity to tackle the groundbreaking role, speaking to transgender friends about how to tell Maya's story. She told ET that she hopes what she learned will impact viewers of the show.

Take a peek at the 'Bold' cast throughout the years:

"We're excited and we're standing behind it and we feel it's important," the actress said. "No matter how we look or don't look, ultimately we're all human beings with a range of stories. Let's start caring about each other heart to heart."

WATCH: Transgender Women Share Their Personal Stories with ET Special Correspondent Janet Mock

ETonline special correspondent Janet Mock recently sat down with four transgender women to share their personal stories. See more in the video below.

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