Candis Cayne: Rumored Girlfriend Of Caitlyn Jenner Is Also A Transgender Trailblazer

Candis Cayne is making headlines this week as the rumored girlfriend of Caitlyn Jenner, but the 43-year-old actress is a transgender trailblazer in her own right.

Reports this week have connected Caitlyn and Candis, who were spotted at a Broadway show after having a romantic dinner and a trip to a spa.

While it’s not clear if they are actually dating yet, they would seem to be a good fit. Caitlyn Jenner has become the face of transgender America, while Candis Cayne has made some of the biggest strides for transgender people in America.

After making a name for herself in New York City as a choreographer and club performer in the 1990s, Cayne made her move to Hollywood and scored a major role on the ABC show Dirty Sexy Money in 2007, playing a transgender mistress. With the role, Cayne was the first transgender actress to play a transgender character on primetime television.

She later went on to score another major role, playing transgender actress Alexis Stone on Nip/Tuck.

But Candis Cayne said she never saw herself as a transgender role model.

“I’m not trying to be a spokeswoman for the transgender community; I just want to be looked at as a living, breathing, happy human being,” she told the Advocate in 2009.

While Caitlyn Jenner hasn’t said when she is ready to date yet, she said in an interview with Vanity Fair that she’s looking forward to finally living life.

“I’m just going to go live life, I’m going to go enjoy life. I have nothing left to hide. I am kind of a free person, a free soul. [Up] to this point I would wear, you know, Bruce would wear, you know, sweatshirts with hoods on them so paparazzi can’t get pictures and all that kind of crap, and I didn’t want them to see if my fingernails were polished or, you know, on and on and on. It was just hell.”

Jenner added that she finally feels like herself after years of hiding.

“To be able to wake up in the morning, be yourself, get dressed, get ready to go out, and just be like a normal person. That’s a wonderful feeling to go through life. I’ve never been able to do that; it’s always been confusion, it’s always been, you know, I’ve got one side [with] boy clothes, the other side’s women’s clothes. It’s like I cleaned the whole closet out—the boys stuff is gone, O.K.?”

So far, neither Bruce Jenner nor Candis Cayne have commented on their alleged relationship.

[Picture by Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images]