I understand what Matty has been through.. I’ve lived it and felt it too
Emmerdale’s first trans groom on learning from real prejudice
SOAP weddings always pack an emotional punch. But tonight’s Emmerdale episode will be especially poignant for star Ash Palmisciano.
For he is walking down the aisle as the soap’s first transgender groom.
And despite the transphobic abuse the actor has suffered while starring on the ITV soap, it is a landmark moment for trailblazer Ash.
He is pleased to give hope to teens who grew up like him, wondering if they would ever find love.
Ash, who first joined the Dales as Matty Barton six years ago, says: “I am so grateful for the storyline.
“To be that person that shows this beautiful love story where one of the characters happens to be trans – it’s just it’s everything I set out to do in this role. I can look back on this job and go, ‘I’m so proud of that’.”
The 35-year-old adds: “A lot of trans people grow up thinking no one is going to love them. We all have insecurities as a teenager, but if you’re trans, these are huge.
“There was that fear that, ‘Is anyone going to understand me?’ When you’re a younger trans person, you think, ‘I’ll never find anyone’.”
“I understand what Matty’s been through. I’ve lived it. I’ve felt it.”
Ash worked with scriptwriters to make tonight’s wedding as realistic as possible. He added his own anxiety into the vows for Matty and childhood sweetheart Amy Wyatt, played by Natalie Ann Jamieson.
The storyline also tackles transphobia, with Claudette (Flo Wilson) banning the pair from marrying in the church hall.
“People don’t want to be shouted at or forced to be educated [but] it’s such a polarising subject,” says
Ash. “It feels realistic. This couple would face struggles like that.”
Ash, from Leamington
Spa, Warks, regularly posts loved-up photos with real-life girlfriend of two-and-a-half years, Shea. Asked if he might pop the question for real, he says: “I do think I’ve find my right person in Shea. Maybe one day.”
Ash began his transition in his 20s, supported by his parents, Adrian and Michelle, and sister Sophie.
He has experienced a lot of transphobia himself, especially since playing Matty, and was once beaten so badly he “couldn’t stand or see”.
Shea is very protective but, for Ash, if it means helping others it is
It’s a polarising subject. It feels realistic. This couple would face struggles like that
ASH PALMISCIANO ON HIS EMMERDALE WEDDING STORYLINE
worth it. “I’ve had mums or nans of trans kids reach out,” he adds, recalling a letter from one mum and son.
“It gave his mum something to reference and helped them.”
Ash’s big acting break came after a string of knockbacks. He was about to give up when he got the Emmerdale part – and 2018 Inside Soap Newcomer of The Year award.
Ash’s mum, Michelle, who died in 2022 aged 60, was especially proud of him. “She was proud that I could transform what had been a real challenge in my life into something that could help so many people,” he says.
The first soap to have a trans character played by a trans actor was Hollyoaks, who hired Annie Wallace in 2015. Non-trans Julie Hesmondhalgh
played Hayley Cropper in Coronation Street from 1998 to 2014. Ash says: “I love Julie. [But] I feel that I can have an insight perhaps a non-trans actor can’t.”
Watch Matty and Amy’s wedding tonight, Emmerdale, ITV1, 7.30pm