Emmerdale actor Ash Palmisciano made history by playing the first transgender character in the soap. He first appeared on screen as Matty Barton in 2018 and has since been involved in several challenging storylines.
Most recently, Matty has been in prison after accidentally stabbing Samson Dingle (Sam Hall).
Matty was simply walking with a kitchen knife when transphobe Josh (Osian Morgan) pushed Samson towards him.
In upcoming scenes, Matty faces a terrifying situation when wife Amy Wyatt (Natalie Ann Jamieson) reveals his true identity to transphobic prisoner Robbo – mistaking him for accepting cellmate Les.
Robbo corners Matty in his cell and reveals that he knows the truth – is Matty in serious danger?
As the fallout from the stabbing continues, find out more about actor Ash’s personal life away from our TV screens.
Who is Ash Pamisciano?
Ash Palmisciano was born in January 1990, making him 34 years old.
A master of many crafts, Ash Pamisciano is an actor, poet, writer and narrator.
He was originally brought in to advise Emmerdale on their new transgender character, through a charity called All About Trans. They then asked him to audition and the rest is history.
In April 2019, his character Matty received top surgery, which left him overjoyed.
Ash explained at the time: ‘I think at the time we were going to go down that path, it was lockdown and surgeries weren’t happening in the UK and in reality there are huge waiting lists.
‘So, I really believe it’s true to show a real reflection and so does Emmerdale – and when the time is right, it could be something really exciting to explore.’
‘Matty’s had a bit of a turbulent time with himself in the sense of getting his hormones right and waiting for his surgery and trying to navigate this relationship; he’s never spoken to people about it and he’s always dealt with stuff on his own – he went off to transition on his own, he doesn’t really do well with communicating his feelings.’
Ash wrote for Metro.co.uk in 2021, saying: ‘I came to the conclusion pretty early on in my life that I might be trans, however there were no characters or role models for reference. I didn’t even really have the words to explain how I was feeling.
