Nicole Maines

Nicole Maines – Life, Career, and Famous Quotes

Nicole Maines is an American actress and transgender rights activist known for her groundbreaking role as a transgender superhero and her advocacy for equality. Discover her life story, career journey, powerful quotes, and lessons we can learn from her.

Introduction

Nicole Maines is a prominent American actress, writer, and transgender rights advocate whose journey blends personal courage with public transformation. Born on October 7, 1997, she has become a powerful voice in both entertainment and LGBTQ+ activism. As the first transgender superhero portrayed on U.S. television, her work has redefined representation and shown how art and identity can intersect for social change. Her story resonates not only for the barriers she’s broken, but for the example she sets: authenticity, resilience, and hope.

Early Life and Family

Nicole Amber Maines was born in Gloversville, New York, on October 7, 1997. She and her identical twin brother, Jonas, were adopted at birth by Kelly and Wayne Maines. Although born in New York, they were raised in Portland, Maine.

From a very young age, Nicole showed a clear sense of identity that diverged from the male gender assigned at birth. As early as age two or three, she asked questions like “When do I get to be a girl?” and “When will my penis fall off?” She gravitated toward the name “Nicole” (after Nicole Bristow from Zoey 101) and later adopted “Amber” as her middle name partly for how she liked the sound.

Nicole did not officially change her name in the legal system initially—because in Maine, name changes had to be publicized in a newspaper, and the family wished to maintain privacy—until a court granted them an exemption.

Her twin brother Jonas accepted her gender identity from a young age; during elementary school he reportedly told their father: “Face it, Dad, you have a son and a daughter.” The strong bond they share has remained a foundation in Nicole’s life.

Nicole attended Waynflete School in Portland, Maine for her high school education. She then enrolled at the University of Maine alongside her brother. But by 2018, she chose not to return, deciding to focus on acting instead.

In July 2015, shortly after graduating high school, Nicole underwent gender-affirming surgery in Philadelphia.

Her family’s journey (the adoption, the transition, and the challenges of reconciling it all) is documented in the 2015 book Becoming Nicole: The Transformation of an American Family by Amy Ellis Nutt.

Youth and Education

Even as a child, Nicole understood her identity clearly. She has said she knew she was not a boy by around age three, though she lacked the vocabulary for “transgender.”

During elementary school, she used the girls’ restroom as part of daily life—until, in 2007, a male classmate followed her into the girls’ bathroom, prompting a complaint from the classmate’s grandfather. The school thereafter barred her from using the girls’ facilities and required her to use a staff bathroom.

With the help of the Maine Human Rights Commission and legal advocates, her family filed Doe v. Regional School Unit 26, a case that would reach the Maine Supreme Judicial Court.

In 2014, the court delivered a landmark ruling: the school district’s policy violated Maine’s Human Rights Act by denying a transgender student the right to use a bathroom that aligned with her gender identity. This was the first state-level ruling to find that barring transgender students from using the bathroom aligned with their identity was unlawful.

Nicole and her family were awarded $75,000 in compensation, and the ruling established a precedent within Maine for transgender rights in schools.

Thus, even before entering college or the entertainment world, Nicole had already played a pivotal role in changing public policy related to transgender students.

Career and Achievements

Nicole’s career bridges activism, acting, and writing—each reinforcing the other.

Transition into Public Life

Her family’s story and legal journey gained wider attention with Becoming Nicole, which humanized the experience of a family navigating gender identity, acceptance, and growth.

In 2015, Nicole made a television appearance on Royal Pains, playing a transgender teenager whose hormone therapy may have health implications.

She also appeared in the HBO documentary The Trans List, sharing space with multiple transgender and gender-nonconforming people and giving voice to diverse trans experiences.

Breakthrough Role as Dreamer in Supergirl

In July 2018, Nicole was cast as Nia Nal / Dreamer in Supergirl, joining the series in its fourth season and staying through the sixth (2018–2021). Her role made her the first transgender superhero portrayed on American television.

Nia Nal is a reporter who inherits precognitive powers and becomes Dreamer, a character who balances superhero adventures with representation and responsibility.

Nicole also reprised the Dreamer character in the Arrowverse crossover and made an appearance on The Flash.

Film and Other TV Roles

In film, Nicole has appeared in Bit (2019), a queer vampire horror film. She won the acting prize at Outfest for her performance.

She has more recently appeared in Darby and the Dead (2022) and had roles in Good Trouble and Yellowjackets. Specifically, in Yellowjackets Season 2 she plays Lisa.

On the comics front, Nicole has contributed to writing her Dreamer character in DC’s DC Pride #1 and has worked on Superman: Son of Kal-El. She is also involved in Bad Dream: A Dreamer Story (2024) and is writing for Secret Six.

Nicole’s work in the comics domain shows a creative expansion, allowing her to help craft narratives that reflect the complexities of identity, heroism, and community.

Historical Milestones & Context

Nicole’s journey intersects with broader shifts in transgender representation, civil rights, and media inclusion.

• The 2014 Maine Supreme Judicial Court ruling in Doe v. RSU 26 was historic—it was the first state supreme court decision to declare it unlawful to prevent a transgender student from using a bathroom matching their gender identity.

• Her casting as Dreamer in Supergirl broke new ground for television: for many trans youth, seeing a live-action trans superhero was unprecedented.

• Nicole’s memoir, It Gets Better... Except When It Gets Worse, announced in 2024, gives her own voice to previously mediated narratives and situates her story in the present cultural moment.

• In recent years, her comic book writing—especially in Secret Six and trans creative spaces—reflects a turning point: transgender creators telling superhero stories from within.

Her evolving roles in media align with a broader cultural moment when transgender stories are no longer just about education and awareness—but about authorship, complexity, and agency.

Legacy and Influence

Nicole Maines’ impact extends beyond her filmography. She stands as:

• A role model for transgender youth, showing that gender identity need not limit creative ambition.

• An advocate who used legal systems (like Doe v. RSU 26) to secure rights and visibility.

• A bridge-builder between activism and entertainment, making the personal political and the political personal.

• A creator of narrative space—writing comics, memoirs, and stories that reflect trans lives as multidimensional.

• A cultural transformer, pushing representation beyond tokenism into sophistication, conflict, growth, and humanity.

Her influence contributes to shifting how media treats trans characters and how societies conceive of identity, empathy, and inclusion.

Personality and Talents

Nicole is driven by authenticity, creativity, and courage. She has often spoken about how her identity is not her only defining feature—but a lens through which she views the world.

She balances activism and artistry. The care she invests in her roles, in her writing, and in the stories she chooses shows thoughtfulness. Her comics writing indicates a deeper interest in storytelling mechanics and control over narrative direction.

She is introspective and candid. In interviews and her memoir, she resists the pressure to present as flawless; instead, she embraces complexity.

Family and connection are foundational to her. Her relationship with her twin brother, her parentage, and her roots in her home community all shape her commitments to belonging and justice.

Famous Quotes of Nicole Maines

Here are several notable quotes that reflect her perspective on identity, representation, and change:

“There are infinite combinations that people can experience, because no two people are alike, and no two people’s identities should be expected to be alike. ... one size does not fit all.”

“All I knew was how I identified, and that was enough for me. And, frankly, it should be enough for everyone else, too.”

“I did a guest episode of ‘Royal Pains,’ and then right after that, ‘Supergirl’ happened … Every day, I walk on set, and I’m waiting for someone to be like, ‘Ma’am, you can't be here.’”

“I know from first-hand experience that separating transgender students from their peers can cause many to leave school, hide who they are, or even do the unthinkable.”

“When we have trans actors play trans characters, people can look onscreen and say, ‘OK, this is what trans is.’”

“I hope my story can be inspiring for people ... what’s even more important to me is that people see my story as it really is: I never struggled with my identity as a trans person, but I have struggled with how other people perceived me since I was a child.”

These quotes convey her dedication to realism in trans representation, her belief in visibility, and her conviction that identity is deeply personal yet also public.

Lessons from Nicole Maines

1. Authenticity matters. Nicole’s life emphasizes the power of owning your identity, even when it risks discomfort or misunderstanding.

2. Representation is transformative. When trans people see themselves in media (as more than victims or side characters), it changes how they imagine their own futures—and how others imagine them.

3. Storytelling is activism. By choosing roles, writing comics, and publishing her memoir, Nicole shows that narratives are central battlegrounds in social justice.

4. Courage is incremental. Nicole’s journey—from early childhood, through a courtroom, onto television and beyond—suggests that change is built step by step, day by day.

5. Complexity is human. She resists pressure to be a perfect exemplar. Her willingness to show doubt, growth, and vulnerability makes her voice more honest and approachable.

Conclusion

Nicole Maines stands at the crossroads of art, advocacy, and identity. She transformed a childhood marked by legal struggle into a platform for representation and change. Her performance as Dreamer broke ground in television history; her writing now cements her voice over her own narratives. Above all, she models what it means to live openly, to pursue creative purpose, and to expand what society thinks is possible.

Explore more about her work—her series roles, her comics contributions, and the upcoming memoir It Gets Better... Except When It Gets Worse—to connect with a living story of transformation, resilience, and persistent hope.