| Maya Avant | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| The Bold and the Beautiful character | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Portrayed by | Karla Mosley | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Duration | 2013–2019 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| First appearance | January 22, 2013 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Last appearance | May 30, 2019 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Classification | Past; recurring | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Created by | Bradley Bell and Michael Minnis | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Introduced by | Bradley Bell | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Maya Avant is a fictional character from The Bold and the Beautiful, an American soap opera on the CBS network, portrayed by Karla Mosley. Introduced as a series regular in 2013, ex-con Maya comes to town looking for her daughter who was put up for adoption by Dayzee Forrester (Kristolyn Lloyd). After the child is revealed to have died, Maya falls for fashion executive Rick Forrester (Jacob Young) when she mistakes him for a waiter. Discovering Rick's true identity scares Maya into the arms of attorney Carter Walton (Lawrence Saint-Victor). Maya quickly rises to fame in the modeling world. After a failed engagement to Carter who realizes Maya loves Rick, Maya pursues Rick putting her at odds with Rick's then wife Caroline Spencer (Linsey Godfrey). After successfully breaking up the couple, Rick and Maya settle into their cushy new life ruffling quite a few feathers along the way as Maya supports Rick's ruthless business tactics.
Characterized by some critics as a "social climber" and a "gold digger", Maya becomes a popular "love to hate" character for viewers due to her schemes and manipulations in her attempts to get what she wants. Daytime Confidential specifically referred to Maya as the black version of the iconic All My Children character, Erica Kane (Susan Lucci). In 2015, Maya was revealed to be transgender, becoming the first regular transgender character in American daytime television. The story made headlines in several mainstream media outlets including USA Today, People magazine and several LGBT publications. Maya's presence on the typically conservative soap also allowed for the introduction of her family, the Avants, to become the first and only central African American family in the show's history.