Ray Donovan star Katherine Moennig made her way on the collective radars of queer women as the adorable lothario Shane on The L Word 15 years ago. Now she’s poised to become a touchstone for a new generation with an upcoming guest appearance as a lesbian gender studies professor on Freeform’s "black-ish" spin-off "grown-ish." On Friday, the network that’s home to several shows with landmark LGBTQ characters including The Bold Type and the new Good Trouble announced that Moennig would be a guest star on "grown-ish."
Moennig will play Paige Hewson, who’s described as “openly lesbian, uber-feminist, confident, yet still self-effacing.” And "grown-ish" lead character Zoey (Yara Shahidi) and her group of friends end up enrolling in her class at the show's fictional CalU. But Moennig’s Paige will have the most impact on show’s bisexual character Nomi (Emily Arlook), who’ll turn to her new gender studies prof as something of a mentor, considering she’s still not out to her parents.
Since The L Word ended its run 10 years ago, Moennig has worked steadily, including on TV in the short-lived Three Rivers and on film in Gone, The Lincoln Lawyer, and Everybody’s Fine. On Ray Donovan, she’s portrayed the title character’s lesbian assistant, Lena, since the series premiered on Showtime in 2013.
Most recently, Moennig joined Ellen Page, Kiersey Clemons, Hannah Gadsby, Olivia Wilde, Emily Hampshire, and Indya Moore in an all-female, very queer staged reading of Casablanca in Los Angeles. She was also announced as a producer for an upcoming L Word reboot along with costars Jennifer Beals and Leisha Hailey, but there has not been an update on the project for some time.
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