“What a difference it makes when an actual trans person plays the role.”

That was Laverne Cox’s reflection in 2011 on how, after years of intermittent visibility, transgender actors like herself were being cast more frequently in films and on television as honest-to-goodness transgender characters. (Mostly women.) Four years later, Ms. Cox has an Emmy Award nomination for her role in the Netflix series “Orange Is the New Black,” now in its third season on Netflix, and will be seen this summer as an old friend of Lily Tomlin’s in the film “Grandma.” She is leveraging her success to redefine, physically and culturally, what it means to be an actress.

But what about other transgender performers? Has Ms. Cox’s breakout widened their chances in the audition room or inaugurated a new wave of transgender characters? Conversations with several transgender actors working in film and on television suggest that Ms. Cox’s rise to stardom has rewritten the rules.

“We have come a long way, especially in the past two years or so since ‘Orange’ hit,” said Trace Lysette, who plays a trans yoga instructor on the Amazon series “Transparent.” “Laverne is the one who really kicked the door open and let people on to the fact that we can have a real story line and really be human.”

The new crop of transgender talent includes many actors making their debuts, including Mya Taylor, a star of “Tangerine,” a hit at the Sundance Film Festival scheduled to reach theaters next month, and Michelle Hendley, who as the star of the recent coming-of-age film “Boy Meets Girl” has a bold nude scene. Others, like Alexandra Billings, who plays a worldly confidante to Jeffrey Tambor’s character, a transgender parent of three in “Transparent,” are reaching wider audiences after years of under-the-radar roles.