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WHO SHE IS: The leggy, lustrous transsexual glued to William Baldwin's arm in ABC's glitzy drama Dirty Sexy Money.

WHY SHE'S RADICAL: With half a dozen acting credits for playing a drag queen, Cayne nearly gave up on her dreams of stardom after undergoing a sex change. "When I started my transition [in 1996], it was really not cool to be transsexual," she says. That's clearly changing: This fall, the trailblazing performer became the first such actress to appear on prime-time television.

WHERE WE'LL SEE HER NEXT: She's currently pitching a Curb Your Enthusiasm–style sitcom vérité revolving around the day-to-day lives of Cayne, her husband Marco, and his six-year-old daughter.

ON PLAYING THE GENETIC WOMAN: "It's a great goal to have. It's going to be hard. There have been actresses who transitioned and nobody knew, and they got good parts playing next to big people. But for me, with everybody knowing my history, it will be harder. I'm sure there are some great scripts calling for an ultraglamorous woman. And I'm prepared to be ultraglamorous."

Photo: Naomi Harris