"Sex Education" (opens in new tab) is a treat every season, and Netflix's teen comedy is expanding its all-star cast with a new addition to the world of Moondale Secondary in Season 3 (opens in new tab), which premiered this week after more than a year of waiting, Cal, a transfer student, plays the lead role for the first time as a trans/non-binary character.

Dua Saleh, the Sudanese-American actor who plays Cal, gave a nuanced portrayal of life as a nonbinary person facing discrimination from the school's new vice principal. Although "Sex Education" is their first television role, Saleh is an accomplished songwriter and recording artist. Here is everything we know about this young prodigy.

Saleh, 26, was born in Kassala, Sudan. His family left the country when he was five years old, seeking political asylum during the Second Sudanese Civil War. According to the Minneapolis Star Tribune (opens in new tab), they bounced around refugee camps in Eritrea and several American cities before settling in the Rondo neighborhood of St. Paul. The two later graduated from Augsburg College, where they studied sociology and theater.

Upon arriving in the U.S., Saleh began reading African American YA literature and writing poetry. They then entered the world of spoken word poetry during their sophomore year of college, performing at the Baton Poetry in Minneapolis in hopes of making money at conventions. Their spoken word performance "Pins and Needles" even went viral in 2017.

Eventually, they began writing songs to get over their depressive episodes, saying "something inside (their bodies) drove me to start singing and writing songs." They told Them (open in new tab), "We started trying to perform songs at open mics to see how people would react, and the response was so good that we started writing songs on our phones. I think someone saw me perform a song at a poetry slam and booked me for an event. I was like, 'Hmmm, maybe I can make some money from this. ' It's a terrible thing to think like that."

Saleh has been writing and recording songs since TK, and their music has been described as pop, R&B, and TK TK. Their debut EP, Nur (2019), explores issues of gender and race along with their personal experiences and was produced by Psymun, who has also worked with Young Sugg and Lil Baby. They also wrote about their queerness and Islamic cultural background on their 2020 EP, Rosetta, named after black queer rock musician Sister Rosetta Tharpe.Them's song "smut" is in their native language, Arabic. recorded in their native language, Arabic.

In an interview with Teen Vogue magazine, they revealed that they wrote their latest song, "signs," while locked up in Wales filming "Sex Education." They said, "Having time to ourselves, without distractions or being surrounded by friends and family, allowed us to create different worlds."

The Salleys had previously done underground theater in Minneapolis, including "Waafrika 123," which was performed in 2018, but they told Autostraddle (opens in new tab) that when "Sex Education" came out, they were not doing much acting They told Autostraddle (open new tab) that they were not acting much when "Sex Education" came out. In fact, the show contacted them specifically for the role, and they subsequently auditioned both alone and with Kedar Williams-Sterling, who played Jackson.

"It was really random because I wasn't acting at the time. I was doing music, and I got in touch with my manager, and he told me to audition. They liked my self-tape and gave me an acting coach for the next two auditions."

They added that the show took their input on Cal as a character and helped with the script along with a non-binary consultant.

"And when I was cast, they were like, oh, you're trans, you can help us. There was a non-binary consultant on the script team, and they wanted me to be comfortable, so they asked me the question. What do you think? Any questions. That helped a lot with the script. There were also non-binary consultants on the set, especially when it was me and Robin (Holdaway) who played Layla. They helped us especially with the tying up scene."

The Salleys are big fans of science fiction books and television, and have said in multiple interviews that reading Magna and watching anime is their escape. They told Tem, "It gives you a sense of escapism that live-action content doesn't. They can see themselves in the strengths and flaws of certain characters; in science fiction comics (and anime), people can transform themselves into beings outside the scope of common reality. The protagonists often harness vast amounts of untapped energy. There are transformation processes that are beyond human capacity. It is intriguing to a trans person like myself, especially being non-binary."

Saleh is a former youth organizer and has participated in demonstrations in Minneapolis and St. Paul, including several rallies protesting the murder of George Floyd in 2020. They also discuss social issues through their music. After Floyd's death, they released a song about police brutality called "Body Cast" to raise funds for Women For Political Change, an organization that works with "young women, trans and non-binary people across Minnesota."