Dua Saleh \u201917<\/strong> plays the new character Cal Bowman in the third season of the award-winning Netflix show \u201cSex Education,\u201d a British teen comedy-drama series. Saleh\u2019s character is an American student from Minneapolis whose parents moved them to the United Kingdom. Like Cal, the first nonbinary character on the show, Saleh is nonbinary and uses they\/them pronouns. Saleh and a nonbinary consultant assisted Netflix with the script.<\/p>\n The Sudanese-American musician, poet, and activist began writing poetry their second year at Augsburg and performed at open mic events. Seeing people\u2019s positive responses encouraged Saleh to write songs and make music, which led to the eventual release of two EPs. Previously, Saleh performed in an underground theater in Minneapolis. The Netflix show is \u200b\u200btheir first professional acting role.<\/p>\n \u201cI want people to feel validated,\u201d Saleh told Netflix. \u201cCal is a nonbinary, Black character, and I want people to think, \u2018Oh, my gosh, I can<\/em> believe I’ve seen myself on this series. I can<\/em> believe I’ve seen myself represented in mainstream media.\u2019 That\u2019s what I want the most.\u201d<\/p>\n