Dot-Marie Jones will debut Shannon Beiste's gender transition on the Feb. 13 episode of Glee.
The 51-year-old actress teased the change by retweeting a photo in full makeup Wednesday on Twitter. Jones has portrayed Beiste on the Fox series since season two, and will see the character undergo sex reassignment surgery.
"I had thousands of tweets from people," she said of fan reaction to the news to People magazine. "I was crying. Members of the transgender community were saying, 'I never thought I'd see myself on TV. You have no idea what this means to me. Now, maybe people will get it.'"
Beiste revealed he is transgender to Sam Evans (Chord Overstreet) on the Jan. 16 episode. He explained, "Your outsides don't match how you feel you are on the inside," and clarified he is attracted to men, saying, "This isn't about who I want to go to bed with - it's who I want to go to bed as."
Glee premiered in 2009, and is in the midst of a sixth and final season. The series airs Fridays at 9 p.m. ET, and co-stars Lea Michele as Rachel Berry, Matthew Morrison as Will Schuester, Chris Colfer as Kurt Hummel and Dianna Agron as Quinn Fabray.