Actress Tommy Dorfman, star of TV show 13 Reasons Why, announced she is transgender.
The 29 year old played the role of male character Ryan Shaver in the hit series, but now identifies as female. She confirmed on Instagram the change of her pronouns to “she/her”, adding she was “thrilled to reintroduce myself as the woman I am today”.
The actress says she is “especially grateful to every single trans person who walked this path, broke down barriers, and risked their lives to live authentically”.
Over the last year, Tommy has been “privately identifying and living as a woman – a trans woman”. But she has no plans to change her name, because she was named after an uncle who died a month after her birth. She feels connected to the name, and it means a lot to her.
She describes her transition as “an evolution of Tommy”, saying that she is “becoming more Tommy”.
For months now, Tommy has showed the changes in her style and appearance on Instagram, and now feels the need to publicly address her gender identity. She wants to keep control of her own story.
She was previously living in a state where she didn’t feel safe enough to talk about coming out as a transgender. But she realises now that “transitioning is beautiful” and something the whole world should see what it looks like.
Tommy felt a bit overwhelmed by the medical transition, and the changes happening to her body. But she doesn’t see coming as a “grand reveal”, as “she was never not out”. Instead she views it as “a reintroduction to me as a woman, having made a transition medically”.
‘Excited to play women’
Tommy adds that it is “impossible to separate my personal and professional transition”. This means she is opened up to a wealth of different roles she can now play. She says, “I’m thinking about how I can infuse my trans body into film and television”.
Her first female part is in Lena Dunham’s upcoming film Sharp Stick, which she describes as “exciting and validating”.
Tommy gives thanks to all the trans women, for showing her who she is, how to live and celebrate herself. They have showed her she has a space in this world.
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