Skip To...
Transgender actress Hunter Schafer says she’s done being typecast for trans roles. The 25-year-old rose to prominence for her role as Jules Vaughn, a transgender high school student and Rue’s (Zendaya’s) on-and-off girlfriend in HBO’s Euphoria. But Schafer isn’t ready to settle for the same kind of roles forever, as she’s ready to further her career to bigger and better opportunities.
She said: “I worked so hard to get to where I am, past these really hard points in my transition, and now I just want to be a girl and finally move on.”
Trans Roles Aren’t the Only Opportunities Schafer Wants
Schafer told GQ magazine that being known simply as a “trans actress” was “ultimately demeaning to me and what I want to do.”
Related:
Hunter Schafer Arrested For Disrupting Joe Biden’s Appearance on Late Night With Seth Meyers“I’ve been offered tons of trans roles, and I just don’t want to do it. I don’t want to talk about it.”
“I know for a fact that I’m one of the most famous trans people in media right now, and I do feel a sense of responsibility, and maybe a little bit of guilt, for not being more of a spokesperson.”
“But ultimately, I really do believe that not making it the centerpiece to what I’m doing will allow me to get further. And I think getting further and doing awesome [work], in the interest of ‘the movement,’ will be way more helpful than talking about it all the time.”
Controversy Surrounding the Casting of Trans Roles
It has long been argued within the entertainment industry that transgender characters should be portrayed by actors who are transgender in real life. This is similar to the debate prompted by the Wonka controversy, where Hugh Grant was cast to play an Oompa Loompa and deprived actors with dwarfism of the role.
In 2021, Eddie Redmayne told the BBC that his casting as a transgender woman in 2015’s The Danish Girl should have never happened. He said: “I made that film with the best intentions, but I think it was a mistake.”
Schafer has starred as Jules since 2019. She is joined by Euphoria co-stars Maude Apatow, Angus Cloud, Eric Dane, Alexa Demi, Jacob Elordi, Barbie Ferreira, Nina King, Storm Reid, and Sydney Sweeney.
Last year, she starred as Tigris Snow in The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes. Her upcoming projects include the psychological horror film Cuckoo, anthology film Kinds of Kindness, and melodrama Mother Mary.
