Bella Ramsey became one of Hollywood’s biggest rising stars after stealing scenes as Lyanna Mormont on HBO’s “Game of Thrones.”
More recently, Ramsey cemented that reputation with their starring role alongside Pedro Pascal on “The Last of Us.”
In early 2023, Ramsey said her gender “has always been very fluid,” adding that she identifies with the “nonbinary” identifier — although she isn’t picky about pronouns.
“I’m very much just a person,” Ramsey told the New York Times. “Being gendered isn’t something that I particularly like, but in terms of pronouns, I really couldn’t care less.”
In another interview with GQ, Ramsey opted to use she/her, but also clarified that she does not define herself as a woman.
“This is what bothers me more than pronouns: being called a ‘young woman’ or a ‘powerful young woman’, ‘young lady,’ but I’m just not,” Ramsey said. “‘Catherine Called Birdy,’ I was in dresses. ‘Young Elizabeth,’ I was in a corset. And I felt super powerful in that. Playing these more feminine characters is a chance to be something so opposite to myself, and it’s really fun.”
Emma D’Arcy rose to mainstream fame playing Rhaenyra Targaryen on HBO’s “House of the Dragon,” the critically acclaimed “Game of Thrones” prequel.
D’Arcy competed for best actress in a TV drama at the 2023 Golden Globes, where they described the nomination as “surreal.”
“When I was starting out, I really felt that I had to pretend, to present as a woman in order to find success in this industry,” D’Arcy told E! News on the red carpet.
“Anyway, it wasn’t sustainable, and I stopped pretending, and weirdly, it’s at that point that I got nominated for best actress at the Golden Globes. Which is beautifully ironic,” they continued. “I think the most important thing is that, for me, it implies that the space for trans people and gender-nonconforming people is getting bigger all the time. So, I feel very privileged.”
D’Arcy also said they have a “complicated relationship” with their “public profile” following the runaway success of “House of the Dragon.”
“But I suppose being able to help the broad spectrum of gender identities sounds like a good reason to have one,” D’Arcy told Entertainment Weekly.
Demi Lovato said they were “proud” to share their gender journey on Instagram.
“Today is a day I’m so happy to share more of my life with you all,” Lovato wrote. “I am proud to let you know that I identify as non-binary & will officially be changing my pronouns to they/them moving forward.”
“This has come after a lot of healing & self-reflective work,” they continued. “I’m still learning & coming into myself, & I don’t claim to be an expert or a spokesperson. Sharing this with you now opens another level of vulnerability for me.”
Lovato later clarified that she’s comfortable using both they/them and she/her pronouns.
The “I Love Me” singer had previously come out as pansexual and said they feel “so fluid now.”
In 2020, Janelle Monáe retweeted a gif of a nonbinary character from the animated Cartoon Network show “Steven Universe” with the caption “‘Are you a boy or girl?’ I’m an experience.'”
“There is absolutely nothing better than living outside the gender binary,” the original Twitter user wrote.
In Monáe’s retweet, she added the hashtag “#IAmNonbinary” with the Saturn emoji. She later told Rolling Stone that her pronouns are she/her, they/them, and “free-ass motherfucker.”
Back in 2018, the “Dirty Computer” singer said they identify as pansexual.
In a 2017 interview with The Sunday Times, Sam Smith said they feel “just as much woman as I am man.”
In a subsequent conversation with actress Jameela Jamil, Smith discussed their gender identity as well as other topics relating to body image.
“I’m not male or female. I think I float somewhere in between,” Smith said during the interview, which was part of Jamil’s Instagram show “I Weigh Interviews.”
Smith later took to Instagram to announce that they’ve officially decided to change their pronouns, despite understanding “there will be many mistakes and mis gendering.”
“After a lifetime of being at war with my gender I’ve decided to embrace myself for who I am, inside and out,” they wrote in a lengthy caption. “I’m so excited and privileged to be surrounded by people that support me in this decision but I’ve been very nervous about announcing this because I care too much about what people think but fuck it!”
“All I ask is you please please try,” Smith added. “I hope you can see me like I see myself now.”
Emma Corrin, who rose to fame portraying Princess Diana in the fourth season of Netflix’s “The Crown,” previously said their gender journey “has been a long one.”
“I think visibility is key with these things,” Corrin told IVT in 2021. “I think that we are so used to defining ourselves, and that’s the way, sadly, society works, within these binaries.”
“It’s taken me a long time to realize that I exist somewhere in between and I’m still not sure where that is yet,” they added.
Now, the Golden Globe winner explicitly identifies as queer and nonbinary.
“The next generation is so much more chill,” Corrin said in a 2022 cover story for Vogue. “They are finding a way to express themselves which is less binary in a very organic way.”
Liv Hewson previously starred alongside Drew Barrymore and Timothy Olyphant on Netflix’s dark comedy, “Santa Clarita Diet.”
Now, Hewson is making waves in Hollywood as Van, a star soccer goalie and plane crash survivor, on Showtime’s psychological thriller series “Yellowjackets.”
Hewson, who is also a playwright, opened up to A Beautiful Perspective about coming out as nonbinary when they were 16.
“For a long time, though, I had no idea how I was going to be open about it professionally,” Hewson said. “For ages it seemed like a possibility so out of reach, it never really crossed my mind, because I felt like it was impossible.”
Jonathan Van Ness stole the hearts of many when “Queer Eye” premiered in 2018. Since then, the hairstylist has become a beacon for self-love and self-expression, by unabashedly sharing his own journey of acceptance and making killer fashion statements on the red carpet.
In an interview with Out Magazine, Van Ness explained that the older he gets, the more he identifies as nonbinary.
“I’m gender-nonconforming,” they said. “Like, some days I feel like a man, but then other days I feel like a woman.”
The Netflix star also clarified their pronoun preference in an interview with Cosmopolitan.
“I am literally OK with ‘he’, ‘she’ or ‘they,'” Van Ness said. “I’ve never felt the binary was something I fit into anyway, even though I didn’t know there was anything I could do about it.”
Amandla Stenberg, who broke out as a young actor playing Rue in “The Hunger Games,” first came out as nonbinary with a Tumblr post in 2016. Stenberg, who also identifies as gay, wrote that she doesn’t feel like a woman all the time.
She subsequently shared that she’d like to begin using they/them pronouns, even as followers criticized her for it: “I’m allowed to explore myself and how I see myself in the world however the fuck I want,” she wrote.
In 2018, the “Bodies Bodies Bodies” star told the Washington Post that she realized she “didn’t need those pronouns to feel comfortable… And it felt almost detrimental to those who really did need them.”
Brigette Lundy-Pain, who stars on Netflix’s “Atypical” and previously appeared in the 2017 film “The Glass Castle,” clarified their gender identity on Instagram.
“I’m non-binary, always felt a lil bit boy, lil bit girl, lil bit neither. using they/them as of late n it feels right,” Lundy-Pain wrote. “scary af to come out n been rly putting this off. But I feel I owe it to myself and to all of us who struggle w gender. If you’re NB comment and celebrate yourself! u r beautiful and u r whole.”
In 2014, the Australian model and “Batwoman” star posted a five-minute video on YouTube, described as “a short film about gender roles, Trans, and what it is like to have an identity that deviates from the status quo.”
“I put this video out that I really intended to be therapeutic for myself and was intended to be viewed by, you know, the hundred-or-so-thousand people that are on my Facebook,” she told the Guardian. “Obviously it’s very autobiographical.”
Rose went on to say that she spent her childhood “convinced” she was male, despite being assigned female at birth: “I used to pray to God that I wouldn’t get breasts,” she said.
Now, Rose embraces a more fluid identity. She uses feminine pronouns, but told the Guardian that she’s “neither” male nor female.
“I feel like I’m a boy, but I don’t feel like I should’ve been born with different parts of my body or anything like that,” she said. “I feel like it’s just all in how I dress and how I talk and how I look and feel, and that makes me happy… I really sit in a more neutral place, which I’m grateful for as well.”
Nico Tortorella, the breakout star of TV Land’s “Younger,” wrote about their approach to gender, sexuality, and monogamy in their 2019 book, “Space Between.”
Tortorella and their spouse, Bethany C. Meyers, are both gender fluid and their marriage is polyamorous.
“When Bethany and I met in 2006, I was a boy and she was a girl, whatever that means,” Tortorella wrote. “Today Bethany and I both identify as non-binary and prefer ‘they/them’ pronouns.”
Tortorella has also written about gender identity on Instagram.
“We are ALL multidimensional dynamic creatures and as much as I understand the spectrum, the less I believe in the binary of gender, the more liberated I myself am becoming,” they wrote in 2018.
Asia Kate Dillon appeared on the silver screen alongside Keanu Reeves in “John Wick: Chapter 3 — Parabellum.”
In an interview with Insider, the actor revealed how they advocated to bring a bit of their own identity to their role as the Adjudicator in “John Wick.”
“I just said to [director] Chad [Stahelski] and Keanu, you have a real opportunity here,” Dillon said. “I’m a nonbinary person. This character could be nonbinary.”
Dillon added that they were all on board to include an aspect of gender diversity to an already diverse franchise.
“It was a real thrill for me to get to bring that to the table and have it be warmly received,” they said.
Dillon is also known for their role as Brandy Epps on Netflix’s “Orange Is the New Black” and Taylor Mason on Showtime’s “Billions,” a character who’s also nonbinary.
Bex Taylor-Klaus has had quite a successful career in Hollywood so far, with roles in Netflix’s “Dumplin,'” and on AMC’s “The Killing,” The CW’s “Arrow,” and MTV’s “Scream” (to name a few).
In an interview with Autostraddle in 2018, the young actor spoke about their struggle to freely explore gender, both in our society and in the industry.
“In this day, exploring gender is taboo and stigmatized but to a lesser extent [than in the past], and it’s something that I’ve always been a little bit afraid of because my industry can be a little bit brutal,” Taylor-Klaus said.
The Atlanta native added that the shoot, which features them wearing various looks — such as a crop top with boots in one instance and a button down shirt with a tie in another — was a way to show that they can be a “chameleon.”
Just a month after that, Klaus tweeted that they did in fact identify as nonbinary, which is sometimes referred to as “enby.”
“I came out as trans non-binary in a room full of people today,” Klaus wrote in the tweet. “Guess it’s time for me to do that on here, too … Hi. I’m Bex, and the rumors are true. I’m v enby.”
Moore began their career as a model, but they broke into TV and films by playing background characters.
They went on to play a trans woman named Angel on FX’s “Pose,” a trailblazing show about NYC’s legendary underground ballroom culture that began in the 1980s.
In a conversation with costar MJ Rodriguez for L’Officiel Magazine, Moore talked about why representation is mandatory, as well as identifying as nonbinary.
“I’m nonbinary but I don’t really talk about it that much,” they said. “I don’t feel like people really are there yet for understanding it, which I don’t mind, but I also acknowledge the way people see me as a woman.”
Moore has also clarified that they prefer they/them pronouns on Twitter: “I’m non binary, femme, Agender feels fitting too. My pronouns: they/them/theirs. I correct people often. At times they ignore me & I tolerate it to avoid conflict/irritation but it’s upsetting to feel like i’m ‘too much’ in a world that takes so much from trans people constantly.”
Lachlan Watson is just one of the breakout stars from Netflix’s “Chilling Adventures of Sabrina,” portraying trans teen Theo Putnam.
In an interview with MTV News, the teenage actor opened up about their gender identity journey, describing it as a three-part opera. In Act 1, at 13 years old, Watson said that they identified as a cisgender lesbian. For Act 2, they came out as trans.
Now, in Act 3, they identify as nonbinary.
The North Carolina native also explained that they are in a constant struggle to not put themself inside of a box.
“That’s sort of why I call it ‘gender freedom’ as opposed to gender fluidity, because instead of fluctuating between two options or three options or four options, you’re just sort of free,” Watson said. “I’ve found it a really beautiful thing to just not limit myself as much as I used to.”
G-Flip has opened up about their struggle with gender in their music, particularly the 2022 single “Waste Of Space.”
“I grew up uncomfortable,” the song begins, “11 years old and I wanted to die, I don’t feel like I’m a girl, nor a boy, so where do I lie?”
In an interview with Refinery29, G-Flip said they were compelled to release the song to help with nonbinary visibility.
“If I can make anyone hear this song, watch this music video, consume any of my art and have that person feel seen and feel like they have someone to look up to or lean on or message, I know it can change lives… because I know if I had that it would have changed mine,” they said.
More recently, G-Flip released a love song titled “Be Your Man,” which was inspired by their wife, “Selling Sunset” star Chrishell Stause.
Angélica Acevedo contributed to a previous version of this post.
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