The Last of Us star Bella Ramsey recently joined Vanity Fair for an interview and discussed entering this year’s Emmy race for the 2023 Best Drama Actress Award. In the interview, they recalled their discomfort about the ‘gendered’ Emmy categories as a non-binary actor.
Bella submitted themselves in the ‘Best Drama Actress‘ category, but as they are a non-binary actor, this wasn’t a pleasant experience for them. They argued that language limitations are why non-binary actors’ talents can’t be fully celebrated in the industry. They said:
“The categories at the moment feel extremely gendered with the language around them. I don’t want the limitations in terms of the language in the categories to be a reason that nonbinary actors like me can’t be celebrated. And it can open up a conversation about how it feels – as long as I’m aware of the fact that it’s not ideal, but also that finding alternatives is really complex.“
After expressing their concerns, Bella hoped for a change in the awards categories to include non-binary people to be recognized in the future, saying:
“For [nonbinary and nonconforming people] to have a say and be part of those discussions and conversations is really important. I just hope there’s more space for nonbinary people to be recognized within [future] categories.”
Earlier this year, Bella joined The New York Times, revealing they are ‘genderfluid’:
“I guess my gender has always been very fluid. Someone would call me ‘she’ or ‘her,’ and I wouldn’t think about it, but I knew that if someone called me ‘he,’ it was a bit exciting.”
They then described themselves as ‘just a person’ who doesn’t care about gender pronouns, saying:
“I’m very much just a person. Being gendered isn’t something that I particularly like, but in terms of pronouns, I really couldn’t care less.“
This year’s Emmy nominations will be announced on July 12, and the ceremony will be held on September 18.