'13 Reasons Why' Star Tommy Dorfman Is A Trans Woman, Actor Who Plays Ryan Shaver Reintroduces Herself To The World
July 22 2021, Published 12:02 p.m. ET
Tommy Dorfman of 13 Reasons Why fame is a transgender woman.
But rather than come out in the traditional sense, the 29-year-old actor is choosing to reintroduce herself with a Time magazine cover story.
"For a year now, I have been privately identifying and living as a woman – a trans woman," Tommy said at the top of the interview, which debuted Thursday.
"It's funny to think about coming out, because I haven't gone anywhere," she explained. "I view today as a reintroduction to me as a woman, having made a transition medically. Coming out is always viewed as this grand reveal, but I was never not out. Today is about clarity: I am a trans woman. My pronouns are she/her. My name is Tommy."
The Netflix teen drama – in which Tommy played a self-proclaimed "bitchy gay poet" named Ryan Shaver – put the actor on the map back in 2017.
After a few years of fame and a subsequently large social media following, fans began to speculate that Tommy was transitioning.
But the star remained mum on the subject while still living, dressing and existing as a trans woman. And that, she says, was no accident.
"I've been living in this other version of coming out where I don't feel safe enough to talk about it, so I just do it," she explained. "But I recognize that transitioning is beautiful. Why not let the world see what that looks like? So I kept, on Instagram, a diaristic time capsule instead – one that shows a body living in a more fluid space. However, I've learned as a public-facing person that my refusal to clarify can strip me of the freedom to control my own narrative. With this medical transition, there has been discourse about my body, and it began to feel overwhelming. So, recently I looked to examples of others who have come out as trans. There's the version I couldn't really afford to do, which is to disappear for two years and come back with a new name, new face and new body. But that's not what I wanted."
Tommy said that version of "coming out" was just "not viable" for her – or anyone, for that matter. She feels it's "completely unrealistic and unsustainable" for any trans person to take months or even years away from their lives and livelihood to transition, making sure to note that undergoing medical procedures are a choice and not a requirement.