Bella Ramsey would much rather focus on their acting than their gender, if it’s all the same to you.
In a new profile for the U.K. newspaper The Times, the Last of Us and Game of Thrones star shared some gripes with how they’re perpetually referred to in the press, including in that very interview, which introduces them as an actor “who is nonbinary and uses they/them pronouns.”
“You don’t need to say all of that. Why can’t I just be Bella Ramsey?” they told the paper.
While nonbinary and genderfluid identities are still in the process of becoming more widely understood, Ramsey allowed, “it has been so dominating [in media coverage] and it’s one of the least interesting things to talk about.”
Instead, Ramsey would clearly prefer more people focus on their work, namely new projects like the second season of BAFTA-award winning BBC prison drama Time, in which Ramsey plays Kelsey, a young pregnant woman who is addicted to heroin. (Doctor Who alum Jodie Whittaker co-stars in this season as Orla, a mother imprisoned for stealing electricity, along with Tamara Lawrance of Apple TV’s Invasion as Abi, a woman who has been convicted of murder.)
From Brokeback Mountain to Strange Way of Life, gay cowboys are as common as tumbleweeds.
“I knew nothing about drug misuse so I was quite naïve coming into it,” Ramsey candidly told The Times. To learn about the realities of addiction and incarceration, they visited a British women’s prison to speak to a recovering addict who has been repeatedly incarcerated from a young age. “She had children she had to leave behind, and when she came out they were her reason for getting clean,” Ramsey shared. “The way she spoke about addiction, that every cell of your body needs the hit — that really helped [bring authenticity to the role.]”
Because BBC and other U.K. productions are usually covered by the country’s Equity actors’ union, rather than the U.S.-based SAG-AFTRA, the ongoing Hollywood strikes did not prevent Ramsey from talking about Time, which premieres on BBC One October 29. But while Ramsey couldn’t discuss forthcoming projects like The Last of Us (or even more importantly, the Chicken Run sequel), they did dish a little heartwarming dirt on co-star, trans ally, and SNL’s resident Latinx mom Pedro Pascal: he’s a little sensitive about his age.
“The people that I get on with easiest have often been men in their fifties,” Ramsey mused — but then caught themself. “Although Pedro would not like me to say that. He’s 48 and gets very annoyed when anyone calls him 50.”
