13 Reasons Why’s Tommy Dorfman Reintroduces Herself as a Trans Woman

Tommy Dorfman shared that she has been 'privately identifying and living as a woman' for the last year — read more

Living her truth. Tommy Dorfman is sharing a new side of herself. In an interview with Time magazine, the 13 Reasons Why star shared that she identifies as a transgender woman.

“For a year now, I have been privately identifying and living as a woman — a trans woman,” Dorfman, 29, said in the new interview, published on Thursday, July 22. “It’s funny to think about coming out because I haven’t gone anywhere. 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.”

Dorfman, best known for her role as Ryan Shaver in Netflix’s hit drama, also added that she finally feels ready to share herself with others.

Tommy Dorfman Comes Out as a Trans Woman — Courtesy of Tommy Dorfman/Instagram

“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. But I recognize that transitioning is beautiful. Why not let the world see what that looks like?” she stated. “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.”

She began looking to others who have come out as trans for guidance.

“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,” Dorfman noted. “But that’s not what I wanted.”

Now, she’s booked her first role as her true self, thanks to Lena Dunham.

“I’m thinking about how I can infuse my trans body into film and television,” she said, noting that her “first role as a girl” was “so exciting and validating” in every way.

“Personally, it’s wild to be 29 and going through puberty again. Some days I feel like I’m 14. As a result of that shift, the types of romantic partnerships I seek out are different. I was in a nine-year relationship in which I was thought of as a more male-bodied person, with a gay man,” the Love in the Time of Corona star said. “I love him so much, but we’ve been learning that as a trans woman, what I’m interested in is not necessarily reflected in a gay man. So we’ve had incredible conversations to redefine our relationship as friends. Transitioning has been liberating and clarifying.”