Schafer has studiedwatercolor painting andclothing design; in 2017, she began work as afashion model for various brands. Schafer had initially planned to attend an arts college to further study clothing design, but instead decided to transition to acting when she was cast in theHBO teen drama television seriesEuphoria (2019–present). Her role as transgender high school studentJules Vaughn, and her co-writing credit on an episode of the series, garnered her critical praise.
Schafer was born on December 31, 1998,[1] inTrenton, New Jersey.[2] Her father was apastor, and the family moved between churches and congregations inNew Jersey,Arizona, and finallyRaleigh, North Carolina,[2][3] where Schafer was raised.[4] She has three younger siblings: two sisters and a brother.[5] Schafer said she started expressingfemininity as a toddler. In seventh grade, Schafercame out to her parents as agay boy; however, she started experiencinggender dysphoria in eighth grade. In ninth grade, she came out as a transgender girl and begantransitioning after being diagnosed with dysphoria.[6][7][8] She had also questioned if she had anon-binary identity.[4] She stated that the Internet helped her cope with hergender identity, as she turned toYouTube andsocial media to learn about people's transition timelines.[6]
Schafer first made headlines in 2016 when she became the youngest name listed as aplaintiff on a lawsuit filed by theACLU andLambda Legal,[9][10]Carcaño v. McCrory, against thePublic Facilities Privacy & Security Act. The bill prevented trans people from using the bathroom corresponding to their gender identity, instead deciding bathroom usage based on their assigned sex at birth.[11] The lawsuit led to the bill's repeal.[11][12] While acting as a plaintiff, she made a film protesting the bill, which was released by the online magazineRookie.[12] She also wrote about the bill in a widely-shared essay forTeen Vogue in July 2016.[13][14] For her activism, including her activism against the Act,Teen Vogue listed Schafer on its 2017 "21 Under 21" list of women and femme trailblazers under the age of 21 and granted her an interview withHillary Clinton.[15][16]
In early childhood, Schafer developed skills in visual arts, includingwatercolor painting; in high school, she used these skills to design clothes. The inspirations for her visual style wereTim Burton andSkottie Young. She posted watercolor and photography works on herInstagram account, which became popular. Her clothing designs, which often incorporated political activist messaging, were profiled byHuffington Post in 2017.[17] She contributed illustrations and comic art toRookie,[12][18] as well as essays.[13] She went toNeedham B. Broughton High School and transferred to theNorth Carolina School of the Arts, where she graduated from its high school visual arts program.[19] In 2017, Schafer became a semifinalist in theU.S. Presidential Scholars Program.[20]
Career
Modeling and acting inEuphoria (2017—2020)
Schafer started modeling shortly after high school.[21] She wanted to use the privileges of "looking like a model" to deconstruct ideas regarding gender identity. In 2017, she signed withElite Model Management after meeting an agent of theirs on Instagram, so she moved toBrooklyn to model in New York City.[9][22] She first worked withDior andMarc Jacobs, among other brands,[23] and by the end of the year she had modeled forConverse,Gucci,Helmut Lang, andVersus Versace.[5] In early 2018, she walked for nine fashion houses including Marc Jacobs,Miu Miu, andHouse of Holland. She made her debut atNew York Fashion Week and traveled abroad for the first time to model in Europe.[9][12] She started appearing in fashion magazines around the world;Marie Claire magazine wrote: "the fashion industry embraced Schafer for her ethereal yet edgy look and cool-kid versatility".[22] She has also modeled for multiple other brands.[a] After high school, Schafer planned to attendCentral Saint Martins, an arts college in London, where she was accepted, to study clothing design for nonbinary people.[12][22] She also wanted to open a studio and gallery for trans artists in New York, using grant money she had received from Teen Vogue for her "21 Under 21" listing.[9]
However, she decided to focus on acting, after she was cast in on theHBO seriesEuphoria as a transgender high school girl,Jules Vaughn in 2019.[4][18][28] She joined the show after finding a casting call for transgender girls onInstagram, which required no previous acting experience. A few days later, her modeling agency told her she received the audition.[18][13] She did her final audition in Los Angeles, filmed the show's pilot there a month later,[6] and moved to Los Angeles to film the first season.[13] At the time, trans television characters were rare (GLAAD found there were 17 trans characters on television in 2017 and 2018), as were trans actors playing them.[12] She worked with the show's creator,Sam Levinson, to make sure Jules's trans experiences were accurate.[6] Jules was praised byVulture for not being a victim of violence like most trans women on screen; she stands up for herself, rather than being a passive victim of the men around her.[29] Schafer also worked with the show's costume designer, Heidi Bivens, to make Jules' wardrobe.[4]
Schafer's performance was widely praised.Paper magazine wrote thatEuphoria being her acting debut "will be hard for viewers to tell from the get-go".[30] For the role, she received aShorty Award, anMTV Movie & TV Award, and aDorian Award.[31][32][33]The Advocate wrote that she was one of many transgender actors not nominated at the2020 Primetime Emmy Awards who should have been.[34] In 2020,Queerty named her among the 50 queer people "leading the nation toward equality, acceptance, and dignity for all people".[35] In 2021, Schafer co-wrote an episode ofEuphoria that was released between its first and second seasons, titled "Fuck Anyone Who's Not a Sea Blob". The episode, which features Jules in therapy describing her experiences in womanhood, was critically acclaimed.[36][37][38]
Film roles and brand ambassadorships (2020—present)
In 2020, she became the globalbrand ambassador forShiseido Makeup, and in 2021,Prada announced Schafer as their new house ambassador.[39][40] Also in 2021,Time named her to its Next list of "100 emerging leaders who are shaping the future", with a tribute written byEuphoria co-starZendaya.[41] In 2022, Schafer starred in the English dub of the Japanese animated filmBelle.[42] She made her directorial debut when making the music video forGirl in Red's songhornylovesickmess; Schafer also shared some of the storyboard sketches alongside their respective final shots from the video.[43][44] She directed the video forAnohni and the Johnsons' song "Why Am I Alive Now?" the following year.[45] She became the new face of Mugler'sAngel perfume in 2023 and one of their ambassadors.[21][46]
Schafer has continued modeling throughout her acting career, appearing forAlexander McQueen, Prada andSchiaparelli, among other houses.[52][53] At the after party held byVanity Fair for the95th Academy Awards in 2023, she wore only a whitemaxi skirt and a top which was simply a horizontal feather covering her nipples, attached to a thin strap;W magazine wrote the outfit, designed by Ludovic de Saint Sernin for theAnn Demeulemeester label, became "infamous", being "the talk of the Oscars after parties" and "[setting] the Internet ablaze". Spanish pop singerRosalía later referenced Schafer's outfit by wearing the top and similar pants for a photoshoot that included the eventual cover art of her 2025 albumLux (though she wears an additional top in the cover photo).[54][55] Since the press tour forSongbirds & Snakes, Schafer has been stylized by Dara Allen, whom she first met when they both started modelling in 2017; Allen has characterized Schafer as one of her best friends, and some have attributed part of Schafer's fashion success to their collaboration.[56][57]
In 2024, Schafer was inTilman Singer's horror movieCuckoo,[58][59] where she plays an American teenager who reluctantly visits a creepy, remote resort in Germany with her family. It was her first lead role in a feature film; Schafer called it a scary experience, as it was the first thing she starred in afterEuphoria, describing it as "the training wheels" turning off.[60] Her portrayal was said to be "an intense and emotional central performance".[61][8] Also in 2024, she was in one scene ofYorgos Lanthimos's anthology filmKinds of Kindness.[62][63] In 2025, Schafer starred inThe Hunt, a horror short film directed byNadia Lee Cohen to promote the autumn 2025 campaign of South Korean eyewear brandGentle Monster.[64]
In 2025, a reputable leaker of Hollywood insider information reported that Schafer was firstly in consideration for the role ofPrincess Zelda in the upcominglive-action film adaptation ofNintendo'sThe Legend of Zelda video game series. The role was later announced to go toBo Bragason.[65] The initial rumor had created a significant amount of both supportive andtransphobic reactions online and in the media; multiple outlets theorized the casting of Bragason, acisgender woman, was a response by Nintendo to avoid further transphobic backlash, but this has not been confirmed.[66][67][68][65][69]
In 2019, Schafer said that she was "closer to what you might call alesbian",[76] and in 2021, she stated she was "bi orpan or something".[77] She was in a brief relationship with Rosalía for five months in 2019, which she confirmed after speculation withGQ in 2024. They remained close friends, and Schafer considers Rosalía to be "family no matter what".[8][54] Schafer dated herEuphoria co-starDominic Fike from February 2022 toc. July 2023.[78][79] She claims their relationship ended after she found out he cheated on her.[80][81]
In 2019, Schafer said she usedshe/her pronouns, but also used the title of "Mx. Schafer".[12] In 2016, she stated, "I do like people to know that I'm not acis girl because that's not something that I am or feel like I am."[7] However, in 2024, she said she would like to talk about her trans identity less, as she had moved on from the most difficult parts of her transition and just wanted to "be a girl"; she lamented that her identity had become the centerpiece of her career, giving her offers for "tons of trans roles", which she started declining.[8] In an interview withRolling Stone, when asked about being considered atransgender activist, Schafer said: "No. I'm just atranny who's famous, you know?"[82] In 2024, she toldVogue that she tries to balance not being seen only as the "trans starlet" while also managing to fulfill her "responsibility of representation", saying "All the time I'm kind of doing the math of when to reel it in and when to lean into it".[83]
In 2022, Schafer liked and commented "!!!!!" on anInstagram post that criticized certain non-binary activists who "fought to have trans identities no longer [be] considered" by the medical world "as a medical condition that requires [gender] dysphoria", and "couldn't stand to let binary trans people be the voice of [the trans] community", linking such activism toU.S. legislation targeting transgender rights. This prompted backlash from some fans, who accused Schafer of endorsingtransmedicalism; she denied this, saying she merely felt there was "an [imbalance] in the visibility and space taken up between non-binary folks and binary trans women (particularly those of color and/or those who have [resorted] tosex work as a means of survival) that [I] think deserves attention/re-evaluation (as far as resources and platforms go) within theLGBTQ+ community".[84][85][86]
Through an eight-minuteTikTok video published in February 2025, Schafer criticized theTrump administration and theU.S. Department of State forchanging her passport gender marker from female to male without her consent or knowledge.[89][90] She stated the following day that she spoke out because "it's important to just keep track of where things are in our country" and that she felt that "it was a good, necessary point" to share.[91]Marcy Rheintgen, believed to be the first person arrested under the Florida'santi-transbathroom law, describes Schafer as a personal hero who inspired her to challenge the law after Schafer was issued a male passport.[92]
Filmography
Key
†
Denotes film or TV productions that have not yet been released
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