The Last Of Us star Bella Ramsey says gendered award categories are ‘important’

The Last Of Us star Bella Ramsey has said it is “important” to have gendered award categories in order to recognise women in the film and TV industry.

The 21-year-old shot to fame playing Lyanna Mormont in hit HBO series Game Of Thrones, and now stars as Ellie alongside Pedro Pascal in the TV adaptation of popular video game The Last Of Us.

Ramsey, who identifies as non-binary, said they did not take offence to being nominated for an Emmy award in the female category adding they “don’t really care” about their pronouns and that it is important to have male and female award categories to preserve recognition for women in the industry.

Speaking on The Louis Theroux Podcast, Ramsey said: “I think it’s so important that that’s preserved as well, recognition for women in the industry is preserved.

“I think the gendered categories conversation is a really interesting one and I don’t have the answer, and I wish that there was something that was an easy way around it, but I think that it is really important that we have a female category and a male category.

“But then where do non-binary or gender non-conforming people fit into that? I don’t know. I’ve thought about, I’ve literally sat and tried to think my way to the answer and haven’t got there.”

The actor also said they used to reject the term “non-binary” to avoid being seen as “trendy”.

Ramsey added: “My thing at the moment is call me how you see me. I’m so aware that I get into a taxi and the taxi guy’s gonna call me ‘she’. It’s just a natural thing that happens in your brain… which I completely get.

“I’ve never been strict about ‘they/them’ because I think I just don’t really care. Also, I’m very comfortable in who I am. I know how important it is for other people, but for me it’s not as important right now.

“There’s been a lot of times I’m like, what even is the neurology of, or the psychology of, being non-binary? I rejected that word for so long, by the way, because I didn’t want it to be trendy. It’s been very obvious since I was young.

“I always called myself a tomboy, but it wasn’t that I was a boyish girl, I was always like a bit of an in-between. Leaning most to the boys’ side. To be honest, I grew up more as a little boy than I did a little girl. I always felt more masculine or more on that side of the spectrum.

“I guess at the moment I don’t feel like I have access to femininity. I think when I’m trying to avoid being perceived as a woman in my everyday life, the idea of me exploring femininity in any way feels like, that doesn’t serve my purpose. You know what I mean? I feel a bit like sad about that sometimes, but I think it’s also a journey.”

The second series of The Last Of Us was released in April and stars Ramsey and Pascal in a post-apocalyptic world.

Ramsey won the best young performer Bafta award in 2019 for their role in The Worst Witch, a CBBC drama about a school for witches, and received an Emmy nomination in 2023 for their role in The Last Of Us, but lost out to Succession’s Sarah Snook.

The Louis Theroux Podcast is available on Spotify and all podcast platforms.