The Last of Us star Bella Ramsey has said awards shows should preserve separate prize categories for male and female entertainers.
The British star, who identifies as non-binary, said it was important to distinguish performers, as “a lot of women wouldn’t get nominated” if there was one category for all actors.
Speaking on the Louis Theroux Podcast, Ramsey said: “I think it’s so important that recognition for women in the industry is preserved.
“The gendered categories conversation is really interesting. I don’t have the answer, and I wish that there 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,” they added.
Ramsey was nominated for best actress at the Baftas in 2024 and Emmys in 2023 for their portrayal of Ellie in The Last of Us. The Emmys were criticised for nominating Ramsey in the actress category.
“I’ve always called myself an actor, but I don’t think that those words have to be taken away,” Ramsey said on the podcast.
“If people call me an actress, I have a ‘that’s not quite right’ instinct, but I don’t take it too seriously. It doesn’t feel like an attack on my identity. It’s just a funny thing that doesn’t really fit.”
The debate over gender-neutral entertainment awards has simmered for years. The Grammys, which celebrate achievements in the music industry, have been gender neutral since 2012, and the Brit awards scrapped male and female categories in 2022.
Acting gongs have almost entirely remained gendered, although the Academy Awards were reported to be exploring the possibility of gender-neutral acting categories last year.
Ramsey came out as non-binary in 2023. They told Theroux they had never thought about pronouns previously, but had to choose when the first series of The Last of Us was coming out.
“I was so stressed out about it because I didn’t know, and I didn’t really care,” they said. Ramsey told Theroux they had previously rejected the term “non-binary” because of not wanting to be seen as “trendy”.
“It was just something that had been very obvious since I was young. I’d always call myself a tomboy, but it wasn’t that I was like a boyish girl. I was always a bit of an in-between, leaning more to the boy’s side to be honest.
“I feel like I grew up more as a little boy than I did a little girl. I always felt more masculine, more on that side of the spectrum, I guess.”
