“I’m trans. I love being trans. We’re here. We’ve always been here”
BY BELLA FRANCIS, IMAGE BY NICK DUMONT VIA INSTAGRAM
Nick Dumont has spoken to Out Magazine for the first time since coming out as trans masculine non-binary earlier this month.
Nick Dumont, most renowned for their role as Jackie Oppenheimer in the Oscar-winning biographical drama Oppenheimer, came out publicly on 6 December by updating their Instagram bio with they/them pronouns.
Speaking out for the first time, Dumont detailed the struggle they faced coming to terms with their own identity. “Coming out to myself as trans has been one of the longest challenges I’ve faced in life. It has also been the most rewarding by a mile,” they said. “I lived in an authoritarian household for many decades where it wasn’t safe to be myself at home. I knew at 13/14 I wasn’t ‘like other girls’, I knew I liked girls, and I knew I didn’t feel right in my body.”
They shared how it was in the acting industry that they truly began to find themself. “Around 19, I was cast as an AFAB trans teenager in a TV pilot. I looked at myself in my trailer in basketball shorts, bandage wrapped around my chest and I thought, ‘Damn I look good!'” they continued. “A decade later, I found a safe community, and figured out I was non-binary.”
The Seattle-born star began acting at age 12 with a role in True Adolescents (2009). Since then, they have also appeared as Melanie Segal in the ABC Family series Bunheads, Emma Karn in the NBC series Aquarius and Lorna Dane/Polaris in the FOX series The Gifted.
Last week, a representative for Dumont told TMZ that “they identify as a trans masculine non-binary person. Their work name is still going to be Emma Dumont, but they will go by Nick with friends and family.”
“I’m trans. I love being trans. We’re here. We’ve always been here,” Nick continued in the interview with Out. “I’m grateful to be living in this time and place where I have safe spaces and support. Where I can go to the L.A. LGBT Center and get medical care without fear. That hasn’t been the experience many have had. I truly owe a great deal of gratitude to the courageous queer people who have come before me.”
“I didn’t think I’d be out to everyone so soon, but I made a promise to myself that if someone asked, I would share. Someone did ask and I shared…because I’m proud.”
Over the past week, the star’s comments have been flooded with support. One user wrote: “I love seeing my favourite actors be their authentic selves” and another said “stay magnetic as you are Nick, you’re very cool.”
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