Hunter Schafer

 ( 1998 Births ) 

In 2019, Schafer was cast in Euphoria as a transgender high school girl, Jules Vaughn, marking her acting debut. She joined the show after finding a casting call for transgender girls on Instagram, which required no previous acting experience. A few days later, her modeling agency told her she received the audition. She did her final audition in Los Angeles, filmed the show's pilot there a month later, and moved to Los Angeles to film the first season. 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. She worked with show's creator, Sam Levinson, to make sure Jules's trans experiences were accurate. Jules was praised by Vulture 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. Schafer also worked with the show's costume designer, Heidi Bivens, to make Jules' wardrobe.

Schafer's performance was widely praised. Paper magazine wrote that Euphoria being her acting debut "will be hard for viewers to tell from the get-go." For the role, she received a Shorty Awards, an MTV Movie & TV Award, and a Dorian Awards. The Advocate wrote that she was one of many transgender actors not nominated at the 2020 Primetime Emmy Awards who should have been. In 2020, Queerty named her among the 50 queer people "leading the nation toward equality, acceptance, and dignity for all people". In 2021, Schafer co-wrote an episode of Euphoria 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.

In 2021, Time named her to its Next list of "100 emerging leaders who are shaping the future", with a tribute written by Euphoria co-star Zendaya. Also in 2021, Prada announced Schafer as their new house ambassador, and in 2022, she became the global brand ambassador for Shiseido Makeup. In 2022, Schafer starred in the English dub of the Japanese animated film Belle. She made her directorial debut when making the music video for Girl in Red's song hornylovesickmess; Schafer also shared some of the storyboard sketches alongside their respective final shots from the video. She directed the video for Anohni and the Johnsons' song "Why Am I Alive Now?" the following year. She became the new face of Mugler's Angel perfume in 2023.

Schafer starred in the 2023 The Hunger Games prequel, , for which her performance as Tigris Snow was praised as "excellent" and "underused". In 2024, she was in Tilman Singer's horror movie Cuckoo, 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, and her portrayal was said to be "an intense and emotional central performance". Also in 2024, she was in one scene of Yorgos Lanthimos' anthology film Kinds of Kindness. Schafer has continued modeling throughout her acting career, appearing for Alexander McQueen, Prada and Schiaparelli, among other houses. She has upcoming roles in David Lowery's film Mother Mary, Hideo Kojima and Jordan Peele's horror video game OD, and the Amazon science fiction television series Blade Runner 2099.

In 2019, Schafer said she used she/her pronouns, but also used the title of "Mx. Schafer". In 2016, she stated, "I do like people to know that I'm not a Cisgender because that's not something that I am or feel like I am." 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. In an interview with Rolling Stone, when asked about being considered a transgender activist, Schafer said: "No. I'm just a tranny who's famous, you know?"

In August 2022, Schafer liked and commented "!!!!!" on an Instagram post that criticized non-binary people who "fought to have trans identities no longer considered a medical condition that requires dysphoria" and who "couldn't stand to let binary trans people be the voice of the community," linking their activism to growing negative social attitudes and legislation targeting the trans community. This prompted backlash from some queer fans, with many accusing Schafer of endorsing transmedicalism. Commenting on a later Instagram post, Schafer denied being a transmedicalist or holding hatred towards non-binary people, saying that she merely felt there was "an in-balance in the visibility and space-taken up between non-binary folks and binary trans women (particularly those of color and/or those who have resulted to sex work as a means of survival) that i think deserves attention/ re-evaluation (as far as resources and platforms go) within the LGBTQ+ community".

On February 27, 2024, Schafer was arrested in New York City while at a Jewish Voice for Peace protest advocating for a ceasefire in the Gaza war. The protest was outside 30 Rockefeller Center, intended to disrupt U.S. president Joe Biden's interview for Late Night with Seth Meyers, which was being taped inside.

Through an eight-minute TikTok video published in February 2025, Schafer criticized the Trump administration and the U.S. Department of State for changing her passport gender marker from female to male without her consent or knowledge. 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. Marcy Rheintgen, believed to be the first person arrested under the Florida's anti-trans bathroom law, describes Schafer as a personal hero who inspired her to challenge the law after Schafer was issued a male passport.