In the week that Baby Reindeer triumphed at the Golden Globes, Nava Mau, a key star of the Netflix drama [pictured], talked to Cosmopolitan about how much the show's script meant to her. The 32-year-old actress, who portrays Teri—a character whose relationship with Donny, played by the show's creator Richard Gadd, unravels due to harrowing circumstances—expressed deep emotional resonance with the narrative from the first time she read it.
“I just remember there was a moment reading the script for the first time, and I was like, ‘oh, he really loved her’,” she says. She emphasised the portrayal of love in the series, noting that Donny’s affection for Teri inspires a sense of wonder, a representation she had not encountered before. “It was this weird, transcendental experience of it being what I needed to see, and what it did to heal my own wounds,” she elaborated.
While discussing wider themes of trans identity, Mau critiqued societal tendencies to focus excessively on trans individuals' relationships and how cisgender people perceive them. She reflected on how this fixation creates expectations for trans individuals to clarify their existence and experiences, stating, “I’m not a curiosity to myself. We’re just living full lives, real lives, just like everyone else.”
Mau further advocated for a shift in narrative structures, asserting that trans actors should have the opportunity to perform in roles that do not centre around a trans narrative. “Trans people should be considered and invited to be a part of projects that do not revolve around a trans narrative,” she articulated. “It’s a matter of seeing trans people as human, and valuing us for our humanity, and not as a token simply because we are trans.”
The Mexico City-born actress has gained recognition for her work, receiving an Emmy nomination for her role in Baby Reindeer, further consolidating her acclaim following an earlier win for her performance in the comedy series Generation (2021). Mau has also featured in the film Waking Hour (2019).
The full interview will be available in the February/March issue of Cosmopolitan, on sale from January 14.
Source: Noah Wire Services