Hunter Schafer

Hunter Schafer (born December 31, 1998) is an American actress, model, and activist. Born in Trenton, New Jersey, and raised in Raleigh, North Carolina, she first came to public attention in 2016 as the youngest plaintiff in a lawsuit against North Carolina's Public Facilities Privacy & Security Act. For her activism against the law, which restricted public bathroom usage based on sex assigned at birth, she was named to Teen Vogue's "21 Under 21" list in 2017.

Schafer was raised in a family that moved between New Jersey, Arizona, and North Carolina alongside her three younger siblings. She began expressing femininity as a toddler and came out as a transgender girl in ninth grade. She attended Needham B. Broughton High School and later graduated from the visual arts program at the North Carolina School of the Arts. Developing early skills in visual arts and watercolor painting, she used her high school years to design clothing and contributed artwork, illustrations, and essays to the online magazine Rookie.

After graduating from high school, Schafer moved to Brooklyn to pursue modeling, signing with Elite Model Management in 2017. She made her debut at New York Fashion Week and modeled for prominent brands including Dior, Marc Jacobs, Miu Miu, Gucci, Helmut Lang, and Versus Versace. Although she was accepted to study clothing design at Central Saint Martins in London, she ultimately decided to shift her focus to acting after securing a major television audition.

Schafer made her professional acting debut in 2019 starring as transgender high school student Jules Vaughn in the HBO teen drama series Euphoria. In addition to her main role on the show, she co-wrote a critically acclaimed special episode released in 2021 titled "Fuck Anyone Who's Not a Sea Blob." Her performance in the series received widespread recognition, earning her a Shorty Award, an MTV Movie & TV Award, and a Dorian Award.

Following her television work, Schafer expanded into feature films. She played Tigris Snow in the prequel film The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes (2023) and starred in her first lead film role in the horror movie Cuckoo (2024). Her screen credits also include roles in Kinds of Kindness (2024), the drama film Mother Mary (2026), and voice work for the English dub of the Japanese animated film Belle (2021). Alongside acting, she directed music videos and maintained a presence in fashion as a brand ambassador for Shiseido Makeup, Prada, and Mugler.

Throughout her career, Schafer has navigated public attention regarding her identity, balancing her desire to fulfill representation while seeking to focus primarily on her acting and artistic work. In 2025, she attracted additional media coverage after publishing a video criticizing the U.S. government for altering her passport gender marker without her knowledge or consent.