Yasmin Finney “screamed” when she saw the Heartstopper casting call: “I literally flipped”
Yasmin Finney has revealed how Heartstopper has changed her life and why the response to it has “been unbelievable.” The actress plays Elle in the Netflix series, Charlie (Joe Locke) and Tao’s (William Gao) friend who transferred to Harvey Greene Grammar School for Girls after coming out as transgender. “It has been indescribable,” she told Teen Vogue of what the reaction to the show has been like. “The response has been so overwhelmingly positive, and I don’t think half of us expected this response, to be honest.
And I’m just so happy that, you know, a trans representation is there and people are seeing it and people are feeling inspired by that.
Yeah, it’s been unbelievable.” Yasmin added that she “learned so much by being Elle” and that she is “very, very similar” to the character. “Even when it comes to our social life, when it comes to our school life, when it comes to our experience in high school,” she continued. “You know, it says in the series that she nearly got expelled because of her hair length, and I also nearly got expelled because of my hair length.” The actress revealed that she was “shocked” by the fact that “it doesn’t even mention that she’s trans in the series”, explaining that this gave her “so much hope in the industry, because it goes to show that we don’t really have to focus on the sad stuff and the bad stuff of being a trans person.” Netflix’s casting call for Heartstopper asked for a trans girl of colour, which Yasmin said she was left “speechless” by.
She added: “I screamed! I literally screamed because I was like, there is no way that this is a casting call in British TV and film for a Black trans girl of colour, like there’s absolutely no way that this is happening. “And at the time, I was
