The trans actress who played Richard Gadd’s love interest in the hit Netflix series Baby Reindeer praised the show’s creator for his “generous” nature and says he shared a lot about his real-life experience.
Nava Mau, 31, of New Mexico, writer and showrunner Gadd, 39, was “very generous” in providing her with information about her real-life ex, whom she played.
However, she added that despite having a strong working relationship with the comedian, they used an intimacy coordinator on set due to the “unique” circumstances.
The six-part series, created by Richard Gadd, is based on his own experience of harassment and horrific sexual assault, and shows how his harassment ordeal unfolds as the character Martha (Jessica Gadd) becomes increasingly obsessed with the.
Teri is another main character, appearing in all seven episodes, and is Gadd’s trans girlfriend, which is based on his real-life experiences in a relationship with an unnamed trans woman.
The actress who plays Teri on Baby Reindeer, Nava Mau (pictured), revealed that an intimacy coordinator helped navigate the show’s “unique” circumstances, even though Richard Gadd was “very vocal.”
In a conversation with GQ, Nava commented on the “unique” situation of playing a love interest based on someone’s real life, highlighting the importance of an intimacy coordinator to manage boundary work, consent, safety and credibility, something she said was “useful.” ‘.
The actress, who also appeared on the HBO Max series Generation, added that intimacy coordinator Elle McAlpine helped foster a genuine on-screen relationship between her and Gadd.
Nava continued, “It’s a unique situation to play the love interest of a character based on someone’s real life, played by the real person who is also the showrunner and sole writer on the project.”
The actress turned to the intimacy coordinator in this rare case for advice on intimate scenes and how to convey the relationship as genuine.
Nava played Richard’s love interest on the show, which is based on his real-life anonymous trans ex-partner.
Pictured in the 2021 HBO series Generation, Nava made her breakthrough as an actress similarly to her new colleague Gadd, after writing and leading Waking Hour, a film based on her real-life experiences as a trans woman entering into a relationship. with a cisgender man.
Despite welcoming Elle’s presence on set, Nava explained that Gadd was “generous” with information about his past experiences.
‘Richard shared a lot with me. “Richard was very generous in sharing, you know, parts of his own experience and the real-life relationship that inspired this,” Nava said.
Donny’s partner in the Netflix drama Baby Reindeer is American therapist Teri, who he has a crush on instead of his stalker, Martha.
Gadd, who wrote and starred in the show, said The independentthat Donny’s relationship with Teri was based on his own experiences of a relationship with an unnamed trans woman.
“It’s in the public consciousness now, but it wasn’t back then when I was coming out,” he explained.
“It seemed so new to me that it added some pressure, which I really regret now. But that’s what he explores in the show. This story goes back to a time when things were very different.’
Reflected in the series, Gadd added that feelings of shame around his sexuality prevented him from telling him the truth about his name and occupation.
However, he has also said that his girlfriend became “the voice of reason in my life at that time”, although he never “listened to her as much as he should have”.
On the other hand, Nava praised Baby Reindeer for the “groundbreaking” inclusion of employing a trans actress on the show.
Born in Mexico City on May 14, 1992, Nava Mau grew up in San Antonio and is now an award-winning actress, director and cultural worker.
Her breakthrough had many similarities to that of her new colleague Gadd, as she wrote and starred in Waking Hour, a short film based on her real-life experiences as a trans woman who enters into a relationship with a cisgender man.
She played SofÃa, a young trans woman who meets a cis man named Isaac at a party.
Nava said, “It still feels groundbreaking to have a trans woman as one of the main characters in a series that feels written in a respectful, loving, and nuanced way, so I’m honored to have that opportunity.”
speaking to Outside, explained: ‘I had recently started dating straight cisgender men and, as a trans woman, I was unprepared. I had to learn a lot of hard lessons when I started dating straight cis men.
‘Waking Hour was inspired by personal experiences I’ve had, but I wanted it to end differently than many of my stories have ended.
“I wanted Sofia to be a character who realizes at the moment that she can choose because many times I have not realized that I have the power to choose. And I know that is the case for many people.”
Nava then appeared in the 2020 Netflix documentary, Disclosure, to help investigate how trans people are portrayed in Hollywood and how that had spread to American culture at large.
She returned to acting as a character named Ana in the 2021 HBO series Generation, a series about high school students who “explore sexuality and test deeply held beliefs about life, love, and the nature of family in their community.” conservative.”
Away from the screen, Nava spent eight years working around “anti-violence, healing justice and political education,” according to her website. This has involved public speaking, panel discussions and consulting.
Nava is also the editor of the upcoming anthology Paradise on the Margins: Worldmaking by Trans Women of Color.