Hari Nef (born October 21, 1992) is an American actress, model, and writer. Nef's breakthrough role was Gittel in the

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek mythology * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon (company), an American multinational technology c ...

original series ''

Transparent Transparency, transparence or transparent most often refer to: * Transparency (optics), the physical property of allowing the transmission of light through a material They may also refer to: Literal uses * Transparency (photography), a still, ...

'', for which she was nominated for a

SAG SAG, SAg, or sag may refer to: Land formations * Sag (geology), or ''trough'', a depressed, persistent, low area * Sag pond, a body of water collected in the lowest parts of a depression People * Ivan Sag (1949–2013), American linguist ...

award in 2016. She made her runway debut at

New York Fashion Week New York Fashion Week (NYFW), held in February and September of each year, is a semi-annual series of events in Manhattan typically spanning 7–9 days when international fashion collections are shown to buyers, the press, and the general publ ...

Spring 2015, walking for both

Hood By Air Hood By Air is a high fashion brand based in New York City first launched in 2006 and active to the present day, with the exception of a hiatus between early 2017 – 2019. The brand was co-founded by designers, Shayne Oliver and Raul Lopez (desig ...

and

Eckhaus Latta Eckhaus Latta is an American fashion brand. The brand is known for their use of unexpected materials, exploring texture and tactility in their designs, and for incorporating writing, performance, and video into their practice. In 2018, Eckhaus ...

, and subsequently became the first openly transgender woman signed to

IMG Models IMG Models is an international modeling agency headquartered in New York City and with additional offices in London, Los Angeles, Milan, Paris, and Sydney. It is a subsidiary of the talent management company International Management Group. The comp ...

. She became the first openly transgender woman to appear on the cover of a major British magazine. Nef has written on a breadth of topics from fine art and film to sex, gender, and transgender identity. She lives and works in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

Early life and education

Hari Nef was born in Philadelphia into a

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

family. Her parents are David Neff, an advertising executive, and Robin Clebnik. Her parents divorced when she was two and she was raised by her mother in

Newton, Massachusetts Newton is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is approximately west of downtown Boston. Newton resembles a patchwork of thirteen villages, without a city center. According to the 2020 U.S. Census, the population of Ne ...

. Nef graduated from

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

in May 2015 with a degree in theater.

Career

Acting

Nef starred as Tante Gittel in the 2015 Emmy-winning television series ''Transparent.'' Gittel's character is a Pfefferman family ancestor that lived her life as a cross-dresser in

Berlin, Germany Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constituent ...

during the

Weimar Republic The Weimar Republic (german: link=no, Weimarer Republik ), officially named the German Reich, was the government of Germany from 1918 to 1933, during which it was a constitutional federal republic for the first time in history; hence it is al ...

and eventually was murdered during the

Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; a ...

. Creator

Joey Soloway Joey Soloway (previously Jill Soloway; born September 26, 1965) is an American television creator, showrunner, director and writer. Soloway is known for creating, writing, executive producing and directing the Amazon original series ''Transparent' ...

wrote the part for Nef after the two connected on social media and attended a

PFLAG PFLAG is the United States' first and largest organization uniting parents, families, and allies with people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ+). PFLAG National is the national organization, which provides support to ...

party together. She received a 2016 SAG Award nomination for the role. In 2018, Nef starred as a major lead in Sam Levinson's comedy thriller ''

Assassination Nation ''Assassination Nation'' is a 2018 American satirical black comedy thriller film written and directed by Sam Levinson. It stars an ensemble cast led by Odessa Young, Suki Waterhouse, Hari Nef, and Abra. The film takes place in the fictional town ...

''. The film stars Nef alongside

Odessa Young Odessa Young (born 11 January 1998) is an Australian actress. She is known for her roles in the 2015 feature films ''Looking for Grace'' and '' The Daughter'', the latter of which earned her an AACTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role. Sh ...

Suki Waterhouse Alice Suki Waterhouse (born 5 January 1992) is an English model, actress and singer. She began a career in modelling at the age of 16, and she would go on to model for several major fashion labels. Her first feature film as an actress was a min ...

, and Abra. In the same year, she had a recurring role as Blythe on the Lifetime psychological thriller television series ''

You In Modern English, ''you'' is the second-person pronoun. It is grammatically plural, and was historically used only for the dative case, but in most modern dialects is used for all cases and numbers. History ''You'' comes from the Proto- ...

''. In 2018, Nef made her New York theater debut as a lead in

Jeremy O. Harris Jeremy O. Harris (born ) is an American playwright, actor, and philanthropist, known for his plays ''"Daddy"'' and '' Slave Play''. The latter received 12 nominations at the 74th Tony Awards, breaking the record previously set by the 2018 reviva ...

' ''Daddy''. In 2022, Nef starred in the comedy film '' 1Up'', alongside

Ruby Rose Ruby Rose Langenheim (born 20 March 1986) is an Australian model, actress, disc jockey and television presenter. Rose was a presenter on MTV Australia (2007–2011), followed by several high-profile modelling gigs, including Maybelline New York ...

Paris Berelc Paris Berelc (born December 29, 1998) is an American actress and model. She is known for her roles as Skylar Storm in the Disney XD series '' Mighty Med'' and '' Lab Rats: Elite Force'', and Alexa Mendoza in the Netflix sitcom ''Alexa & Katie. ...

, Taylor Zakhar Perez, and Nicholas Coombe. In August, it was announced that Nef would portray

Candy Darling Candy Darling (November 24, 1944 – March 21, 1974) was an American actress, best known as a Warhol superstar and transgender A transgender (often abbreviated as trans) person is someone whose gender identity or gender expression does not ...

in a biopic from

writer Stephanie Kornick. Later that year, Nef returned to the stage and starred in Denis Johnson’s play, ''Des Moines'', at the Polonsky Shakespeare Center in Brooklyn. Nef is set to star in the upcoming

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...

drama series '' The Idol'' as well as

Greta Gerwig Greta Celeste Gerwig (; born August 4, 1983) is an American actress, screenwriter, and director. She first garnered attention after working on and appearing in several mumblecore films. Between 2006 and 2009, she appeared in a number of films b ...

's upcoming film,

Barbie Barbie is a fashion doll manufactured by American toy company Mattel, Inc. and launched on March 9, 1959. American businesswoman Ruth Handler is credited with the creation of the doll using a German doll called Bild Lilli as her inspiration. ...

. She is set to perform in Thomas Bradshaw's debut of his adaptation of Chekhov's classic play,

The Seagull ''The Seagull'' ( rus, Ча́йка, r=Cháyka, links=no) is a play by Russian dramatist Anton Chekhov, written in 1895 and first produced in 1896. ''The Seagull'' is generally considered to be the first of his four major plays. It dramatises t ...

, alongside

Parker Posey Parker Christian Posey (born November 8, 1968) is an American actress and musician. Posey is the recipient of a Golden Globe Award nomination, a Satellite Award nomination and two Independent Spirit Award nominations. Posey made her film debu ...

Patrick Foley Patrick Foley (8 March 1858 – 24 July 1926) was a Roman Catholic professor, priest and Bishop of Kildare and Leighlin. Biography Foley was born in 1858 at Mensal Lodge, Old Leighlin, County Carlow, the fourth son of Patrick Foley and Mary D ...

, and

Nat Wolff Nathaniel Marvin Wolff (born December 17, 1994) is an American actor and musician. He gained recognition for composing the music for ''The Naked Brothers Band (TV series), The Naked Brothers Band'' (2007–2009), a Nickelodeon television serie ...

Writing

Nef has written profiles on various artists and cultural figures including director

John Waters John Samuel Waters Jr. (born April 22, 1946) is an American filmmaker, writer, actor, and artist. He rose to fame in the early 1970s for his Cinema of Transgression, transgressive cult films, including ''Multiple Maniacs'' (1970), ''Pink Flamin ...

, singer/actress Cristina Ortiz Rodriguez, Javier Calvo and

Javier Ambrossi Francisco Javier García de la Camacha Gutiérrez-Ambrossi (born 24 June 1984), better known as Javier Ambrossi, is a Spanish people, Spanish actor, Theatre director, stage, film director, film and television director and writer. He is best know ...

's Spanish biographical series '' Veneno'', and painter

Nash Glynn Nash Glynn (born 1992) is an American artist working in painting, photography, and video. She is known for her nude self-portraits and minimalist landscapes and still lives. She frequently depicts herself in her paintings using a simple palette ...

. Nef wrote a regular sex advice and experience column for

Sarah Nicole Prickett Sarah Nicole Prickett is a writer, art critic and Editing, editor. She was the founder and editor of Adult (magazine), ''Adult'', an arts and criticism magazine that launched in 2013. Early life Prickett was born in London, Ontario. She lived ...

's ''Adult'' magazine. Her writing has appeared in ''

Artforum ''Artforum'' is an international monthly magazine specializing in contemporary art. The magazine is distinguished from other magazines by its unique 10½ x 10½ inch square format, with each cover often devoted to the work of an artist. Notabl ...

'', ''

Dazed ''Dazed'' (''Dazed & Confused'' until February 2014) is a bi-monthly British style magazine founded in 1991. It covers music, fashion, film, art, and literature. Dazed is published by Dazed Media, an independent media group known for producing ...

'', ''

Vice A vice is a practice, behaviour, or habit generally considered immoral, sinful, criminal, rude, taboo, depraved, degrading, deviant or perverted in the associated society. In more minor usage, vice can refer to a fault, a negative character tra ...

'', '' Original Plumbing'', ''

L'Officiel ''L'Officiel'' () is a French fashion magazine with a USA edition. It has been published in Paris since 1921 and targets upper-income, educated women aged from 25 to 49. In 2006, it had a circulation of 101,719. A men's edition of ''L'Officiel'', ' ...

'', and ''

BlackBook ''BlackBook'' is an arts and culture magazine A magazine is a periodical publication, generally published on a regular schedule (often weekly or monthly), containing a variety of content. They are generally financed by advertising, purchase ...

''.

Modeling

In 2014, Nef was on the cover of ''Frische Magazine''. That same year, she was placed at number 68 on ''Dazed''s 100 list. Nef also moved to the top of the Dazed Readers 100, ranking number one overall, and appeared in the ''i-D'' Pre-Fall Issue twice. In 2015, she again walked shows during New York Fashion Week, including Adam Selman, VFiles, Vejas, Degen, and Eckhaus Latta once more. In May of the same year, Nef was signed to IMG Models, making her the first openly transgender model signed to that agency. In the summer of 2015, Nef was cast in the second season of

Amazon Prime Amazon Prime is a paid subscription service from Amazon which is available in various countries and gives users access to additional services otherwise unavailable or available at a premium to other Amazon customers. Services include same, one- ...

's ''

'', which debuted in December 2015. She also starred in

The Drums The Drums are an American indie pop band from New York City. Formation Founding members Jonathan (Jonny) Pierce and Jacob Graham became friends as children, having met at Bible camp at age 11 or 12. Some years later, they formed a short-lived ...

' music video "There Is Nothing Left" in August. ''

The Forward ''The Forward'' ( yi, פֿאָרווערטס, Forverts), formerly known as ''The Jewish Daily Forward'', is an American news media organization for a Jewish American audience. Founded in 1897 as a Yiddish-language daily socialist newspaper, ' ...

'' newspaper included her in the

Forward 50 ''The Forward'' ( yi, פֿאָרווערטס, Forverts), formerly known as ''The Jewish Daily Forward'', is an American news media organization for a Jewish American audience. Founded in 1897 as a Yiddish-language daily socialist newspaper, '' ...

, a list of the year's 50 most influential Jewish-Americans. ''

Elle ''Elle'' (stylized ''ELLE'') is a worldwide women's magazine of French origin that offers a mix of fashion and beauty content, together with culture, society and lifestyle. The title means "she" or "her" in French. ''Elle'' is considered the w ...

'' printed special collectors' covers for their September 2016 issue, and one of them featured Nef, which was the first time an openly transgender woman had been on the cover of a major commercial British magazine. In January 2017, Nef starred in a television commercial for the

L'Oréal L'Oréal S.A. () is a French personal care company headquartered in Clichy, Hauts-de-Seine with a registered office in Paris. It is the world's largest cosmetics company and has developed activities in the field concentrating on hair color, sk ...

Paris True Match line alongside

Blake Lively Blake Ellender Lively ( Brown; born August 25, 1987) is an American actress. Born in Los Angeles, Lively is the daughter of actor Ernie Lively, and made her professional debut in his directorial project ''Sandman'' (1998). She starred as Brid ...

Lara Stone Lara Catherina Stone (born 20 December 1983) is a Dutch fashion model. Stone has appeared on the covers of W and Vogue and has worked with brands like Fendi, Chanel, Marc Jacobs, Stella McCartney, H&M, Prada, Louis Vuitton, and Versace amon ...

, and

Xiao Wen Ju Xiao Wen Ju (simplified Chinese: 雎晓雯; traditional Chinese: 雎曉雯; pinyin: Jū Xiǎowén; born 19 May 1989) is a Chinese model. She was the first model of Chinese descent to be the face of Marc Jacobs. Early life Xiao Wen Ju was bo ...

. The campaign was premiered at the 2017 Golden Globe Awards telecast. Nef walked nine runways at Spring/Summer 2023’s Fashion Month in New York.

Filmography

Film

Television

Theater

References

External links

Hari Nef
at

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Nef, Hari 1992 births Actors from Newton, Massachusetts Actresses from Philadelphia IMG Models models Jewish American actresses Jewish American writers Jewish female models Jewish women writers LGBT Jews LGBT people from California LGBT people from Massachusetts LGBT people from Pennsylvania Living people Transgender actresses Transgender female models Transgender writers Transgender Jews Writers from Newton, Massachusetts Writers from Philadelphia Columbia College (New York) alumni 21st-century American Jews American LGBT actors 21st-century American women