Tommy Dorfman (born May 13, 1992) is an American actress, best known for playing Ryan Shaver in the

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fi ...

series ''

13 Reasons Why ''13 Reasons Why'' is an American teen drama television series developed for Netflix by Brian Yorkey and based on the 2007 novel ''Thirteen Reasons Why'' by author Jay Asher. The series revolves around high school student Clay Jensen (Dylan M ...

'' (2017).

Early life and education

Dorfman was born and raised in

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

to 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 cousin is

Andi Dorfman Andi Janette Dorfman (born April 3, 1987) Note: Cite gives both April 2 and 3. The latter agrees with other sources including is an American television personality. She was a contestant on the eighteenth season of '' The Bachelor'', and the lea ...

, a former contestant on ''

The Bachelorette A bachelorette is an unmarried woman. Bachelorette may also refer to: Film and television * ''The Bachelorette'', a reality television dating show part of ''The Bachelor'' franchise with numerous versions: ** ''The Bachelorette'' (American TV ser ...

''. Dorfman graduated from Fordham University's drama program in 2015 with a

B.A. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...

in theatre arts.

Career

After graduating from university, Dorfman was cast in the role of Ryan Shaver on the Netflix drama ''

'', which premiered in 2017. Also that year, she helped design a fashion collection with

ASOS ASOS or Asos may refer to: * Asos, a village in Greece * ASOS (retailer), a UK online fashion store * Association Sportive Oussou Saka, a Beninese football team * Automated Surface Observing System, a type of weather station * Air Support Operat ...

, and in October was honored with the Rising Star Award by GLAAD. In the spring of 2019, Dorfman made her New York theatrical debut in

The New Group The New Group, is a New York City Off-Broadway theatrical troupe founded by Artistic Director Scott Elliott, that produced its first play, Mike Leigh's '' Ecstasy'', in 1995. The New Group is run by founding Artistic Director, Scott Elliott, an ...

's production of

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 ...

' play ''Daddy'', directed by Danya Taymor.

Personal life

Dorfman is queer. Dorfman and Peter Zurkuhlen became engaged in April 2015 and married in

Portland, Maine Portland is the largest city in the U.S. state of Maine and the seat of Cumberland County. Portland's population was 68,408 in April 2020. The Greater Portland metropolitan area is home to over half a million people, the 104th-largest metropo ...

on November 12, 2016. In July 2021, Dorfman revealed she and Zurkuhlen had divorced but remain friends. In November 2017, Dorfman came out as

non-binary Non-binary and genderqueer are umbrella terms for gender identities that are not solely male or femaleidentities that are outside the gender binary. Non-binary identities fall under the transgender umbrella, since non-binary people typically ...

and began using ''

they In Modern English, ''they'' is a third-person pronoun relating to a grammatical subject. Morphology In Standard Modern English, ''they'' has five distinct word forms: * ''they'': the nominative (subjective) form * ''them'': the accusat ...

'' pronouns. On July 22, 2021, Dorfman came out as a

transgender woman A trans woman or a transgender woman is a woman who was assigned male at birth. Trans women have a female gender identity, may experience gender dysphoria, and may transition; this process commonly includes hormone replacement therapy and so ...

and began using ''

she She most commonly refers to: *She (pronoun), the third person singular, feminine, nominative case pronoun in modern English. She or S.H.E. may also refer to: Literature and films *'' She: A History of Adventure'', an 1887 novel by H. Rider Hagga ...

'' pronouns. She revealed in an interview that she had already been "privately identifying and living as a woman" for almost a year. She chose to retain her birth name of Tommy, to which she feels "very connected" and which honors her mother's brother who died when Dorfman was a month old. In April 2022, Dorfman identified as a lesbian.

Filmography

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dorfman, Tommy Living people 1992 births Jewish American actresses Actresses from Atlanta American television actresses Fordham University alumni American LGBT actors LGBT people from Georgia (U.S. state) Transgender actresses Transgender Jews LGBT Jews 21st-century American Jews 21st-century American LGBT people Female gender nonconformity 21st-century American women Alumni of The Paideia School