‘Coming out as trans was one of the biggest challenges I’ve faced in my life’, says Emma Dumont, from ‘Oppenheimer’

Playing Jackie Oppenheimer, Cillian Murphy’s sister-in-law in the Oscar-winning film 2024, which tells the story of the “father” of the atomic bomb, Emma Dumont, 30, spoke for the first time after coming out as a non-binary transmasculine person. “Coming out as trans was one of the biggest challenges I faced in my life. It was also the most rewarding, by far”, says the actor, who will continue to use his stage name, but, in his personal life, plans to change Emma for Nick.

The artist also confirmed, in an interview with the website Octwhich wants to be addressed by “they/them”, neutral pronouns in English, which in Portuguese can be translated as “elu/delu”. She further explained that she has come to understand her gender over the years. “I lived in an authoritarian home for many decades where it wasn’t safe to be myself. I knew that at 13/14 I wasn’t ‘like other girls,’ I knew I liked girls and I knew I didn’t feel good in my body,” he said.

He recognized that his work helped him in this process of self-discovery. This is because, around 10 years ago, he played a transgender character and needed to do research for the composition. “I found a safe community, I discovered I was non-binary. Now that I’ve come out, I have a life I could only have dreamed of as a child and I still get to play women at work,” he celebrated. “I’m trans. I love being trans. We’re here. We’ve always been here.”

Transmasculine are people identified as belonging to the female gender at birth, but who recognize themselves as belonging to the male gender spectrum. “I didn’t think I would come out to everyone so soon, but I promised myself that if anyone asked, I would share. Someone asked me and I shared, because I’m proud,” Emma said.