The Last Of Us star Bella Ramsey was given a life-changing medical diagnosis after a crew member spotted key signs they were showing. Bella, who grew up on screen, had been cast for one of the world’s biggest TV shows Game of Thrones, and their career has rocketed ever since.
But one huge life change came while on set, where the actor was diagnosed as neurodivergent by one of the crew members who already assumed Bella was autistic. Bella had “always wondered” if they had been autistic, but wasn’t until the crew member with an autistic child assumed bella was also autistic that it sparked a formal assessment.
In a chat with British Vogue, Bella said they weren’t sure whether to be open about the diagnosis and that they, “for some reason,” had never wanted to specify what they had been diagnosed with. They then said: “I got diagnosed with autism when I was filming season one of The Last Of Us.”
Bella described themself as a “weirdo” and a “loner” as a child, who always experienced hyperawareness of people’s expressions and sensory issues. The sensory issues meant Bella would struggle to wear thermals and waterproofs that have to be worn on the show’s cold shoots, which they described as “too much stuff on my body”.
However, Bella said in an interview in 2023 that they don’t know if they would be an actor if it wasn’t for being neurodivergent. They said: “One of my things is I’m very perceptive, sometimes too perceptive. I get paralyzed because I just see everything — it takes me four hours to get round Tesco’s,” they explained, noting a sensitivity for “micro-expressions and social cues.”
The actor believes that having autism is an “asset” to acting” and, according to Buzzfeed, said: “I’ve always been watching and learning from people. Having to learn more manually how to socialise and interact with the people around me has helped me with acting.” They added that they “enjoy” the routine on set and added: “I have a call time, and I’m told what to wear, how to stand, where to stand and what to eat.”
The 21-year-old said the diagnosis has been ‘freeing’ as it enables them to walk through the world with “more grace” towards themself and know they can’t do the easy everyday tasks that “everyone else” can do.
Bella explained: “The label of being autistic has been so helpful to me because that’s helped me to understand myself, but gender and sexuality-wise, labels do not feel comfy for me in any capacity because I feel like I’m putting myself into a box. I feel trapped.”
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