This month, actress and comedian Dylan Mulvaney is in the hot seat to answer our burning questions. In Next Question, Her Campus rapid-fire interviews emerging Gen Z talent about what it’s like to rule over the Internet.
On TikTok, where oversharing is as common as dance challenges, it can be hard to appreciate a creator’s vulnerability and openness about their lives. But if there’s one exception, it would be Dylan Mulvaney, a 25-year-old actor and comedian, who recently came out as trans, and has been documenting every day of her transition since in a series called “Days of Girlhood.”
For many members of Gen Z — and even older generations — “Days of Girlhood” might be one of the first first-person POV forms of media they encounter from a trans person about their transition. Mulvaney’s videos run the gamut: Sometimes she’s explaining how she covers up her five-o-clock shadow with makeup, sometimes she’s talking about freezing her sperm because infertility can be a side effect of the hormones she’s taking, and sometimes she documents her journey to the car dealership (with a stop to get a soft pretzel, of course). It’s complex, varied, and ever-evolving — as girlhood so often is.
“Days of Girlhood” offers a glimpse into the small victories and mundane parts of the trans experience that mainstream media often leaves out; Mulvaney is an optimist through and through, and her happiness is infectious. Trans youth who might be starting their own transitions have a roadmap and a guide in Mulvaney’s videos. And allies — who Mulvaney is aware make up a large part of her audience, and even thanked in her letter for followers — can become more familiar with what a trans person’s journey actually looks like, especially if they don’t know an out trans person in their own life.
For Mulvaney, who’s gained 3.3 million followers, the attention and growth has been gratifying, if a bit scary. “I went viral for two videos in the past, like, four years or so, and what happened is you have a viral video, and then it kind of just — everything goes away,” Mulvaney says. “But with this — I kept having, like, triggering experiences, because my videos started blowing up with ‘Days of Girlhood,’ and then the next day I expected it all to go away. But then I realized people are invested in my journey and my transition. So these are truly the people that are following me now, hopefully until Day 1000 or onwards.”
And now that she has an established platform, she’s beginning to imagine a creative future beyond “Days of Girlhood” — one where the focus is on her as a person and a storyteller, not necessarily only on her as a trans girl. Read on to learn Mulvaney’s love for her followers, her hopes for the trans community, and the two celebrities whose success she hopes to emulate throughout her career.
1. WHAT’S ONE THING THE INTERNET DOESN’T KNOW ABOUT YOU THAT YOU WISH THEY DID?
That I never intended to be an influencer or an activist. I think that it’s this feeling of imposter syndrome, because I’m mainly an actor and a comedian. I feel wildly grateful to this large platform, but there’s also something scary about having that many eyes on you. But I’m hoping to use it sort of as a way to show the world other sides of myself as well.
My content is so positive and so over the top, but I am really excited for them to see the other layers of myself as well, the good and the bad. I think there’s so many parts of me other than just my transness, and so much of my content is about being trans right now that eventually I hope we’ll get to a place where it’s just about me as a person and less about me and my transness.
2. HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE GEN Z IN THREE WORDS?
Magical, depth, and limitless.
I’m on the cusp of Gen Z and millennial, and so I feel really honored that Gen Z has accepted me as their own, because sometimes I feel too old for them. And I think that typically what happens with the older generations is, they look at a generation like Gen Z and they see these surface-level ideas and stereotypes of what the generation has to offer. But what I see in them is this limitless amount of empathy and care that did not exist in prior generations. We as millennials and any generation above have had to find empathy and emotion — it wasn’t given to us, it wasn’t the expectation. And now these kids are being raised in a way that it is celebrated and it is expected. So that is where I think the depth comes from.
3. WHICH ONLINE TREND ARE YOU TOTALLY OVER, AND WHICH IS HERE TO STAY?
One thing I’ve noticed — the Met Gala was this week, right? And we’re all about telling Gen Z and telling the world that we should dress how we want, and embrace whatever your outfit is or how you look or your differences. But then when it comes to something like an event with celebrities, we start to tear them to shreds. And what I’m now realizing as I become a public figure is that I’m still a person, and I think some people view me as a character, or this fictional person. But I have feelings, and these celebrities do too, and they read the comments. And I think we need to lead with a little bit more kindness when it comes to critique. I think there’s a difference between critique and criticism versus tearing someone down.
For a trend I want to see more of, specifically to the trans community online, I would love to start seeing more videos celebrating the little victories in our lives. And I would love to see just some of the positives of being a queer person online, because so much of it can get really heavy. A lot of activism, especially on social media, can get kind of dark pretty fast, and I think the best way to educate is through joy and through comedy and empathy. So I would love to see more queer joy, more trans joy, more trans people feeling like they have a space online to create and not be judged.
Everyone, when you go to make a TikTok video, has this layer of, “Will people judge me?” And when you’re trans, there’s a whole next level of feeling scared for your safety, for your mental health, for all of those things. So you kind of go into protection mode. And I just hope that we get somewhere in the future very soon, that TikTok becomes a very safe place for trans and queer creators.
4. WHAT ARE YOU MANIFESTING FOR THE NEXT STAGE OF YOUR CAREER?
My dream is to be the trans hybrid of Reese Witherspoon and Ellen Degeneres. I want to bring trans stories to TV and film, and I want to bring trans love stories and romance and that early 2000s energy that Reese Witherspoon had in Legally Blonde. And then I also want to connect with people as Dylan, not as a character like Elle Woods, in the way that Ellen does. In the way that she sort of set the way for the gay community to be successful, and she was so ahead of her time in a lot of ways. And now I would love to do that for the trans community. More than anything, I love connecting with others, getting to interview other people — I’m considering starting a podcast and writing a book. Whatever it is I end up doing, whether it’s the Reese Witherspoon or the Ellen, I just want trans stories to be told, whether fictional or nonfictional. I want them to be out there, and I want them to be joyous.
And I want my followers to know that all of these things that are happening for me now, all of the dreams that are happening, are because of them. The reality is, especially in Hollywood, these higher-ups, these gatekeepers, do not give you the time of day unless they have a reason to. And my followers have given them a reason to see something in me. When I do book that first movie, or when I do get that talk show, it will be because of my followers right now, and that is why I will be eternally grateful to them, and I love every single person that supports me. It’s magic.
5. WHAT ARE THE FIRST THREE SONGS ON YOUR SPOTIFY “ON REPEAT” PLAYLIST?
“Flightless Bird, American Mouth” — Iron & Wine (from the Twilight movie)
“Perfect Day” — Hoku (from Legally Blonde)
“Mystery of Love” — Sufjan Stevens (from Call Me By Your Name)
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.