Bella Ramsey felt “patronised” as a child star.
The 20-year-old star – who uses they/them pronouns – has revealed that they hated feeling “separate from the adult cast” because of restrictions placed on child stars.
Bella told The Independent: “Being a kid actor, I didn’t like the separation.
“The thing I hated the most was being patronised. I didn’t like the fact that I could only be on set for a certain amount of time, and had to go and do tutoring. I get why the hours protections for child actors are phenomenally important – but I hated feeling like I was lesser or separate from the adult cast.”
Bella has always “got along better” with adults.
The ‘Game of Thrones’ star also feels that they’ve “grown up” in recent years.
Bella said: “I wasn’t intimidated by going onto a set with a load of people twice, three times my age.
“As I’ve grown up, I’ve learnt that I have autonomy to stand up for myself and for other younger people that I work with now. I want to enable them to advocate for themselves in the way that people older than me taught me to advocate for myself!”
Bella ultimately feels that their “neurodivergence” has actually helped their career.
The ‘Last of Us’ star explained: “I wouldn’t be an actor if it wasn’t for my neurodivergence.
“It’s just a part of me and it’s incredibly helpful in terms of acting.
“One of my things is that I have insane levels of visual perception compared to all the other things. I’ve been watching people and absorbing everything since I was really young … all these characters that I play, there’s an element of them that’s already inside me because I’ve seen someone be that before.”
