‘The Last of Us’ actor Bella Ramsey discloses

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In a new interview with British Vogue for their April 2025 cover, Bella Ramsey opens up about their autism diagnosis, calling it a label that has “been so helpful” in better understanding themself.

Ramsey, who plays Ellie in The Last of Us says they were diagnosed with autism during filming for the hit HBO show after a crew member who has an autistic daughter assumed Ramsey was autistic, too. The 21-year-old then sought an assessment, saying it was something they'd “always wondered” about themself. The diagnosis, Ramsey told Vogue, was “freeing.”

“It enables me to walk through the world with more grace towards myself about not being able to do the easy everyday tasks that everyone else seems to be able to do,” they said. That freedom is part of why they spoke about their diagnosis in the interview. “My experience of moving through the world is as an autistic person. There’s no reason for people not to know.

Ramsey described signs of their autism, like feeling out of place among peers when they were younger, sensory issues, and “painful hyperawareness of other people’s micro-expressions and body language,” according to Vogue. But that awareness, Ramsey said, helps them be a better actor. Watching other people so closely and “having to learn more manually how to socialize and interact with the people” made it easier to emulate onscreen.

In a 2023 interview with GQ Ramsey opened up about being nonbinary, rejecting gendered labels as something they don't "particularly like.” Unlike gendered labels, though, their autism diagnosis has proven a useful label.

“The label of being autistic has been so helpful to me because that’s helped me to understand myself," they said. "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.”