--- title: Laurie Hernandez Agrees She's Pretty Much a Human Emoji description: Watch the Olympic gymnast and 'Dancing with the Stars' contestant explain why the internet has dubbed her the "human emoji." canonical: https://time.com/4487990/laurie-hernandez-emoji-interview/ author: Raisa Bruner article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-09-12T20:50:46.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:36:26.560Z og:title: Even Laurie Hernandez Agrees She's Pretty Much a Human Emoji og:description: The spirited gymnast admits that she has the opposite of a poker face. og:url: https://time.com/4487990/laurie-hernandez-emoji-interview/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Even Laurie Hernandez Agrees She's Pretty Much a Human Emoji twitter:description: The spirited gymnast admits that she has the opposite of a poker face. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Even Laurie Hernandez Thinks She's Pretty Much a 'Human Emoji' > Sponsored content. 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There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=8a09c3f8-513f-4bf8-82be-b678e33ffc4b&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1)  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Sep 12, 2016 8:50 PM UTC  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Sep 12, 2016 8:50 PM UTC Laurie Hernandez — Olympic medal-winning gymnast, [Cool Teen™](http://time.com/4450378/rio-2016-olympics-laurie-hernandez-frank-ocean/?iid=sr-link3), and [new _Dancing with the Stars_ contestant](http://time.com/4476393/laurie-hernandez-dancing-with-the-stars-video/?iid=sr-link2) — has a famously expressive face and [mega-watt grin](http://www.teenvogue.com/story/olympic-gymnast-laurie-hernandez-face-of-crest). Her Olympics appearances even launched a [few popular memes](http://time.com/4456849/rio-2016-best-olympics-memes/?iid=sr-link3) of their own; it’s not every day that an Olympian playfully winks at the judges before launching into a floor routine. But the [savvy rising star](http://time.com/4470578/mtv-vmas-2016-simone-biles-beyonce/?iid=sr-link9) knows all about those comparisons people have made between her expressions and their emoji counterparts — and she agrees that her expressions are telling. “People call me the human emoji because I think people recognize that if I’m ever thinking something or feeling a certain emotion, it goes straight to my face,” she admits in a clip introducing her for the _Dancing with the Stars_ premiere on Monday night. “So if I’m happy you’ll know I’m happy, and if I’m mad you’ll know I’m mad, just by looking at me.” In other words, poker probably wouldn’t be her game — but for theatrical ballroom dancing, she should be in her element. She also commented on her longstanding desire to be on the show. “I got a gold medal, I got a silver medal — I mean come on, they had to let me in!” she said of _Dancing’s_ decision to add her to their [star-studded lineup](http://time.com/4472287/dancing-with-the-stars-cast-ryan-lochte/?iid=sr-link1). She’ll face off against fellow Olympian Ryan Lochte and other celebrities like Amber Rose and former Governor Rick Perry when the season begins. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4487990/laurie-hernandez-emoji-interview/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4487990/laurie-hernandez-emoji-interview/"},"headline":"Even Laurie Hernandez Thinks She's Pretty Much a 'Human Emoji'","datePublished":"2016-09-12T20:50:46.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:36:26.560Z","description":"\"It goes straight to my face.\"","url":"https://time.com/4487990/laurie-hernandez-emoji-interview/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Entertainment","Television","celebrities"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Raisa Bruner","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4487990/laurie-hernandez-emoji-interview/","name":"Even Laurie Hernandez Thinks She's Pretty Much a 'Human Emoji'"}}]}] ```