Baby Reindeer’s Nava Mau Is Just Getting Started

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When Baby Reindeer arrived on Netflix on April 11, there was nothing to indicate it would soon become one of the streamer’s top 10 most popular English-language series of all time. But according to Nava Mau, one of the breakout stars of the seven-part miniseries, the show’s viral success was simply an “amplification” of how she already felt about the significance of its story.

“It was beautiful to feel this overwhelming connection,” says Mau, 32. “I felt very lucky, because there was a lot of attention, and that can feel like pressure, but the attention was largely oriented around this story and these characters that I care so much about and that affected me in the same way they affected so many people who watched the show.”

Based on the real-life experience of Scottish comedian Richard Gadd, who stars in the series as a fictionalized version of himself named Donny, Baby Reindeer chronicles how Donny’s yearslong struggle with being harassed and stalked by a middle-aged woman forces him to confront a buried trauma. Mau plays Teri, a woman Donny dates who, like herself, is transgender. 

Before shooting Baby Reindeer in London in late 2022, Mau, who was born in Mexico City and grew up in San Antonio, had starred in the HBO Max dramedy Generation as well as several smaller projects—a number of which were self-produced. But when she read Gadd’s script for the first time, she realized Teri would be a uniquely important role. “I knew this character was going to be among the first of her kind when it comes to representation of a trans woman, and especially a trans Latina woman, on screen,” she says. “So I felt encouraged by the idea that it wasn’t about me, it was about us. I hoped that if I opened myself up to that, others would be able to see themselves in Teri. Particularly trans women and trans Latina women, but really anyone who could recognize even just one part of themselves in her.”

Mau was nominated in July for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie, making her the first transgender woman to be recognized in the category. Now, after the premiere of her most recent short film, All the Words But the One, she is slated to appear in the fifth and final season of Netflix’s hit series You. But no matter where her career goes from here, Mau’s portrayal of Teri seems to have struck a lasting chord with many of Baby Reindeer’s millions of viewers.

“People get really emotional sometimes, and it takes me right into that place with them,” she says. “But I take it as a celebration. I take it as a gift that we all get to connect around this. Because our world has told us that we should be silent about our pain and about any violence that we’ve experienced. And that only leads to shame and dysfunction and disconnection. So when people want to talk and feel connected to me, it’s helping to break down those walls.”