Australian non-binary star Liv Hewson opts out of gendered Emmy Awards

Aussie actor Liv Hewson will not submit for this year’s awards because of the Television Academy’s male and female categories.

Australian non-binary actor Liv Hewson, who stars in the Showtime hit series Yellowjackets, will not submit themselves for this year’s Emmy Awards. Picture: Getty

Australian non-binary actor Liv Hewson, who stars in the Showtime hit series Yellowjackets, will not submit themselves for this year’s Prime time Emmy Awards because of the Television Academy’s separation of acting categories into male and female.

Hewson, 27, from Canberra, plays the teenage goalkeeper Van Palmer in the seven-time Emmy-nominated survival drama about a New Jersey high school girls’ soccer team that crash-lands in the remote forests of Canada.

The actor has opted to sit out this years Emmy Awards, despite being eligible in the main acting races.

“There’s not a place for me in the acting categories,” Hewson told Variety.

“It would be inaccurate for me to submit myself as an actress. It neither makes sense for me to be lumped in with the boys. It’s quite straightforward and not that loaded. I can’t submit myself for this because there’s no space for me.”

Liv Hewson as Vanessa “Van” Palmer in Yellowjackets. Picture: Courtesy Everett Collection

Showtime had planned to submit Hewson, who plays a pivotal role in the second season of the show, in the best supporting drama actress category. After meeting with the network, Hewson shared their decision not to submit themselves.

In recent years, LGBTQ activists have lobbied for gender-neutral categories at major awards ceremonies like the Oscars, Emmys, and Golden Globes.

Non-binary actor Emma Corrin called for genderless awards after earning an Emmy nomination in the best lead drama actress category last year for her role as Princess Diana in season 4 of Netflix’s The Crown, “It’s difficult for me at the moment trying to justify in my head being non-binary and being nominated in female categories,” Corrin told BBC News at the time.

Emma Corrin as Diana Princess of Wales in The Crown. Picture: Netflix

In 2021, the Gotham Awards, which honour independent films, nixed separate acting categories for men and women. The following year, the Independent Spirit Awards followed. In Australia, The Aria awards — Australia’s biggest music industry ceremony — went gender neutral in 2021, scrapping the ceremony’s best male and best female awards. Instead, the Arias introduced an award for “best artist”, expanding the nominees from five to 10.

Last year, the Brit Awards, merged its categories for best male and female artist of the year into one top gender-neutral prize. It faced backlash this year after no women were nominated for the award. When asked if they fear that cisgender white men will be the overwhelming awardees in these categories, Hewson said, “There is an implied fatalism there, which suggests that we’ve all agreed that equality is impossible. And that’s sad.”

Liv Hewson attends the world premiere of season two of Yellowjackets. Picture: Getty Images

Hewson, who has also starred in Santa Clarita Diet, and Jane Campion’s Top of the Lake, hopes that the industry will move towards a more inclusive and equitable system.

“We’re not going to start awarding best female and male director, or female or male cinematographer,” they said. “Because we all understand that implicitly would be insulting. You can keep things as they are right now — I just won’t be participating.”