INSPIRATIONAL YOUNG PERSON OF THE MONTH: Yasmin Finney
Street League is re-launching our Inspirational Young Person of the Month feature and we’re back with a bang by shining a spotlight on trans English actress and Internet sensation, Yasmin Finney.
Yasmin Finney is a rising star in the entertainment industry, and it seems this light isn’t going out any time soon. She is an English actress and Internet personality best known for her role as Elle Argent in the Netflix teen drama show Heartstopper, and is also fiercely honest and outspoken about her identity as a Black British transgender woman. Her work raising awareness of key trans issues, combating transphobic culture online, and promoting positive media representation is what makes her our Inspirational Young Person of the Month.
Yasmin was born in Manchester, and from an early age she knew she wanted to be in front of the camera. She started her TikTok as a way to document and share her life experiences as a trans teen in the UK, and she quickly developed a dedicated following that currently sits at 1.8 million and rising. Growing up in Manchester as a Black queer woman, Finney acknowledges that she questioned whether she’d be able to break into the entertainment industry, stating: “I didn’t see myself reflected in the UK TV and film industry, and I’m shocked right now to be here. You do not understand: the amount of time I’ve spent searching for representation, clawing for it, and trying to find somebody I could look up to as an idol, somebody that is a reflection of me”. She credits her single-parent mother for inspiring her to be “independent and strong” and staying true to her goals, as well as American trans actors Indya Moore, Laverne Cox, and Hunter Schafer for being her biggest inspirations.
Yasmin was still in sixth form studying performing arts acting when she found out on social media that the Netflix series Heartstopper was seeking to cast a Black trans teen girl in a prominent role, and this changed her life completely. She identified strongly with Elle, who transfers from an all-boys grammar school to the girls’ school next door and has a budding romance with a close friend. Now, Yasmin is on an upwards trajectory - it has recently been announced that she has joined Russell T Davies’ re-rebooted Doctor Who, starring Sex Education’s Ncuti Gatwa as the first Black Doctor, and that she is being recognised at Screen International’s prestigious annual Stars of Tomorrow showcase highlighting the most exciting young talent in the UK and Ireland.
Black trans women continue to face disproportionate levels of discrimination and violence, and Yasmin believes in continuing to combat this with advocacy for trans equality and positive representations of what it means for trans women to thrive. “I’m challenging all the discrimination and social and systematic oppression of being a Black trans woman, and reminding people that even though times have changed, it’s still not perfect... To this day we are still losing the precious lives in the Black trans community,” Yasmin told GLAAD. "I also think it’s good to show everyone that I’m here… I’m not going anywhere and the sooner you accept that, the quicker we can have real change.”