Quick Facts about Hunter Schafer
| Age | Year | Major Achievement / Event |
|---|---|---|
| 14 | 2013 | Came out as transgender to family; began therapy |
| 16 | 2015 | Started hormone replacement therapy (HRT) at Duke Children’s Hospital |
| 17 | 2016 | Lead plaintiff in ACLU lawsuit against North Carolina HB2 “bathroom bill” |
| 18 | 2017 | Signed with Elite Model Management; walked Marc Jacobs NYFW debut |
| 19 | 2018 | Landed role of Jules Vaughn in HBO’s Euphoria with zero acting experience |
| 20 | 2019 | Euphoria premiere; first Met Gala in custom Prada; Vogue Japan solo cover |
| 21 | 2020 | Co-wrote Euphoria special episode “F*ck Anyone Who’s Not a Sea Blob” |
| 22 | 2021 | Returned to modeling as face of Prada Spring/Summer 2021 |
| 23 | 2022 | Film debut as Tigris Snow in The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes |
| 24 | 2023 | Starred in Cuckoo and MaXXXine; GQ cover + viral essay “I’m Done Being ‘The Trans Girl’” |
| 25 | 2024 | Named Variety Power of Young Hollywood; produced first short film |
Raleigh Roots and the Earliest Signs of Stardom
Hunter Schafer young years were spent far from red carpets, in a modest Raleigh, North Carolina neighborhood where she was known simply as the pastor’s eldest daughter. Born December 31, 1998, she entered the world just minutes before the new millennium, a fact she later joked made her “technically a ’90s baby.” Photographs from age six show a wide-eyed child with a blunt bob haircut, already experimenting with her mother’s makeup and sketching fantastical characters in spiral notebooks. Former classmates recall Schafer organizing backyard fashion shows at nine, directing neighborhood kids in outfits made from thrift-store finds and bedsheets. Even then, her creative confidence was unmistakable, long before the world discovered Hunter Schafer young talent that would catapult her to global fame.
Coming Out at 14: The Moment That Defined Her Teens
At fourteen, Hunter Schafer young life took its most pivotal turn when she came out as transgender to her parents during a tear-filled kitchen-table conversation. She had known since age two that something felt “off,” later telling Vogue she remembered praying every night to wake up as a girl. Her parents, Mac and Katy Schafer, initially struggled but quickly sought therapy and medical guidance. By sixteen, Schafer began hormone replacement therapy under the care of Duke Children’s Hospital’s transgender youth clinic—one of the few in the Southeast at the time. The physical changes were rapid: her voice softened, facial features rounded, and by junior year she was regularly mistaken for a senior because of her striking 5’10” height and model-like bone structure.
High School Activist: Leading Protests at Seventeen
Hunter Schafer young activism exploded in 2016 when North Carolina passed House Bill 2. At seventeen, she skipped class to protest outside the state capitol, holding signs that read “Trans Youth Are Not a Threat.” Viral videos show a baby-faced Schafer—still with braces—debating lawmakers twice her age on live television. She became the teenage face of the resistance, appearing on CNN and MSNBC while juggling AP Art and English. Teachers recall her designing protest posters during study hall and live-tweeting from bathroom-stall sit-ins. That same year, the ACLU added her as a plaintiff in Carcaño v. McCrory; overnight, Hunter Schafer young name appeared in federal court documents alongside adults fighting for transgender rights.
The Modeling Discovery That Launched a Thousand Runways
In early 2017, a scout from IMG Models spotted Hunter Schafer young Instagram—then only 8,000 followers—and flew her to New York at eighteen for test shoots. Within weeks she signed with Elite Model Management and walked her first runway for Marc Jacobs Fall 2017. Fashion editors were stunned: here was an openly transgender teenager closing shows for Dion Lee and Helmut Lang while still finishing high school online. Teen Vogue profiled her in May 2017 under the headline “The Future Is Trans,” featuring Polaroids of a fresh-faced Schafer with bubblegum-pink hair and a shy smile. By graduation, she had shot campaigns for Prada and appeared in i-D magazine’s “Youthquake” issue alongside Kaia Gerber and Adut Akech.
Euphoria Audition at Nineteen: From iPhone Tape to HBO Star
When Hunter Schafer young career reached its defining moment in late 2017, she was nineteen and had never acted professionally. Casting directors for HBO’s Euphoria posted an open call seeking “transgender, 17–22, no acting experience necessary.” Schafer recorded her audition on her cracked iPhone 7 in her childhood bedroom, wearing a thrifted mesh top and reading lines about Jules Vaughn’s first crush. Three callbacks later—including a chemistry read with Zendaya in Los Angeles—she landed the role that would make her famous. Production photos from 2018 show a baby-faced Schafer on set with pastel wigs and glitter tears, still looking every bit the teenager despite carrying an entire cultural movement on her shoulders.
Global Fame at Twenty: Met Gala Debut and Vogue Covers
By age twenty, Hunter Schafer young face graced billboards in Times Square for Euphoria’s June 2019 premiere. Three months later she attended her first Met Gala in custom Prada silver armor, posing alongside Zendaya and Timothée Chalamet while millions live-tweeted about the “trans girl in the knight dress.” Vogue Japan made her their September 2019 cover star—the youngest trans woman ever to solo cover the magazine. Inside spreads captured Schafer at twenty with dewy skin, waist-length platinum hair, and the kind of effortless cool that launched a thousand Pinterest boards. TikTok teens began replicating her Euphoria makeup looks, racking up billions of views under #HunterSchaferYoung.
Navigating Heartbreak and Growth in Her Early Twenties
The same year Euphoria exploded, Hunter Schafer young heart broke publicly when her relationship with Spanish singer Rosalía ended after nine months. Paparazzi photos from 2019 show a twenty-year-old Schafer crying at LAX, hoodie up, clutching a stuffed animal—images that humanized her beyond the glamorous red-carpet persona. She later spoke candidly to GQ about therapy, learning boundaries, and how fame at twenty felt like “being thrown into the deep end with cinder blocks on my feet.” Friends say she coped by sketching late into the night, filling journals with comics about a superhero version of herself who could rewind time and protect her younger trans self from pain.
Artistic Evolution: From Teen Illustrator to Published Artist
Long before acting, Hunter Schafer young passion was drawing. At fifteen she created an ongoing webcomic called “Luna & the Magical Girl” about a trans teenager who transforms into a warrior princess. By twenty-one, SSENSE published a limited-run zine of her illustrations titled “Transcendence,” featuring watercolor portraits of trans youth accompanied by handwritten poetry. In 2020 she collaborated with Opening Ceremony on a capsule collection of hand-drawn T-shirts, donating proceeds to trans youth shelters. Art teachers from high school still display her AP portfolio pieces—moody charcoal studies of androgynous figures that foreshadowed the ethereal aesthetic she later became famous for.
The Pandemic Years: Twenty-Two and Finding Herself
When COVID-19 shut down production in 2020, Hunter Schafer young adulthood paused at twenty-two. She moved back to Raleigh temporarily, dyeing her hair bubblegum pink and documenting quarantine on Instagram Live. Fans watched in real time as she taught herself ukulele, binge-watched The OA, and filmed the Euphoria special episodes from a stripped-down set. The resulting “Part 1: Rue” and “Part 2: Jules” episodes—she co-wrote the latter—earned critical acclaim for their raw portrayal of mental health. Critics called twenty-two-year-old Schafer “the voice of a generation,” while she insisted she was “just trying to survive 2020 like everyone else.”
Breaking into Film at Twenty-Three: Hunger Games and Horror
In 2022, at twenty-three, Hunter Schafer young film career began with The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes. Set photos from Atlanta show her in full 1950s couture as Tigris Snow, blonde victory rolls and red lipstick making her look like a vintage movie star. The following year she filmed three movies back-to-back: Kindred, Cuckoo, and MaXXXine. Directors praised her fearlessness; Ti West said twenty-four-year-old Schafer performed her own stunts in six-inch Pleaser heels while covered in fake blood. Each role deliberately moved her away from “teen drama” territory, proving Hunter Schafer young could dominate any genre.
Twenty-Four and Owning Her Narrative
By 2023, Hunter Schafer young no longer. At twenty-four she graced the cover of GQ’s “New Hollywood” issue, penning a personal essay titled “I’m Done Being ‘The Trans Girl.’” She wrote about rejecting interview questions that fixated on her body or childhood, stating, “I’ve been out since fourteen. I’ve been on hormones since sixteen. I had surgery at eighteen. That was half my life ago.” The piece went viral among Gen Z, who celebrated her refusal to let transition define her entire identity. That same year she produced her first short film through Euphoria creator Sam Levinson’s production company, mentoring trans teens on set.
Twenty-Fifth Birthday Reflections: From Prodigy to Powerhouse
On December 31, 2023, Hunter Schafer young era officially ended at twenty-five. She celebrated quietly in Tokyo with close friends, posting a single Instagram story of cherry blossoms and the caption “quarter century.” Reflecting on the decade since coming out, she told Variety, “Everything I fought for at seventeen—bathroom access, basic dignity—I now have the platform to protect for kids who come after me.” Her evolution from wide-eyed North Carolina teen to seasoned actress-activist mirrors the broader coming-of-age story of transgender visibility itself.
Why Hunter Schafer Young Years Still Matter in 2025
Though she’s now twenty-six, the internet never forgets Hunter Schafer young. TikTok compilations titled “Hunter Schafer being an icon at 19” garner millions of views monthly, while Pinterest boards labeled “Hunter Schafer young aesthetic” influence Gen Alpha fashion. Trans teens born in 2010 discover her HB2 protest videos and see someone who looked like them fighting back before they were even in kindergarten. Her youth wasn’t just a phase—it was the foundation of a movement. Every red carpet she walks, every role she inhabits, carries the weight and wonder of the girl who refused to hide.
Quick Faqs
1. How old was Hunter Schafer when she came out as transgender? Hunter Schafer was 14 years old in 2013 when she came out as transgender to her parents. She later revealed in interviews that she knew she was trans as early as age 2, but it took until middle school to find the words and courage to tell her family.
2. When did Hunter Schafer start hormones and transition medically? She began hormone replacement therapy (HRT) at 16 years old in 2015 through Duke Children’s Hospital in North Carolina. By age 18 (2017), she underwent top surgery, which she has described as “life-saving.”
3. How old was Hunter Schafer when she fought against HB2? Hunter was just 17 during the 2016 fight against North Carolina’s HB2 “bathroom bill.” As a high school senior, she became the youngest plaintiff in the historic ACLU federal lawsuit Carcaño v. McCrory, helping lead to the bill’s partial repeal in 2017.
4. How old was Hunter Schafer when she booked Euphoria? She was 19 years old in late 2017 when she submitted a self-taped iPhone audition and landed the role of Jules Vaughn. With zero acting experience, she beat out thousands and began filming at age 20 in 2018.
5. How old was Hunter Schafer at her first Met Gala? Hunter made her Met Gala debut at 20 years old on May 6, 2019, wearing custom silver Prada armor inspired by Joan of Arc. She attended alongside Zendaya and became one of the night’s most viral stars.
6. Was Hunter Schafer young when she started modeling internationally? Yes — she signed with Elite Model Management at 18 (early 2017) and walked her first New York Fashion Week for Marc Jacobs at just 18 years and 2 months old. By 19, she was closing shows in Paris and Milan.
Conclusion: Why “Hunter Schafer Young” Still Trends in 2025
Even at 26, the world can’t stop searching “Hunter Schafer young” because her teenage years weren’t just formative — they were revolutionary. From a 14-year-old praying to wake up in the right body, to a 17-year-old facing down lawmakers on live TV, to a 19-year-old iPhone audition that changed television forever, every chapter of Hunter’s youth shattered ceilings for trans visibility.
She didn’t just survive being young and trans in the public eye — she redefined it. She turned dysphoria into art, protests into policy wins, and a cracked iPhone screen into a Golden Globe-nominated career. Today, millions of trans and queer teens see their past struggles and future dreams reflected in the girl who once stood outside the North Carolina capitol with a handmade sign and unshakable hope.
Hunter Schafer young wasn’t a phase. It was the spark that lit a generation. And that fire? It’s still burning brighter than ever.
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