Nava Mau: ‘We’re a community under attack – every moment for celebration is priceless’ (EXCLUSIVE)
"The dream has always been to create a TV series," says the Baby Reindeer star, as she's named our Trailblazer of the Year for Attitude 101, empowered by Bentley
“There are so many who have been instrumental in every step of my journey — it would be impossible to name them all…” says Nava Mau during a catch-up with Attitude over Zoom from Mexico City, where she was born 32 years ago.
She lands on one specific, deeply heartwarming example from her childhood in San Antonio, Texas. “Ms Adler, my elementary school teacher, [would] let me stay in her classroom after school because my mom couldn’t afford after-school care,” Mau remembers. “It’s people like that, every step of the way, who have allowed me to get this far.”
Ms Adler’s no doubt beaming with pride right now – not least because we’ve naming Nava Trailblazer of the year in Attitude 101 empowered by Bentley. In an era of overnight successes 10 years in the making, it did feel like Mau came out of nowhere in 2024 Netflix crime drama Baby Reindeer. (Even if that’s not quite the case — more on her formative years later.) The show afforded her a level of stratospheric fame experienced by very few. She was a much-needed ray of light as therapist Teri in Richard Gadd’s gruelling, semi-autobiographical six-parter about the downward spiral of aspiring comic Donny, who’s stalked by the GOAT of all disturbed stalkers, Martha (Jessica Gunning), and drugged and raped by would-be mentor Darrien (Tom Goodman-Hill). As Donny’s on-off girlfriend, a warm empath who is in equal parts sexy, funny and caring, Mau found a role that fitted her like a glove. This audience introduction earned her an Emmy nomination and underlined all that was special about the woman behind the character as much as the character herself.
“It was very familiar for me to be in a situation dating a man that has not worked through his shame,” Mau said in a previous Attitude interview at the launch of the series, speaking to the palpable authenticity of her performance. “I didn’t have to do any research to figure out the emotions of trying to find love and intimacy with somebody who is running away from it. This erratic pursuit and erratic energy are something that I think is common in how cis men tend to approach trans women. So that was very familiar to me.”
Still, like a pop star rocketing to number one with band members in tow as opposed to solo, it was good for Mau to have her Baby Reindeer peers along for the ride. “In May or June [2024], Richard, Jess and I were doing a lot of screenings, events and panels where we were meeting lots of people,” she remembers. “It was unbelievable, the amount of people that were coming and the response they were having, how much they had needed to see a series like this. So, you know, it felt like an extension of how special it was to work on the series. I hadn’t really seen Richard and Jess since we wrapped filming. So, it was a very full-circle moment.”
“This industry can be very difficult – you’re sort of having to make it again and again”
Gadd, it transpires, is still supporting his colleague and friend behind the scenes 10 months later. “I’m always so grateful to Richard for inviting me into his process, and for what we got to share. He encouraged me to do this application,” says Mau, referring to putting herself forward for the BAFTA Breakthrough programme, which recently named her as an honouree. It spotlights and supports up-and-coming creatives in British TV and film, with honourees receiving BAFTA voting membership for a year and free access to BAFTA events. Successful Breakthrough alumni have included Jessie Buckley, Florence Pugh and Bella Ramsey. Reflecting on the achievement, Mau says, “I think that this industry can be very difficult. The only way to make it has been to never give up. You’re sort of always having to make it again and again. So, I’m really excited. But hopefully through this programme I’ll get to keep building a web of collaborators and being part of a cohort where we can cheer each other on throughout the journey of our careers.”
Another person who encouraged her application, reveals Mau, was “my mentor, Lilly Wachowski”. The filmmaking icon, alongside sister Lana, is of course responsible for The Matrix film franchise — long considered a metaphor for the trans experience. “Her belief and faith in revolution and filmmaking through community is incomparable — I’m extremely inspired!” Mau enthuses.
We imagine that she received further tutelage, albeit indirectly, as a production fellow on fantastic 2020 Netflix documentary Disclosure, which charted the history of trans representation in TV and film, and featured interviews with the Orange Is the New Black’s Laverne Cox, Pose’s Michaela Jaé and more. Having absorbed all this knowledge, and with BAFTA’s seal of approval, a NewFest Audience Award and a YoSoy Award from the Hispanic Heritage Foundation on her mantlepiece — what’s next?
“Acting is the ball that kept rolling and rolled faster than everything else”
“I started as a writer-director,” she says. (She indeed wrote, directed and starred in the 2019 short Waking Hour.) “Acting is [just] the ball that kept rolling and rolled faster than everything else. I think this is a really special opportunity to bring those all together again. The dream has always been to create a TV series. And I will also get to direct a feature. I’m just having to decide which one I want to do first!”
It’s for this reason — in anticipation of the storytelling to come — that we’ve named Mau the Attitude 101 Trailblazer of the Year for 2025. Think about it: this woman might make her own TV show as impactful as Baby Reindeer, or her own film franchise as disruptive as The Matrix. And should she choose to focus on queer characters — not that she must — she’d help push back against powers-that-be in the US, the UK and beyond rolling back our rights. Because, short of outright censorship, TV and film remain a refuge for LGBTQ+s in need of representation, education and validation. “We are a community that has been under attack,” opines Mau at the thought of gender-diverse youth inspired by her visibility. “Every moment we can get celebration, empowerment, coalition-building, it’s priceless. It’s what allows us to move forward. I always carry that acknowledgement. It makes me very proud.”
Her ambitions reach still further. Asked what she’d change about the industry, Mau replies: “To break down barriers that are in place between the people who say yes, and control the means of production, and the people who are based in community, based in reality.”
Amen to that!
This feature is taken from issue 363 of Attitude magazine, available to order here or alongside 15 years of back issues on the Attitude app.
For the full class of 2024 BAFTA UK Breakthroughs, supported by Netflix, visit bafta.org.