Liv Hewson – The Nonbinary Star Redefining Hollywood

Who Is Liv Hewson?

Liv Hewson is an Australian actor best known for playing Abby Hammond in Netflix’s Santa Clarita Diet and Van Palmer in Showtime’s critically acclaimed Yellowjackets. They have become one of the most recognized nonbinary talents in Hollywood — not just for their on-screen work, but for the quiet, consistent way they’ve pushed for authentic representation in an industry still finding its footing on gender identity.

If you’ve landed here looking for a quick answer: Liv Hewson is a 28-year-old Australian actor, they use they/them pronouns, and they are widely celebrated for their role in Yellowjackets as the fierce, loyal Van Palmer.

Quick Facts – Liv Hewson

Early Life – Canberra to Hollywood

Liv Hewson was born on December 29, 1996, in Canberra, Australia’s capital city. Growing up in a relatively quiet political town, Hewson developed an early passion for storytelling and performance — something that set them apart from an early age.

Canberra isn’t exactly the entertainment capital of the world, which makes Hewson’s trajectory to Hollywood all the more remarkable. They pursued acting with genuine intent, building their foundation in Australian productions before making the leap to the United States.

Details about their formal education remain largely private, which is consistent with how Hewson generally approaches their personal life — sharing what feels meaningful, keeping the rest close.

Career Beginnings

Hewson’s early career involved smaller roles in Australian television and film. Like most actors who eventually break through internationally, the early years were about building craft, getting comfortable in front of a camera, and learning how to inhabit characters fully.

Their move to the US market marked a significant turning point. Hollywood’s appetite for fresh, authentic talent opened a door — and Hewson walked through it with the kind of presence that’s hard to manufacture.

Breakthrough – Santa Clarita Diet (2017–2019)

Most international audiences first encountered Liv Hewson through Netflix’s Santa Clarita Diet, the darkly comedic horror series starring Drew Barrymore and Timothy Olyphant.

Hewson played Abby Hammond, the teenage daughter of a suburban couple whose life takes a very sharp, very undead turn. What could have been a throwaway “teen daughter” role became something genuinely compelling in Hewson’s hands.

What made the role work:

• Abby wasn’t written as a passive bystander — she was sarcastic, sharp, and deeply involved in the chaos her parents created
• Hewson’s chemistry with Barrymore and Olyphant felt natural and grounded
• The character gave Hewson room to show comedic timing alongside real emotional depth

The show ran for three seasons before Netflix cancelled it in 2019 — a decision that still frustrates its loyal fanbase to this day. But for Hewson, it was the springboard that put them firmly on the industry’s radar.

The Role That Changed Everything – Yellowjackets

If Santa Clarita Diet introduced Hewson to the world, Yellowjackets made them impossible to ignore.

Premiering on Showtime in November 2021, Yellowjackets follows a high school girls’ soccer team that survives a plane crash in the Canadian wilderness — and what they do to survive. The show splits its timeline between the 1990s wilderness ordeal and the present day, following the survivors as adults haunted by what happened.

Hewson plays teenage Van Palmer — one of the most emotionally layered characters in the entire series.

Who Is Van Palmer?

Van is introduced as a tough, no-nonsense member of the team. But across the series, she reveals extraordinary depth — her relationship with Taissa (played by Jasmin Savoy Brown) becomes one of the emotional cores of the show.

Van’s arc deals with survival, identity, love under impossible circumstances, and the cost of keeping secrets for decades. It’s a physically and emotionally demanding role, and Hewson delivers in every scene.

Critical Reception

The performance earned Hewson widespread critical praise. Reviewers consistently highlighted their ability to convey emotional complexity without over-playing it — a restraint that makes Van’s rarer emotional outbursts hit even harder.

The show itself became a cultural phenomenon — one of Showtime’s most-watched series in years — and Hewson’s Van became one of its most beloved characters.

Full Filmography

Coming Out as Nonbinary

In 2021, Liv Hewson publicly came out as nonbinary, sharing that their pronouns are they/them. The announcement came through social media and interviews, and was met with an outpouring of support from fans and peers alike.

What was notable about how Hewson handled it — they didn’t frame it as a dramatic revelation. It was stated matter-of-factly, with the kind of calm confidence that said: this isn’t news to me, and it shouldn’t need to be a spectacle.

In interviews, Hewson has spoken about the importance of visibility — not just for themselves but for the younger generation of LGBTQ+ people watching. They’ve been candid about the fact that seeing yourself represented on screen matters, and that Hollywood has a responsibility to cast authentically.

They’ve also been clear that their identity is one part of who they are — not the entirety of how they want to be discussed or defined.

Advocacy & LGBTQ+ Representation

Beyond their own visibility, Hewson has used their platform thoughtfully. They’ve spoken in interviews about the need for Hollywood to move beyond tokenistic representation — to write queer and nonbinary characters as full human beings with complicated inner lives, not just as diversity checkboxes.

The role of Van Palmer is a good example of this in practice. Van’s queerness is central to her story, but it doesn’t define every scene she’s in. She’s a survivor, a friend, a lover, a complicated person — her sexuality and identity are part of a whole, not the whole itself.

This is exactly the kind of representation Hewson advocates for, and it’s perhaps why the role resonated so deeply with LGBTQ+ audiences.

Personal Life

Hewson keeps their personal life relatively private, which is a deliberate and clearly thought-through choice. They’ve spoken about the value of maintaining some separation between public persona and private self — particularly as a queer person in an industry that can be reductive.

What is clear from interviews and their social media presence is that Hewson is thoughtful, politically aware, and deeply connected to the communities they’re part of. They’re vocal about causes that matter to them without turning every public appearance into a press release.

Awards & Recognition

While Hewson hasn’t yet taken home a major individual award, the consistent nominations reflect growing industry recognition. Many critics argue it’s only a matter of time.

Why Liv Hewson Matters

It would be easy to reduce Hewson’s significance to a single talking point — they’re nonbinary and visible — but that undersells what they actually represent.

Hewson arrived in Hollywood and built a career on talent first. The roles they’ve landed — in a Netflix hit, a Showtime prestige drama, a major awards-season film like Bombshell — weren’t handed out as gestures. They were earned.

At the same time, their presence in those spaces has quietly shifted something. When a nonbinary actor plays a beloved lead character in one of the most talked-about shows on television, and plays them with that level of skill and humanity — it changes what audiences see as normal. It expands the frame.

That’s not a small thing. For a queer teenager watching Yellowjackets and seeing Van Palmer — fierce, loved, complicated, surviving — the impact can be profound in ways that don’t show up in ratings data.

What’s Next for Liv Hewson?

As of 2025, Hewson continues to be attached to Yellowjackets as the series progresses. Their trajectory suggests an actor deliberately building a body of work rather than chasing the biggest paycheck — choosing projects with substance, complexity, and characters worth spending time with.

Given the momentum they’ve built, it’s reasonable to expect Hewson to take on increasingly ambitious roles. Whether that means a film-led career shift, more prestige television, or something entirely unexpected — the pattern so far suggests they’ll approach it on their own terms.

Conclusion

Liv Hewson is one of the most interesting actors working in Hollywood right now. Born in Canberra, shaped by early Australian work, and launched to international recognition through Santa Clarita Diet and Yellowjackets — their career has been built brick by brick on genuine ability.

Their openness about being nonbinary has added another dimension to their public presence, but it’s their work that earns the attention. Van Palmer is one of the most compelling characters in recent prestige television, and Hewson brings her to life with a rawness and intelligence that’s hard to fake.

In an industry that still sometimes struggles to know what to do with people who don’t fit its old categories, Liv Hewson is quietly, confidently showing exactly what’s possible.