Katherine Langford SOULFUL STARLET
She made headlines around the world in her controversial role as suicidal teen Hannah Baker in Netflix’s 13 Reasons Why —now the Perth-born actress, 21, is set to break barriers again in the upcoming gay teen romance Love, Simon. Though her green-eyed gaze and full pout recall a young Angelina Jolie, Langford sees beyond appearances. “I just think of myself as a person,” she tells WHO. “I am not too fussed with beauty on the outside.”
What do you find beautiful?
I mean, it sounds cliched because everyone says it, but for me it’s truth: I find people who are beautiful on the inside so alluring and magnetic and attractive. At the end of the day, it’s people who have beautiful souls and what they say is meaningful. And if they are truthful and have integrity and they are a good person, I think that’s just unbelievably beautiful.
What about beauty on the outside?
I am not one to shy away from being fun. And fashion is beautiful and playing with the external, which Leah [Langford’s character] actually does in Love, Simon. She plays a lot with her external appearance and that also speaks to her, of her insecurities within herself about herself. That withstanding, beauty is also often from an inside source.
You have millions of followers on social media—how does that feel?
I am a young woman and I am still learning and figuring myself out. But if I can help promote discussion or help people not feel so alone or help people connect to communities that they may not ordinarily find, that for me is fulfilling and what I hope to do.
While high school is not an experience many would call beautiful, how was it returning to school for both roles?
My experience of high school was a relatively decent one. So there’s not too much trauma there. The first job I ever had was 13 Reasons Why which is set in high school, but it’s set in an American high school. The setting and parts of the culture were very different to me having grown up in Australia. For me, it’s not necessarily about the high-school element, but more about the person and the journey that they go through. And I think both Hannah and Leah have these different journeys and both are beautiful and different and relatable in their own ways.