21 Under 21: Elsie Fisher Learned to Embrace Her Anxieties From Her Eighth Grade Character, Kayla Day

Elsie Fisher is part of Teen Vogue’s 21 Under 21 class of 2018, which spotlights extraordinary young women, girls, and femmes making waves in their industries or passions of choice.

Fifteen-year-old Elsie Fisher knows young people want to see aspirational characters onscreen, whether it’s superheroes saving the world or glamorous, non-acne-ridden twentysomethings playing high schoolers. But she also sees the value in characters that reflect viewers as they are — anxious or shy or emotional, just trying to figure out how to say what’s in their heads. In short, like Kayla Day, Elsie's character in the 2018 breakout indie movie Eighth Grade.

Eighth Grade follows Kayla during her last week of middle school. In that most uncomfortable time of childhood, Kayla faces down unrequited crushes, aloof mean girls, and her first high school experiences as she figures out how to appreciate herself for who she is: a slightly awkward, introverted teen with acne, who learns she can be kind and brave and speak up for herself and others. “A lot of people are already like Kayla,” Elsie says. “She helps people realize they’re good as they are.”

It’s a message that Elsie has learned as well. She began acting at age five, and was soon voicing Agnes in the Despicable Me movies. As she got older and looked for more fully rendered roles, she found that casting directors wanted those glamorous, non-acne-ridden twentysomethings to play characters who were closer to Elsie’s actual age. Elsie was also figuring out how to deal with her anxiety and improve her mental health, and Eighth Grade helped unlock the idea that these things could be strengths. “People can find a lot of things to relate to Kayla about, but the anxiety is part of what I’ve noticed the most,” Elsie says. “And people appreciate not only Kayla, but me a little bit because of who I am.”

Elsie has since been open about how she lives with anxiety, speaking about it in interviews, writing about it in an essay for Teen Vogue, with the hope that she’ll reach other teens who are struggling. “There’s not a lot of mental health awareness for teenagers especially," Elsie says, "or if there is, it’s like, ‘Oh, by the time you’re an adult, it’ll be all better,' blah blah blah. It’s all this aspirational bullshit, that’s like, 'you’ll be better one day.’ Maybe you won’t, but that’s OK — let’s figure out ways to deal with and talk about it and live with it.”

Her advice for young people who want to do what she does follows a similar line of thinking: Lean into what you have to offer, and use what you have at your disposal. “I get asked by a lot of people, do I need an agent, do I need a manager, all these questions about what they need,” she says. “Truly, you have most of the tools that you’re gonna have right now. Create your own content. Use what you have and go for it.”

In the future, Elsie imagines herself as a writer and director, being offscreen as well as on as she explores issues she wants to speak out about, whether it’s acne or mental health or whatever she’ll advocate for in the next 21 years. Along the way, she’s reminding herself, “I don’t need other people’s validation as much as I need my own.” And something else Kayla taught her? “Even if you’re a quiet person, it doesn’t mean you can’t speak up.”

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Want more from Teen Vogue? Check this out: Elsie Fisher: How the Internet Helped Me With My Anxiety