Tommy Dorfman: who is 13 Reasons Why’s Ryan Shaver, is she engaged again, what happened with her ex husband?

Actress Tommy Dorfman, who is best known for playing Ryan Shaver in Netflix series 13 Reasons Why, has revealed she is engaged to a woman.

The engagement comes a year after she revealed she was a transgender woman, and also announced that she was divorcing her former husband.

So, just who is TV star Tommy Dorfman, who is her fiancée, and what happened with her ex-husband?

Here’s everything you need to know.

How did Tommy Dorfman announce her engagement?

Dorfman shared her happy news during an appearance on actress Rachel Bilson’s podcast Broad Ideas, on Monday 15 August.

Who is Tommy Dorfman’s fiancée?

Dorfman did not give many details about her new fiancée, and did not reveal her name or any details about their relationship, such as how they met, how long they have been together or how they became engaged.

She only said that her future wife is a “cis woman”, and also referred to her as a “just a gay girl”.

The term “cis” refers to cisgender, which is a phrase that is used to describe a person whose gender identity matches the sex they were assigned at birth.

Dorfman did also say that she was excited to find "the person I’m going to spend the rest of my life with" and said that the romance has been "very affirming."

Who is Tommy Dorfman?

Tommy Dorfman, aged 30, is an American actress.

She is best known for playing Ryan Shaver in the popular Netflix series 13 Reasons Why (2017).

She also appeared as Bobby in satirical telenovela and American comedy Jane the Virgin (2019) and was a guest judge on an 2020 episode of RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars.

Her cousin is The Bachelorette star Andi Dorfman.

In November 2017, Dorfman came out as non-binary and began using they pronouns.

On July 22, 2021, Dorfman came out as a transgender woman and began using she pronouns.

She revealed in an interview with Time that she had already been "privately identifying and living as a woman" for almost a year.

Dorfman also revealed that she chose to keep her birth name of Tommy as she feels "very connected" to it because it honours her mother’s brother who died when she was only a month old.

In April 2022, Dorfman also said she identifies as a trans lesbian.

What happened between Tommy Dorfman and ex-husband Peter Zurkuhlen?

The actress was previously married to Peter Zurkuhlen, a 34 year old American man who is the Chief of Staff at Get Help, a platform focused on the healthcare industry.

They wed in 2016, when Dorfman publicly identified as a man, after getting engaged the previous year.

She revealed, however, in 2021 that they were divorcing after five years of marriage.

Dorfman did not give any further details about why she and Zurkulen had split up, but she did tell Bilson that the pair, who had been together for nine years overall when they separated, decided to "redefine our relationship as friends."

Dorfman also explained to Bilson that after their breakup she began to feel an attraction to women that she hadn’t felt for many years.

"I knew I was interested in women in a way that I hadn’t really been aware of since high school. I had this unresolved, unexplored thing."

She added, "I was like, ‘This is the year that I’m gonna go on some dates with girls and feel that out again, and not feel ashamed about it.”