'Baby Reindeer' star Nava Mau was 'nervous' when cast. Then, Teri made her strong

This article contains spoilers for the Netflix series "Baby Reindeer."

After the intensity of "Baby Reindeer," Nava Mau is ready to laugh.

"I cried all the tears, I healed all the wounds, I climbed all the mountains and I am hoping to now have a little bit more of a lighter experience," Mau tells TODAY.com during a video interview.

The actor recently had her breakout moment in "Baby Reindeer," where she plays Teri, the love interest of struggling comedian and stalking victim, Donny Dunn (Richard Gadd).

Since being released in April, the Netflix limited series has become one of the most-watched in Netflix history, turning its lead actors — Gadd, Mau and Jessica Gunning — into instant celebrities.

"I don't think that I could have ever expected that this many people in the world would have seen the show, let alone have the response that they did," Mau says of the show's meteoric success, which has also garnered controversy.

According to Gadd, writer and star of "Baby Reindeer," the plot is based on his personal experience being stalked and assaulted while working as a London bartender.

Fiona Harvey, the woman who allegedly inspired the stalker character, sued Netflix for defamation, intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligence and violations of her rights to publicity in April.

The lawsuit alleges that the show’s opening line — “this is a true story” — is “the biggest lie in television history.”

A Netflix spokesperson said in a statement to TODAY.com, “We intend to defend this matter vigorously and to stand by Richard Gadd’s right to tell his story.” TODAY.com previously reached out to Gadd, who is not named as a defendant in Harvey's lawsuit, for comment and has not heard back.

In "Baby Reindeer," Gadd’s character becomes the object of obsession after offering a patron named Martha (Gunning) a cup of tea at the bar where he works. From there, she begins stalking him, permeating every area of his life, including his burgeoning relationship with Teri, a therapist he meets on a trans dating site.

"I felt like I was so invested in the story and I felt so connected to the character that I was so present," says Mau on filming the series. And since its release, she says she's received an "outpouring of love and connection and emotional reflection."

"That is such a gift. I wouldn't trade that for anything," says Mau. "I take it with gratitude."

Below, Mau discusses the ongoing "Baby Reindeer" sensation and how it's changed her life.

What ‘Baby Reindeer’ taught Nava Mau

Does Nava Mau have anything in common with Teri? "It's complicated," she says.

"There's a reason why I was the right person to play Teri, there's got to be something in me that really resonates with who she is," Mau explains. "I think that what I share with Teri is a deep desire for connection and belonging."

What Mau says she doesn't necessarily share with Teri are her confidence and self-assuredness, which, in many ways, serve as the grounding force in an otherwise chaotic series of events that unfold throughout the show.

"It's so funny, I got cast to play this very confident character and I was so anxious, I was so nervous," she says. "I had to really, really, really work to embody the strength in her physicality, in her voice and, of course, in her mentality because, for some reason, it's like Teri already has it all figured out."

Unlike Donny, who's ashamed of their relationship, Teri expects nothing less than a true, meaningful partnership. Mau says her character's attitude rubbed off on her.

"(Teri is) always trying to get Donny to level up. She's never getting down to his level, she's wanting him to come up, rise up to her level," says Mau. "So, it was like, I had to get there first, and now I know how to do that. It's great that Teri taught me that."

On filming difficult scenes: ‘I was never scared’

Mau says her on-screen chemistry with “Baby Reindeer” co-star, Gadd, was attributable, in part, to reading the script and feeling like she understood who Gadd was.

"I had a sense of who he was. I think the character of Donny is so well-written that I came prepared. I think it allowed us to go as far as we needed to with the process," she says.

When it came to filming the show's more intense scenes — including a pivotal moment when Donny's stalker, Martha, viciously attacks Teri physically and verbally — Mau says she wasn't afraid.

"I was never scared. I was never overwhelmed. I just felt like I understood the very first time I read the script," she explains.

"Maybe it's my own experiences. Maybe it's the fact that I worked with survivors of violence for so many years. When it comes to Teri's storyline, I've lived so much of that. It wasn't too much of a leap for me to try to dive into that realm of understanding. I was ready for it."

‘We’ve come so far and we have a long way to go’

In addition to "Baby Reindeer," Mau has appeared on the MAX series "Generation," as well as serving as a production fellow on the Netflix show "Disclosure," a 2020 documentary that takes a hard look at how the trans community has been portrayed in Hollywood over the years.

She also recently completed “All the Words but the One,” a short drama she wrote, directed and starred in.

Outside of acting, Mau is a cultural worker, serving as a peer counselor and advocate for LGBTQ survivors of violence, among other things.

She says things have come a long way since the days of the Stonewall Riots, sparked in 1969 after police raided a gay bar in Manhattan — but the "legacy of that kind of criminalization" remains.

"People are now wanting to police trans people's access to healthcare, access to public restrooms, housing, freedom from discrimination, employment and other services.

She adds, "It can feel like we're in the same place, but we're not."

Instead, Mau says there's been a dramatic transformation of trans people's access to both visibility and community power.

“There has been some level of institutional change that has created space for queer and trans people to reach places that we never could have even imagined. I think that it’s important to hold pride as much as we hold the hope for change,” she says.

But with visibility and cultural acceptance comes a greater degree of scrutiny.

“We need visibility as part of creating cultural acceptance for trans people and as part of building the bridge and understanding, because I think that ignorance was one of the main challenges we needed to tackle as trans people.

"On the other hand, now visibility has thrust so many of us into the spotlight and has exposed us to the levels of hate and targeted discrimination that we actually were not quite facing before," she says.

Because of that, Mau says it's important to continue empowering trans people through storytelling and the media, as well as in communities and institutions.

"Trans people simply want to live a life and be able to have a job and a family and home. That is ultimately what it's all about."

Life after ‘Baby Reindeer’

In the months following the release of "Baby Reindeer," Mau's life has changed dramatically. But she says that the true gratification comes just from having made the series.

"It's beautiful to see people making it their own. But, for me, this was a deeply creative and artistic process that was transformative and enriching. It would have been enough if that had been it," Mau says.

As for what comes next? Mau tells TODAY.com that she's ready to try something new.

"I want to know what (it's) like to work on a comedy, an action movie, a thriller and just have a good time. That feels like what's calling to me right now," she says.

"Honestly, knowing me, we're about to see a hard-hitting drama come my way. I'm not going to be able to resist. But I am inviting comedy into my life. Please make me laugh. I'm here for it."

This article was originally published on TODAY.com