Airyn De Niro is sitting in a subway cart that has just played set to Matthieu Blazy’s first Métiers d'art 2026 collection show for CHANEL, recounting stories of strange things that have happened to her on the subway growing up in the city. In the cart next door, A$AP Rocky is hanging with recently signed brand ambassador Ayo Edebiri and voluntary ‘nepo-baby’ Romy Mars is speaking to city guide interviewer Isaac Likes with her Mum, Sophia Coppola. It’s not exactly your average scene.

De Niro, a voice actor and emerging model, has just witnessed her first-ever fashion show and as she speaks, her black-tipped manicure drawing attention to her delicately inked hands, she places them to heart – a sign she has been somewhat moved. As a biracial, trans woman – she came out to the world last year as she turned 30 – she felt gratitude in being there to see trans model Alex Consani wearing a pin-stripe suit and a brown trilby walk the platform of Bowery station. “When I saw her, I was absolutely in awe: she is an amazing person. That was the first time I’ve seen so many models at once and it was gorgeous," she muses. For De Niro, it’s a moment that represents belonging and possibility. “I know so many other people like me too who want to be a part of that family.”

Identity, and a struggle to see herself, has been a constant theme for De Niro who has spoken publicly about transitioning in a bid to contribute to a world where trans people are safe and cared for. “I looked up to a lot of black women growing up – Iman, Katlynn Simone, Regina King, so many actresses and models. I think I found solace in video games and anime shows, because the woman I wanted to be, or saw the potential in – that I could be – I didn’t see it in fashion magazines, or that often in TV shows, but I did see it in the characters I grew up with and got to play at,” she says.

De Niro, who has a twin brother – actor Julian Henry – is the daughter of legendary actor Robert DeNiro and model and actor Toukie Smith. Smith was a CHANEL model in the early 70s, along with doing campaigns for Versace, Issey Miyake and her brother’s fashion brand. Willi Smith, a Parson’s School alum was one of the most successful African-American designers in the history of the industry, pioneering not just streetwear, but gender-neutral clothing in sustainable fabrics decades before its time and collaborating with artists such as Nam June Paik, Keith Haring and Spike Lee. On top of enormous commercial success, he became a hero for African American women and left a legacy when he passed that has been cited by street brands such as Supreme, Off White and Eckhaus Latta.

When I meet De Niro again for tea in Tribeca the morning following the show (ironically her Dad’s neighbourhood – she lives in the West Village, calling it the “gay capital of New York city”), her long dark locks framing a luminescent but powerfully angelic face, it’s plain to see her Mother has been an inspiration.

“Anytime someone tells me that I remind them of my Mum it’s the highest form of compliment I can get,” she says. “I was always told growing up, how stunning and beautiful and gorgeous my Mum is and how she really made her own way in the modelling world, but I didn’t get to see the pictures, images and campaigns until I got older.”

How De Niro was so successfully kept out of the limelight of her famous family remains unclear. She was rarely photographed with her father and until recently, didn’t have a known social media presence. “When I was growing up it was very important to me to separate myself in a way where I didn’t completely estrange myself from my heritage and my family. But it’s like, if you grow up in a shadow, and you really want to make a name for yourself then, you have to be a part,” she says.

With the CHANEL subway show paying homage to the diverse spirit of New York city, as a The Godfather disciple I can’t help remind De Niro of the context of her Manhattan-born father, who is one of the most influential people of his generation, in the world, ever. “I still don’t see it completely, I just see him as ‘Dad’,” she says. “I guess he’s a big part of New York and I guess, as I always get told – and just like how people tell me about my Mum and the role she played in fashion – about my Dad and the role he plays in film and the culture of New York, so I am getting used to it.”

De Niro attended several different schools, but for the majority of her academic and social life went to school at Brooklyn Friends School followed by a stint at La Guardia Arts School, also known as the ‘Fame’ school. “Brooklyn Friends, which is a Quaker school, is filled with diversity, teaching us from a young age, racial politics, the African American movement and they put a heavy emphasis on appreciating different cultures. And I also got to learn from Quaker teaching, how everyone is equal. They were not super religious about God and Christianity etc, Quakers have this idea that there is a little bit of light inside of everybody, which I think is so important because it doesn’t place anybody on a pedestal and there’s no self-righteousness, "she says.

“Then I went to La Guardia Arts School, which was a very different experience… there was so much talent and charisma. I remember before I had actually got in, I went to one of their plays and watched Hairspray and I thought ‘OK, wow’. Getting to grow up around all those different people from different cultures and backgrounds definitely shaped me. It’s helped me to be more open, compassionate, understanding and filled with desire, I guess, to expand my knowledge and my talent of different facets of my life – whether that’s music, performance or food...”

Having trained extensively – also in classical and operatic singing – De Niro has auditioned for voice over in the past couple of years for anime and animation, coming close to some really big roles that “slipped right by”.

“I hope I get to share it with the world one day. I don’t think a lot of people realise this outside the industry but it’s very competitive, it’s just as competitive as modelling or onscreen acting and all I can do is try my best,” she says. “Video games are such a big part of my life and so is animation and I feel like you are never too old to enjoy those mediums. I guess what really drew me to it was that I felt less restricted by my appearance, and I felt like there was more diversity in what I could do with my voice. I also hope that there’s someone like me – a trans woman – who can be a part of that industry and take on roles that they normally wouldn’t. It’s a very big dream, it’s very far-fetched,” she says, as she visibly cringes, “but it’s always been to be one of the Disney princesses. She puts up her hand and smiles, “Disney if you want me.”

“I love animated shows that have a musical element to them. There are these two really fabulous shows on Amazon called Hazbin Hotel and Helluva Boss and I auditioned for them a couple of times and hopefully I will get to some more, but I’ve always loved how animation and music go hand in hand.”

It was The Little Mermaid that stayed with her most – “it is a timeless piece of art” but she also cites The Proud Family (“great representation there”), The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy, Family Guy and of course South Park as foundational inspirations. “I love those unhinged shows because I feel like they get to take it a step further,” she says. “They do not hold back, and I really respect them for doing that.”

It was the transformational heroines of anime that De Niro believes were formative in her finding her identity. She would always pick the female character growing up – Princess Peach from the Super Mario franchise, Ahri from League of Legends, and the female Pokémon trainer – as a way of dressing up and presenting herself in the game in the way she wished she could in real life. “I think of the anime shows that really influenced me and made me think, ‘you know what, I want to be like this powerful woman’,” she says. “There was one show called Sailor Moon. It really pushed the magical girl genre and skyrocketed to mainstream. Any animated show that had a strong female character, I was a huge fan of. When it comes to video games, I think that takes the medium of characters you get to see on a screen a bit further, because you get to play as them, interact as them and see how they go through the world, just the dialogue they had.”

“I didn’t have the words for it at the time but now that I do, I understand that connection more and why I appreciate the hard work that goes into video games. It’s a big reason why I want to be a part of that world and voice acting – because I hope I can be that inspiration for someone else through any character that I get to voice.

“I think it's also important to remember that you can work hard for everything you have in life, for every job, every opportunity, but it’s also important to remember, at least for the higher ups and the people who scout that those opportunities are also granted and given, so I hope that, not just for me specifically, but for anybody who has a dream they want to achieve and feels under represented, I hope they are given a chance. And I feel like I am still waiting for my chance.”

PHOTOGRAPHY Jai Odell

FASHION DIRECTION Hannah Cooper

TALENT Airyn De Niro

ON-SET STYLIST Freddie Fredericks

HAIR Anette Roche

MAKEUP Michelle Coursey

NAILS Maki Sakamoto @ Alexia at The Wall