Asia Kate Dillon

Asia Kate Dillon
Born Ithaca, New York, United States
Nationality American
Other names Asia Dillon
Occupation Actor, producer, director
Years active 2007–present
Known for Orange is the New Black, Billions

Asia Kate Dillon is an actor from Ithaca, New York, known for playing Brandy Epps in Orange Is the New Black and Taylor Mason in Billions. Dillon identifies as non-binary and uses singular they pronouns. Their role on Billions is the first gender non-binary character on television.[1]

Career

Dillon graduated from the American Musical and Dramatic Academy.[2] They enrolled in and completed the Meisner training program at The Actor’s Workshop of Ithaca, beginning during their junior year of high school at age sixteen. They were the youngest student ever admitted to the class.[2]

In 2007 Dillon took the titular role of Rachel Corrie in My Name is Rachel Corrie. This role required Dillon to memorize over thirty monologues and play over seven alternate characters over the course of the one person show.[3] Afterward, they took part in a workshop of plays whose writers are Academy Award and Tony (nominated and winning) playwrights.[4][2] This was followed by a featured lead role as Lucifer in The Mysteries, and a role in The Tempest at The Shakespeare Theatre Company in Washington, DC.[5]

Dillon played white supremacist Brandy Epps, a penitentiary inmate, in eight episodes of Orange is the New Black in 2016, making them one of the first non-binary gender-identifying actors to be cast in a major television show.[2][6] They also played a recurring role in season 2 of Showtime's Wall Street drama Billions in 2017.[7] The role they played is a nonbinary character, Taylor Mason, a hedge fund intern,[8] who reports state is the first nonbinary character on mainstream North American television.[9][10][11][1] Showtime confirmed in April 2017 that Mason would be a regular character in season 3.[12] When submitting their name for an Emmy Award for acting they were allowed to submit their name for whichever gendered category they wished, and chose "actor" over "actress" because it is a gender neutral word.[13][14] They received submission for supporting actor.[15] Their effort to clarify the matter for all nonbinary people prompted the MTV Movie & TV Awards to combine their gender-segregated categories.[16] They presented the award for Best Actor at the MTV Movie and TV Awards on May 7, 2017.[17]

Dillon is the founder and producing director of MIRROR/FIRE Productions. Within the company, they created US, a performance piece exploring racism and the Black Lives Matter movement in the United States.[4]

Personal life

Dillon was born in Ithaca, New York and was assigned female at birth.[18][19]

Dillon identifies as non-binary and uses singular they pronouns.[9][20][21] Dillon explained around 2015, they began removing gendered pronouns from their biography, and auditioning for the part of Mason helped them understand their gender identity.[20][21]

Dillon identifies as pansexual, stating they have been attracted to multiple genders.[22]

Filmography

Television

Year Title Role Notes
2017–present Billions Taylor Mason 12 episodes[2]
2016 Orange is the New Black Brandy Recurring; 8 episodes[2]
2016 We're All Gonna Die (short) Sex shop attendant [23]
2015 Master of None Line lady #1 Episode: "Plan B"[4]
2015 Opus for All Homeless woman / Lucifer [24]
2015 Younger Bald girl Episode: "IRL"[4]
2011 Marcus Garlard: A Necessary Option Asia
2011 Hitting the Wall Jocelynn [25]
2009 My Popcorn Nights (short) Asia [26]

References

  1. 1 2 Williams, Lauren C. (March 20, 2017). "Behind the scenes with TV’s first gender non-binary character". ThinkProgress. Retrieved March 28, 2017.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Lee, Steve (December 19, 2016). "Asia Kate Dillon makes history as one of the first non-binary gender identifying actors to be cast on mainstream TV". LGBT Weekly. Retrieved March 2, 2017.
  3. ↑ http://mirrorfire.org/
  4. 1 2 3 4 Artavia, David (February 17, 2017). "Asia Kate Dillon Is Blazing a Trail for Gender-Nonconforming Actors". The Advocate. Retrieved April 10, 2017.
  5. ↑ http://mirrorfire.org/
  6. ↑ Appugliesi, Jordan (March 20, 2017). "‘Billions’ Star Asia Kate Dillon On Being First Non-Binary Gender Identifying Actor On A Mainstream TV Show". ET Canada. Retrieved April 8, 2017.
  7. ↑ "Actor or actress? Billions star Asia Kate Dillon on how non-binary people fit into the Emmys". CBC Radio. April 10, 2017. Retrieved April 10, 2017.
  8. ↑ Birnbaum, Debra (April 6, 2017). "‘Billions’ Star Challenges Emmys Male-Female Acting Categories (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. Retrieved April 10, 2017.
  9. 1 2 Dowling, Amber (February 24, 2017). "Meet TV's First Non-Binary-Gender Character: Asia Kate Dillon of Showtime's 'Billions'". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved March 2, 2017.
  10. ↑ Garrido, Duarte (February 20, 2017). "Billions shows TV's first gender non-binary character". Sky News. Retrieved March 6, 2017.
  11. ↑ ellentube team (March 19, 2017). "Ellen Meets Trailblazing Actor Asia Kate Dillon". ellentube. Retrieved March 20, 2017.
  12. ↑ Patten, Dominic (April 9, 2017). "Showtime’s ‘Billions’ Ups Asia Kate Dillon To Series Regular For Season 3". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved April 10, 2017.
  13. ↑ Williams, Megan (April 6, 2017). "Billions star challenges Emmy Awards over gender-based categories". The Independent. Retrieved April 7, 2017.
  14. ↑ Andrews, Travis M. (April 6, 2017). "Gender non-binary star Asia Kate Dillon ponders Emmys: Actor or actress?". The Washington Post. Retrieved April 11, 2017.
  15. ↑ Flynn, Paul (2017-04-15). "‘You didn’t win, we won’: the great LGBT TV revolution". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2017-04-24.
  16. ↑ Saunders, Emma (April 7, 2017). "Is it time to scrap gender specific awards?". BBC News. BBC. Retrieved April 7, 2017.
  17. ↑ Serrao, Nivea. "Billions' Asia Kate Dillon to present at the MTV Movie & TV Awards". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 27 April 2017.
  18. ↑ Ennis, Dawn (22 March 2017). "‘Billions’ star Asia Kate Dillon schools Ellen on being non-binary". LGBTQ Nation. Retrieved 21 May 2017.
  19. ↑ Nordstrom, Leigh (16 May 2017). "Asia Kate Dillon is making a mark as ‘they’". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 21 May 2017.
  20. 1 2 Todd, Carolyn L. (February 27, 2017). "Meet Billions' Asia Kate Dillon, TV's First Non-Binary Star". Refinery29. Retrieved March 2, 2017.
  21. 1 2 Jones, Ellen E (February 14, 2017). "Billions star Asia Kate Dillon: 'I cried when I read the script'". Evening Standard. Retrieved March 7, 2017.
  22. ↑ "#11: You've Told Me This Before". Nancy, S1 Ep11. 4 June 2017.
  23. ↑ Jamie Sisley. We're All Gonna Die (in production) (Short film). USA: Jamie Sisley.
  24. ↑ Andy Zou, Ronnie Rios, Ramon O. Torres (directors) (2015-06-07). Opus for All (Opus 4 - Our Better Angels) (Short). USA.
  25. ↑ Jack Skyyler, Joel Brook (directors) (April 7, 2011). Hitting The Wall (Motion picture). USA: Dear Skyyler Productions. Retrieved 2017-04-18.
  26. ↑ Daniel Slottje (director, writer) (2009). My Popcorn Nights (Short film). USA: Daniel Slottje.
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