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Asia Kate Dillon

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Asia Kate Dillon
Meet Taylor Mason (Asia Kate Dillon) Billions Season 2.jpg
Dillon in 2017
Born (1984-11-15) November 15, 1984 (age 36)
Ithaca, New York, U.S.
NationalityAmerican
Occupation
  • Actor
  • producer
  • director
Years active2007–present
Known for

Asia Kate Dillon (born November 15, 1984)[1] is an American actor, best known for their roles as Brandy Epps in Orange Is the New Black and Taylor Mason in Billions. Dillon is non-binary and uses singular they pronouns.[2][3][4] Their role on Billions is the first non-binary main character on North American television,[5] and earned them a Critics' Choice Television Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series.[6][7][8] They also played the Adjudicator in the action film John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum (2019).

Career

Dillon graduated from the American Musical and Dramatic Academy.[9] They enrolled in and completed the Meisner training program at The Actor's Workshop of Ithaca during their junior year of high school at age sixteen. They were the youngest student ever admitted to the class.[9]

In 2007, Dillon took the titular role of Rachel Corrie in the play My Name Is Rachel Corrie.[10] Afterward, they took part in a workshop of plays with Academy Award- and Tony Award-winning playwrights.[11][9] 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.[12][13]

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 actors cast in a major television show.[9][14] They also played a recurring role in season 2 of Showtime's Wall Street drama Billions in 2017.[15] The role they played is a non-binary character, Taylor Mason, a hedge fund intern,[16] who is reported to be the first non-binary character on mainstream North American television.[2][17][18][7] Showtime confirmed in April 2017 that Mason would be a regular character in season 3.[19] When submitting their name for an Emmy Award for acting, Dillon was allowed to submit for whichever gendered category they wished, and chose "actor" over "actress" because it is a gender neutral word.[20][21][22] Their effort to clarify the matter for all non-binary people prompted the MTV Movie & TV Awards to combine their gender-segregated categories.[23] They presented the award for Best Actor at the MTV Movie & TV Awards on May 7, 2017.[24] In November 2018, it was announced Dillon would appear in The Outside Story.[25]

Dillon is the founder and producing director of MIRROR/FIRE Productions, which created US, a performance piece exploring racism and the Black Lives Matter movement in the United States.[11]

In June 2019, to mark the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall riots, an event widely considered a watershed moment in the modern LGBTQ rights movement, Queerty named them one of the Pride50 "trailblazing individuals who actively ensure society remains moving towards equality, acceptance and dignity for all queer people".[26]

On March 28, 2020, Dillon released their first EP, Handsomehands, with profits being donated to Marsha P. Johnson Institute.[27]

Personal life

Dillon was born in Ithaca, New York. They are non-binary and were assigned female at birth.[28][29] Dillon explained that around 2015, they began removing gendered pronouns from their biography, and auditioning for the part of Mason helped them understand their gender identity.[3][4] Dillon is pansexual, stating they are attracted to multiple genders.[30]

Credits

Film

Year Title Role Notes
2009 My Popcorn Nights Asia Short film[31]
2015 Opus for All Homeless woman/Lucifer [32]
2019 John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum The Adjudicator
2020 The Outside Story Inez

Television

Year Title Role Notes
2011 Hitting the Wall Jocelynn Television movie[33]
2011 Marcus Garlard: A Necessary Option Asia [citation needed]
2015 Younger Bald Girl Episode: "IRL"[11]
2015 Master of None Line Lady #1 Episode: "Plan B"[11]
2016 We're All Gonna Die Sex Shop Attendant Short[34]
2016–2019 Orange Is the New Black Brandy Recurring; 19 episodes[9]
2017–present Billions Taylor Mason 47 episodes[9]
2019 Gen:Lock Val/entina Romanyszyn Web series
2019 The Simpsons Paula Episode: "Marge the Lumberjill"

Video game

Year Title Role Notes
2020 Fast & Furious Crossroads Cam Stone Voice and motion capture[35]

Awards and nominations

Year Award Category Work Result
2017 Critics' Choice Television Awards[36] Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series Billions Nominated
2018 Screen Actors Guild Award[37] Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series Orange Is the New Black Nominated
2018 Critics' Choice Television Awards[38][39][40] Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series Billions Nominated
2019 Nominated

References

  1. ^ "ASIA KATE DILLON". Retrieved March 21, 2018.
  2. ^ Jump up to: a b 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.
  3. ^ Jump up to: a b Todd, Carolyn L. (February 27, 2017). "Meet Billions' Asia Kate Dillon, TV's First Non-Binary Star". Refinery29. Retrieved March 2, 2017.
  4. ^ Jump up to: a b Jones, Ellen E (February 14, 2017). "Billions star Asia Kate Dillon: 'I cried when I read the script'". London Evening Standard. Retrieved March 7, 2017.
  5. ^ Hibberd, James (February 19, 2017). "'Billions' Premiere Introduces TV's First Gender Non-Binary Character". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved September 17, 2017.
  6. ^ Masters, Jeffrey (April 13, 2017). "Asia Kate Dillon Talks Discovering the Word Non-Binary: 'I Cried'". HuffPost. Retrieved September 17, 2017.
  7. ^ Jump up to: a b Williams, Lauren C. (March 20, 2017). "Behind the scenes with TV's first gender non-binary character". ThinkProgress. Retrieved March 28, 2017.
  8. ^ "Critics' Choice nominations vault 'The Shape of Water' into best picture race". EW.com. Retrieved December 13, 2017.
  9. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f 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. Archived from the original on June 21, 2018. Retrieved March 2, 2017.
  10. ^ Jones, Ellen E (February 14, 2017). "Billions star Asia Kate Dillon: 'I cried when I read the script'". Evening Standard.
  11. ^ Jump up to: a b c d Artavia, David (February 17, 2017). "Asia Kate Dillon Is Blazing a Trail for Gender-Nonconforming Actors". The Advocate. Retrieved April 10, 2017.
  12. ^ MIRROR/FIRE Productions
  13. ^ "Asia Kate Dillon Is Blazing a Trail for Gender-Nonconforming Actors". The Advocate. February 17, 2017.
  14. ^ 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.
  15. ^ "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.
  16. ^ Birnbaum, Debra (April 6, 2017). "'Billions' Star Challenges Emmys Male-Female Acting Categories (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. Retrieved April 10, 2017.
  17. ^ Garrido, Duarte (February 20, 2017). "Billions shows TV's first gender non-binary character". Sky News. Retrieved March 6, 2017.
  18. ^ ellentube team (March 19, 2017). "Ellen Meets Trailblazing Actor Asia Kate Dillon". ellentube. Retrieved March 20, 2017.
  19. ^ Patten, Dominic (April 9, 2017). "Showtime's 'Billions' Ups Asia Kate Dillon To Series Regular For Season 3". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved April 10, 2017.
  20. ^ Williams, Megan (April 6, 2017). "Billions star challenges Emmy Awards over gender-based categories". The Independent. Retrieved April 7, 2017.
  21. ^ 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.
  22. ^ Flynn, Paul (April 15, 2017). "'You didn't win, we won': the great LGBT TV revolution". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved April 24, 2017.
  23. ^ Saunders, Emma (April 7, 2017). "Is it time to scrap gender specific awards?". BBC News. Retrieved April 7, 2017.
  24. ^ Serrao, Nivea. "Billions' Asia Kate Dillon to present at the MTV Movie & TV Awards". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved April 27, 2017.
  25. ^ N'Duka, Amanda (November 28, 2018). "Sonequa Martin-Green Joins Brian Tyree Henry In 'The Outside Story' Movie". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved November 28, 2018.
  26. ^ "Queerty Pride50 2019 Honorees". Queerty. Retrieved June 18, 2019.
  27. ^ "Mx. Asia Kate Dillon's Instagram profile post: "MY FIRST EP 'HANDSOMEHANDS' IS NOW AVAILABLE FOR DOWNLOADING & STREAMING EVERYWHERE!!! 100% of profits will go to the @mpjinstitute