Asia Kate Dillon, who plays a gender non-binary person on the hit Showtime series Billions, has written to the Television Academy asking them to reconsider gender-specific acting awards.
Dillon, who goes by the pronouns "they" and "them," will be submitted for consideration for an Emmy Award and requested "more information from the Academy as to whether or not they use the words actor and actress to refer to assigned sex or identity."
Variety shared part of Dillon’s letter to the Academy:
"I’d like to know if in your eyes 'actor' and 'actress' denote anatomy or identity and why it is necessary to denote either in the first place? The reason I'm hoping to engage you in a conversation about this is because if the categories of 'actor' and 'actress' are in fact supposed to represent 'best performance by a person who identifies as a woman' and 'best performance by a person who identifies as a man' then there is no room for my identity within that award system binary. Furthermore, if the categories of 'actor' and 'actress' are meant to denote assigned sex I ask, respectfully, why is that necessary?"
The Academy informed Dillon that "anyone can submit under either category for any reason.""I found them to be 100% supportive. I really couldn't have been happier," they said of their conversation with the Academy.
In a statement to Variety, the Television Academy added that it "celebrates inclusiveness, and as we discussed with Asia, there is no gender requirement for the various performer categories. Asia is free to choose the category they wish to enter."
In the end, Dillon decided to enter as supporting actor, because "actor is a non-gendered word.""What I learned through my research is that the word 'actor,' specifically in reference to those who performed in plays, came about in the late 1500s as a non-gendered word," says Dillon. "It applied to all people, regardless of anatomical sex or gender identity."
Dillon is interested in engaging with the industry about the larger issue of gender: "I think this is a really good place to start a larger conversation about the categories themselves, and what changes are possible and what may or may not be coming. I'm excited to see what other people think, and what they want to say once they become aware of this."
Asia Kate Dillon's
Billions character intro video:
Dillon also recently sat down with Ellen to explain what a non-binary gender identification is:
"Non-binary is a term used by some people, myself included, who experience their gender identity falling somewhere outside of the boxes of man and woman.""Sex and identity are different. 'Female' is a sex, and sex is between our legs, and gender identity is between our ears. It's a learning process."
"I can remember, actually, seeing the film 'Oliver!' and understanding so badly that I wanted to play that part, but that I would never be able to because I was a 'girl' and Oliver was a 'boy.'"
Sources:
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