Asia Kate Dillon, the breakout star of Showtime’s white collar crime drama, “Billions,” is generating serious awards buzz for their portrayal of Taylor Mason. Dillon also identifies as gender non-binary — which makes their bid for an Emmy unusually difficult.
As we know, acting award nominations are most often broken down by “actor” and “actress,” male and female. Dillon was unsure of whether they should submit to Best Supporting Actor or Best Supporting Actress and decided to do some research. “The word ‘actor,’ specifically in reference to those who performed in plays, came about in the late 1500s as a non-gendered word,” Dillon told Variety. “It applied to all people, regardless of anatomical sex or gender identity.”
Next, Dillon decided to reach out to the Academy directly to find out why acting categories are separated by gender and where a person who neither identifies as male or female fits into the equation: “I wanted to get more information from the Academy as to whether or not they use the word actor or actress to refer to assigned sex or identity, so that I could make the best decision for myself.”
“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 “Orange Is the New Black” actor asked in a letter to the Academy. “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?”
And, we’re pleased to report, the Academy responded to Dillon’s inquiry thoughtfully and sensitively. “I found them to be 100% supportive,” Dillon said. “I really couldn’t have been happier.”
According to the Academy’s response, “anyone can submit under either category for any reason.” Variety adds, “Emmy rules for the acting categories do not specify gender qualification, saying simply ‘for a continuing performance in a regular series.’”
Eventually, Dillon decided to submit to supporting actor, explaining that they consider “actor” a non-gendered term. “We are happy with our productive dialogue with Asia based on their very thoughtful letter,” a spokesperson for the Academy commented. “The Television Academy 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.”
We are glad to hear that the Academy is doing everything within its power to promote inclusivity among gender non-conforming performers. A major institution welcoming actors that do not subscribe to “he” or “she” could open doors for non-binary performers throughout the industry.
That being said, we’d advocate for awards ceremonies to add a completely new category: Best Performance by a Gender Non-Binary Performer, or something synonymous. As much as we want to bolster actors that do not feel comfortable in either binary gender category, jettisoning “actor” or “actress” at awards shows would likely be detrimental to performers who do identify as women. If it was simply one category, Best Actor, women would be recognized even less. According to a study from the Women’s Media Center (WMC), women only represent 20 percent of this year’s non-acting Oscar nominations. Overall, women comprise just 19 percent of all Academy Award nominations from 2005 to 2016. Getting rid of women-specific categories could shut women out of awards ceremonies entirely.
Kudos to Dillon for expressing their concerns to the Academy and to the Academy for being as supportive and inclusive as possible.
