Pageboy by Elliot Page

JetBlackDragonfly

5 minutes ago

2 min read

Elliot Page is an actor, director, and producer who came up in Canadian TV and film. Born female, in 2020 he transitioned to male, changing his name from Ellen. This is a rich autobiography moving through childhood issues to fame, the first openly trans man to appear on the cover of Time magazine.

Growing up in a divorced household, he discovered acting at eleven, with great roles in the films Marion Bridge and Wilby Wonderful, and starring in a TV series, attracting, at that age, a stalker. His father remarried a woman who nicknamed Ellen "skidmark," habitually mocking her. In this fake family, even his father blamed Ellen, causing him to wonder, "If I didn't deserve care, if I didn't deserve safety in love, when would I ever?" Like many gender-nonconforming people, Ellen developed an eating disorder early on, physically unable to eat. He would say it was for a film.

After a role in The X-Men franchise, stardom hit in 2008 with the little indie film Juno, for which he won several awards. Navigating as a queer person, studios pressured Ellen to play a starlet on the red carpet. Coming out seemed an impossibility, with the industry telling him no one could know he was queer, wanting him to appear soft and pretty. You learn to compartmentalize. Hollywood films followed with Inception in 2009, and Woody Allen's To Rome With Love. In 2014, he came out at a human rights campaign conference. His mother stated, "That doesn't exist," and friends and strangers insisted he 'didn't have to shove it in our faces.' In 2020, he came out as a trans man and continued to work in The Umbrella Academy TV series (both before the transition and after), and recently as the Greek soldier Sinon in Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey.

This is a terrific autobiography of gender dysphoria, and the damage that can be done by family, friends, and strangers. Being called the 'f word' as a child turned into being rejected with the slur as an actress who wouldn't conform—even after transitioning, in a gay-friendly area, the 'f word' yelled with a beer thrown in his face. It doesn't seem to get easier, but reading this in 2026, these actions are hopefully in our past. It's a terrific book; Elliot's story helps a great deal with progress and human rights. The ability to be in the world in ways which seemed impossible—like simply holding hands in public.

2023 / Hardcover / 272 pages