by Jeff Hiller
First published 2025
Jeff Hiller grew up Lutheran and gay in 1980s Texas, facing bullying and feeling profoundly different. He moved to Hollywood with acting dreams but spent decades scraping by on guest TV roles and performing improv in grocery store basements. At forty, he found himself making spreadsheets at a temp job, wondering if stardom would ever come. After twenty-five years of struggle, working as a social worker with unhoused youth and in HIV prevention to pay bills, Hiller finally landed his breakout role as Joel on HBO's Somebody Somewhere. In this collection of autobiographical essays, he chronicles his journey through Hollywood's lower tiers with humor and honesty. Hiller writes about the peculiar challenge of aging without success, the daily grind of chasing an elusive dream, and the humiliations that shaped him. His story captures the reality of pursuing acting while working day jobs, dealing with rejection, and maintaining hope through decades of near misses. For anyone chasing a long-held dream, Hiller offers a funny and moving account of persistence, failure, and unexpected triumph.
Genres: biography, essays, american-fiction, autobiography, contemporary, memoir
Vibes: honest, humorous, inspiring, introspective, poignant, relatable
Tropes: coming-of-age, found-family, rags-to-riches, underdog-story
Setting: Texas, Hollywood
Period: 1980s, 21st-century
272 pages · Paperback · Simon & Schuster
Content warnings: homophobia