This Time for Me: A Memoir

Description

An emotional, funny, and fabulous memoir by trailblazing and award-winning Trans actor and activist Alexandra Billings. Born in 1962, Alexandra Billings grew up in a decade in which being herself was illegal. When she started transitioning in 1980, the word "Transgender" was not commonly used. With no Trans role models and no path to follow, Alexandra did what her family, teachers, and even friends said was impossible: Alexandra forged ahead. Spanning five decades, from profound lows to exhilarating highs, This Time for Me captures the events of a pioneering life. An award-winning actor and history-making LGBTQ and HIV/AIDS activist, Alexandra shares not only her own ever-evolving story but also the parallel ways in which queer identity has dramatically changed since the Stonewall riots of 1969. She weaves a true coming-of-age story of richly imaginative lies, of friends being swept away by a plague that decimated the community, of her determination to establish a career that would break boundaries, and of the recognition of her own power.

Alexandra Billings is an actor, singer, author, teacher, and activist who has appeared on numerous television shows, including Amazon's Emmy and Golden Globe Award-winning Transparent. Billings, who has been acting since 1968, has also performed across the United States in hundreds of plays and musicals. She made her Broadway debut in The Nap in 2018 and joined the cast of Wicked as Madame Morrible the following year. Every role played by Billings is thought to be a first for an out Transgender human. She is the recipient of countless awards and holds an MFA in acting. Billings has lived with AIDS since 1995, and her LGBTQ and HIV/AIDS activism stretches across the continent and culminated in her moderation of a panel on Transgender rights in America at the White House during the Obama administration. She twice married Chrisanne Blankenship, whom she met in 1976 in high school, where they costarred in Twelfth Night. Billings has not touched Shakespeare since then-and vice versa. For more information, visit www.alexandrabillings.com.

One of Shondaland's Best Books of April 2022 "Moving...not only a reflection on her success, but also on the way she has put her heart into making this world kinder, better, and more accepting than the one she grew up in." -Shondaland "Straddling eras, Billings toggles between a time when AIDS meant 'funeral after funeral' and [T]rans people lived in the shadows, to a new world in which she made her way to the screen as a boundary-breaking actor. What unfolds alongside a narrative marked by adversity and raunchy humor is a poignant portrait of an artist in search of meaning and personal peace. This begs for an encore." -Publishers Weekly "This Time for Me shines light both on a remarkable personal journey and a painful time in transgender history...blunt truthfulness is a hallmark of her writing...Though she has been mistreated by society over most of her lifetime, her memoir is a model of grace and compassion, showing the world what it means to be misunderstood, and how we can do better to welcome humans of every stripe." -Washington Post "Equal parts heart-wrenching and resilient...It's serving drag, a fraught mother-daughter relationship, a beautiful love story, and some advice from her days of waiting tables. You'll laugh, you'll cry...and cry, and cry!" -Celebrity Book Club with Chelsea Devantez "Alexandra Billings's extraordinary memoir moves from nightmarish, traumatic horror to a magical journey toward self-worth and artistic flowering. Alexandra has given us a treasure of a book full of wit, insight, and love." -Charles Busch, actor, playwright, cabaret entertainer, novelist, and screenwriter "Alexandra's warmth, humor, perseverance, and compassion shine through on every page of This Time for Me. The arts reflect and shape our world every day, and Alexandra has been at the heart of Hollywood's long-overdue Trans revolution. Alexandra brings you along for her moving and human journey of hope undeterred by hardship, grace in the face of indignity, and the kind of radical love that fosters real change-both for ourselves and our society." -Delaware state senator Sarah McBride, author of Tomorrow Will Be Different: Love, Loss, and the Fight for Trans Equality