Sheri selected "Actress of a Certain Age" written by Jeff Hiller. He was was actually her bff in college and was just nominated for an Emmy for his role in "Somebody, Somewhere."
ABOUT THE BOOK
A humorous collection of autobiographical essays from comedian and
Somebody Somewhere
actor Jeff Hiller, who shares his journey from growing up “profoundly
gay” in 1980s Texas to his experiences as an inept social worker and how
he clawed, scraped, and brawled to Hollywood’s lower middle-tier.
While
struggling to find success as an actor and pay the bills, something
accidentally happened to Jeff Hiller: he aged. And while it’s one thing
to get older and rest on the laurels of success from the blood, sweat,
and tears of your youth, it’s quite another to be old and have no
laurels. At forty, stuck in a temp job making spreadsheets, the dream of
becoming a star seemed out of reach. But after twenty-five years of
guest roles on TV and performing improv in a grocery store basement, he
finally struck gold with a breakout role on HBO’s Somebody Somewhere, playing Joel—the kind of best friend everyone wishes they had.
In
his book, Jeff dives into the grit and grind of climbing the Hollywood
ladder. It’s a raw and often hilarious tale of the struggles, triumphs,
and humiliations that shaped him into the wonderfully imperfect person
he is today. With a mix of awkward charm and heartfelt honesty, Jeff
shares his journey: growing up very Lutheran in Texas, navigating
bullying as a gay kid, working as a social worker for unhoused youth and
HIV prevention, and the endless ups and downs of being a struggling
actor. For every one of us who have a dream that we’re chasing—and
chasing, and chasing—his is a funny, moving, and utterly relatable
story.ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jeff Hiller is an actor and comedian based in New York City
currently playing Joel opposite Bridget Everett on HBO’s “Somebody
Somewhere”. Other TV: “30Rock” (fun fact: two episodes playing two
different characters!), “Ugly Betty”, “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend”, “Broad
City”, “Difficult People”, “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt”, “The
McCarthy’s”, “Community”, and a lot of shows that no one remembers or
saw. Jeff has played crime solving computer geniuses on both “Law and
Order: Criminal Intent” and “Psych” (Maybe cause of the glasses?). Jeff
was a regular on Ali Wentworth’s series Nightcap, played Antoine Donner
in “
The Real Hotwives…“, and Maggie’s new work friend on the third season of “
Playing House“.
At the movies, Jeff played a snooty waiter to Hugh Dancy and Rose Byrne
in “Adam”, a pissed off waiter to Zoey Deutch and Glen Powell in the
Netflix comedy,
Set It Up
and aged into being a maitre’d opposite Chloe Grace Moretz and Isabelle
Huppert in “Greta”. Jeff also played the Naked Ghost opposite Ricky
Gervais in “Ghost Town” and while the character’s back story was never
revealed, I got the vibe he was a waiter in his living life.
NY stage: Bloody, Bloody Andrew Jackson, Silence! (the musical version of “Silence of the Lambs”), Bright Colors, Bold Patterns, Heartbreak House, Midsummer Nights Dream, Love’s Labours Lost, (NYSF) Lady, Be Good!, Disney’s Hercules and Public Works first NYC production of The Tempest. Regional credits include La Jolla Playhouse, The Old Globe, Bucks County Playhouse and Goodspeed Opera House.
As a comedian, Jeff performed for 20 years at the UCB Theatre in both
New York and Los Angeles, was a story slam host for The Moth, and has
performed several solo shows at Joe’s Pub including “Grief Bacon”, “The
Designing Women Monologues” and “Middle Aged Ingenue”.
Jeff is married to artist Neil Goldberg and is the parent to a beautiful, bouncing cat named Beverly and
a sweet dog named YvonneDeCarlo (she doesn’t have an instagram page…
yet?). Before moving to New York, Jeff was a social worker in Denver,
Colorado working with homeless youth and HIV prevention. No, seriously.
