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iO Tillett Wright

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iO Tillett Wright
Born (1985-09-02) September 2, 1985 (age 39)
New York City, U.S.
Occupations
  • Writer
  • activist

iO Tillett Wright (born September 2, 1985) is an American author, photographer,[1][2][3][4][5] actor, TV and podcast host, and activist.[6][7][8] After growing up in New York City, he founded street art magazine Overspray and served as its editor-in-chief until 2009. From 2010 to 2012 he was a featured columnist for T Magazine with two regular blogs. In 2016, he co-hosted MTV show Suspect with Nev Schulman.

Early life

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Wright grew up in New York City with his mother, Rebecca Wright, a poet and actress. He attended Brockwood Park School in England.[9][10][11][12] Wright is a transgender man. He documented the struggles of his upbringing in his memoir Darling Days.[13][14]

Career

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Editor

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In 2002, at the age of 17, Wright founded and served as editor-in-chief of a street art magazine, Overspray,[15] until 2009.[16]

Blogger and writer

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From 2010 to 2012, Wright was a featured columnist for T Magazine, at The New York Times where he had two blogs called Notes From The Underground—for which iO reviewed underground performances—and The Lowdown.[17]

Wright's first book, Darling Days, A Memoir[18] was released on September 27, 2016, by Ecco Books, an imprint of HarperCollins.

Wright's second book, Self Evident Truths: 10,000 Portraits of Queer America, has been published on September 15, 2020, by Prestel.

Wright's third book, Oasis: Modern Desert Homes Around The World, has been published in November, 2020, by Clarkson Potter.

Speaker

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In 2012, Wright delivered a talk at TEDxWomen in Washington, DC, called Fifty Shades Of Gay,[19] discussing sexuality and gender as a spectrum. The talk has been viewed over 3 million times.[20]

Photographer

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Wright is a self-taught photographer[21] who, on September 22, 2010, opened Breedings, his first solo show of photographs, at Fuse Gallery in Manhattan. In August 2011, Wright debuted Camila, his second solo show, and Act Like You're Fine, a group show he curated at Tokyo's Vacant Gallery.

Since 2010, Wright has been working on a project called Self Evident Truths that examines Americans, asking them whether they are "other than straight", and photographing respondents who self-evaluate themselves to be "anything other than 100% straight".[22] To date, Wright has photographed 10,000 people in all 50 of the United States.[23] On September 15, 2020, a monograph, called "Self Evident Truths: 10,000 Portraits of Queer America" that includes all ten thousand images, has been published by Prestel, with a foreword by Black Lives Matter co-founder Patrisse Cullors.

Actor

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As an actor, Wright appeared in several independent films, including in a 2004 appearance as a McDonald's worker in Sex and the City, and after an over decade long hiatus, with a part in the feature film Holy New York (2020).[24]

Television host

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In 2016, Wright co-hosted the MTV show Suspect with Nev Schulman.[25][26][27][28]

In 2017, Wright was a co-host with Max Joseph, on Episode 6 of Season 6 of MTV's, Catfish: The TV Show.[29]

Podcaster

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In 2019, Wright produced and hosted The Ballad Of Billy Balls, a true crime investigation of the murder of the love of his mother's life.

References

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  1. ^ Goldin, Nan (October 6, 2016). "iO Tillett Wright". InterviewMagazine.com. Retrieved March 18, 2020.
  2. ^ Felsenthal, Julia (October 4, 2016). "iO Tillett Wright on Chronicling His Gritty Childhood in Darling Days". Vogue. Retrieved March 18, 2020.
  3. ^ Baritaux, Zio (September 28, 2016). "iO Tillett Wright Has Identified As a Boy, a Girl, and a Man, and Traces His Gender-fluid Journey in a New Memoir". i-D.Vice.com. Archived from the original on December 7, 2022. Retrieved May 18, 2023.
  4. ^ iO Tillett Wright (January 2013). "iO Tillett Wright's TED Talk". TED.com. Retrieved May 29, 2016.
  5. ^ "Shades of Gay". The New York Times blog 6th Floor. July 19, 2011. Retrieved May 29, 2016.
  6. ^ "Artist and activist iO Tillet Wright is helping to smash stereotypes". Huck Magazine. Archived from the original on June 8, 2016. Retrieved May 29, 2016.
  7. ^ "Civilities: 8 LGBT names to know in 2016". Washington Post. January 18, 2016. Retrieved May 29, 2016.
  8. ^ Kennedy, Rose (March 7, 2012). "Photographer iO Tillett Wright Intends to Capture the Humanity of the LGBT Community in Self-Evident Truth Project". Metro Pulse. Archived from the original on December 19, 2014. Wright, 26, grew up as a female in Manhattan
  9. ^ Wright, iO Tillett (March 17, 2017). "Op-Ed: A transgender child's dilemma: When to go, and where". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved March 18, 2020. the attendance sheet told them I was assigned female at birth
  10. ^ Tuttle, Kate. "iO Tillett Wright's coming-of-age tale as transgender man". BostonGlobe.com. Retrieved March 18, 2020.
  11. ^ Filgate, Michele (September 28, 2016). "'Darling Days': His anatomy said girl. His reality said boy". Washington Post. Retrieved March 18, 2020.
  12. ^ Abbott, Alysia (October 10, 2016). "Questioning Gender Amid a Chaotic East Village Childhood". The New York Times. Retrieved March 18, 2020.
  13. ^ Ossad, Jordana. "Meet Nev Schulman's 'MTV Catfish' Co-Host iO Tillett Wright". mtv.com. Viacom International Incorporated. Archived from the original on February 13, 2016. Retrieved June 8, 2016.
  14. ^ "Who's who in these Nan Goldin photos?". uk.phaidon.com. Phaidon. Archived from the original on March 24, 2014. Retrieved June 8, 2016.
  15. ^ Tillett Wright, iO. "About Me". darlingdays.com. iO Tillett Wright. Archived from the original on June 20, 2016. Retrieved June 8, 2016.
  16. ^ "Fifty Shades of Gay". 5election. Retrieved May 17, 2020.
  17. ^ "IO Tillett Wright". T Magazine Blog. The New York Times. October 9, 2012.
  18. ^ "Darling Days". IndieBound. Archived from the original on August 28, 2016. Retrieved July 15, 2016.
  19. ^ Wright, iO Tillett (January 30, 2013). "Fifty shades of gay" – via www.ted.com.
  20. ^ Wright, iO Tillett (January 30, 2013), Fifty shades of gay, retrieved May 19, 2017
  21. ^ "iO Tillett Wright". The Citrus Report. Retrieved June 8, 2016.
  22. ^ "Home". SELF EVIDENT TRUTHS. Retrieved May 19, 2017.
  23. ^ Serafini, Marisa (October 17, 2016). "iO Tillett Wright: My Parents Never Once Questioned My Gender". AfterBuzz TV Network. Archived from the original on February 9, 2017. Retrieved May 19, 2017.
  24. ^ "Io Tillett Wright". IMDb.
  25. ^ "Suspect TV Series 2016". IMDb.
  26. ^ "iO Tillett Wright joins Nev Schulman for MTV's "Catfish" spin-off "Suspect" – AfterEllen". AfterEllen. February 24, 2016. Retrieved May 29, 2016.
  27. ^ John Panichella (March 1, 2016). "Nev Schulman and iO Tillett Wright Talk New MTV Show "Suspect"". J-14. Retrieved May 29, 2016.
  28. ^ "Non-Binary Artist iO Tillet Wright Joins Catfish's Nev Schulman For "MTV Suspect" – NewNowNext". LOGO News. Retrieved May 29, 2016.
  29. ^ ""Catfish: The TV Show" Mecca and Tanner - IMDB". IMDb. Retrieved November 18, 2020.
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