This is Fresh Air. I'm Tonya Mosley. Writing a book never felt quite right for Academy

Award-nominated actor and producer Elliott Page, although he'd been asked to write one

on more than one occasion. The problem was, he says, is that he could never sit still long

enough to complete the task. His brain consumed by his discomfort and his own skin.

But now that he has come into his full self as a transgender man, Page has completed what he

felt was impossible. Writing a memoir titled Page Boy about the joys and perils of fame

including pressures from Hollywood to conform into the gender binary. His memoir is full of intimate

stories from secret love affairs to battling body image and his relationship struggles with family.

Page is known for his roles in movies like Juno, Inception, and X-Men. In 2020, he came out as a

trans man. And soon after, his character and the third season of the Netflix series, The Umbrella

Academy, also transitioned. In addition to being an actor, Page is a documentary filmmaker.

In 2019, he directed, There's Something in the Water, a film that explores the disproportionate

effects of environmental damage on Black Canadian and First Nations communities in Nova Scotia.

Page was born in Halifax and was a child actor in Canada before his breakout role

in the 2007 film Juno, in which he earned an Academy Award nomination. He has also been nominated

for several awards, including a Primetime Emmy and two BAFTA awards. In 2021, he became the first

openly trans man to appear on the cover of Time magazine. Elliot Page's new memoir Page Boy is

out this week. Elliot, welcome to Fresh Air. Thank you so much, hello. You know, every time I sit

down to read a memoir, I think about something that writer Casey Gerald has said that he does not

recommend writing one unless your life depends on it. Basically, that the need to share his truth

was just that urgent and that dire. I'm wondering with you, writing this book feel like it was an

imperative to you. And if so, why? Well, I think there's a couple components here. I think in many ways,

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