Jeff Hiller: Can Faith And Queerness Coexist?
The Sam Sanders Show
KCRW & Sam Sanders
4.9 • 709 Ratings
🗓️ 13 June 2025
⏱️ 53 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Actor Jeff Hiller opens up about his journey from church kid in Texas to queer fame in Hollywood. Jeff and Sam swap stories of growing up gay in conservative Christian spaces, where church was both a sanctuary and a source of shame. They unpack the complicated ways faith and queerness collide. They also break down how Hollywood struggles to tell stories about people who are queer, religious, working class — and simply human.
Jeff Hiller’s new memoir is called Actress of a Certain Age: My Twenty-Year Trail to Overnight Success. It details his breakout role on HBO’s Somebody Somewhere and why success approaching 50 feels better than he ever imagined.
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The Sam Sanders Show is a production of KCRW and Sam Sanders Productions.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hey listeners, it is the season of giving. Get that warm, fuzzy feeling. Make a donation, |
| 0:06.2 | pick out some cozy KCRW merch, or send meals to local food banks. Donate now at kCRW.com |
| 0:13.6 | slash give. |
| 0:30.3 | Hey y'all, it's the Sam Sanders show from KCRW, a show where we ask big questions and offer up hot takes about the pop culture we're obsessed with. |
| 0:33.3 | This week, actor and author Jeff Piller. |
| 0:40.4 | Chances are, you know Jeff from his breakout role as Joel in HBO's Somebody Somewhere. |
| 0:48.4 | In this conversation, Jeff Hiller and I offer up a big hot take on Hollywood and who we see on screen. |
| 0:57.0 | We both agree that most scripted TV doesn't show enough queer people. We both agree it doesn't show enough working class people. |
| 1:00.3 | And we both agree that scripted TV shows maybe don't show enough people who are religious. |
| 1:04.2 | His character on somebody somewhere was all of those things. |
| 1:08.3 | He's a little invite to this thing I do. |
| 1:11.0 | Choir practice. |
| 1:12.9 | Do you know Faith Presbyterian, that church in the Mills Mall? |
| 1:17.3 | Yeah, I'm not really much of a church person. |
| 1:20.2 | No, no, it's church adjacent. It's fun. |
| 1:22.4 | Jeff is out with a new memoir this month called Actress of a Certain Age, |
| 1:27.0 | my 20-year trail to Overnight Success. |
| 1:30.5 | It's all about how in his work and his life, Jeff is trying to normalize seeing queer people |
| 1:36.5 | who don't fit the industry norm. That story took Jeff from wanting to be a youth pastor growing up |
| 1:42.3 | in Texas to where he is now, proving to the entertainment |
| 1:46.1 | industry and the viewing public that queer Christians exist. |
| 1:51.6 | All right, let's just get into this chat. |
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