9781439153482
My Trip Down the Pink Carpet share button
Leslie Jordan
Genre Biography
Format Paperback
Dimensions 5.00 (w) x 8.00 (h) x 0.70 (d)
Pages 272
Publisher Simon & Schuster Adult Publishing Group
Publication Date June 2009
ISBN 9781439153482
Book ISBN 10 1439153485
About Book

A hilarious romp from small-town USA to the pink carpet of Hollywood with the beloved Emmy-winning actor, playwright, and gay icon

Leslie Jordan is a small man with a giant propensity for scene stealing. Best known for his bravura recurring role as Karen's nemesis, Beverley Leslie, on Will & Grace (for which he won a Best Guest Actor in a Comedy Series Emmy in 2006), he has also made memorable appearances on Ally McBeal, Boston Public, Monk, and Murphy Brown.

Raised in a conservative family in Chattanooga, Tennessee, Leslie — who describes himself as "the gayest man I know" — boarded a Greyhound bus bound for LA with $1,200 sewn into his underpants and never looked back. His pocket-sized physique and inescapable talent for high camp paved the way to a lucrative and varied career in commercials and on television. Along the way he immersed himself in writing for the stage, and his one-man testimonials have become cult off-Broadway hits. But with success came dangerous temptations: a self-proclaimed former substance abuser and sexaholic, Leslie has spent time in jail and struggled to overcome his addictions and self-loathing.

My Trip Down the Pink Carpet is a rollicking, fast-paced collection of stories, served up with wit, panache, and plenty of biting asides. Filled with comically overwrought childhood agonies, offbeat observations, and revealing celebrity encounters — from Boy George to George Clooney — it delivers a fresh, laugh-out-loud take on Hollywood, fame, addiction, gay culture, and learning to love oneself.

Reviews

Publishers Weekly

Actor and playwright Jordan, who calls himself "the gayest man I know," makes a raucous, energetic and occasionally wistful tour guide to his life in Hollywood and out. Readers may know Jordan best as "Beverley Leslie," his Emmy-winning recurring role on TV sitcom "Will & Grace," but Jordan spends remarkably little time dishing about that, or any other, job. Instead, he focuses much of the book on his personal life, especially the challenge and isolation of growing up gay in Chattanooga, Tenn., dealing with alcohol addiction and learning to accept himself. Sober since 1997, readers might wish for more details of his "drunken-addled sex life, a soap opera unto itself" (his harshest anecdote is a catty story about buying underwear for Beverly D'Angelo), but Jordan is funny and entertaining throughout. His grateful and optimistic tone is likable, and he proves most memorable when he gets serious; a story about joining an addiction recovery group populated entirely by heterosexual men sums up his appeal: vulnerable, wise, eye-opening and welcoming, Jordan should connect with just about anyone who's felt like an outsider.
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