IO Tillett Wright
iO Tillett Wright is an American author, photographer, TV and podcast host, and activist. After growing up in New York City, he founded street art magazine "Overspray" and served as its editor-in-chief until 2009. At the age of 22, he became a featured columnist for "T Magazine", where he had two regular blogs. In 2016, he began co-hosting MTV show "Suspect" along with Nev Schulman. His first book, "Darling Days, A Memoir", was released on September 27, 2016. In 2019, Wright produced and hosted the podcast "The Ballad Of Billy Balls", in which he  solved the murder of the love of his mother's life. The show was widely regarded as among the best of 2019 and has been optioned by Touchstone for television development, to be produced by Tillett Wright, Jenni Konner and Jon Hamm and co-written by Tillett Wright. "Self Evident Truths: 10,000 Portraits of Queer America" was published on September 15, 2020, by Prestel, and "Oasis: Modern Desert Homes Around The World", has been published on November 10, 2020, by Clarkson Potter. Early life. Wright grew up in New York City with his mother, Rebecca Wright, a poet and actress . He studied in Brockwood Park School in England, UK. Wright is a transgender man. He documented the struggles of his upbringing in his memoir "Darling Days". Career. Editor. In 2002, at the age of 17, Wright founded and served as editor-in-chief of a street art magazine, "Overspray", until 2009. Blogger and writer. At 22, Wright became a featured columnist for "T Magazine", at "The New York Times" where he had two regular blogs called "Notes From The Underground"—for which iO reviewed underground performances—and "The Lowdown". Wright's first book, "Darling Days, A Memoir" was released on September  27, 2016, by Ecco Books, an imprint of Harper Collins. 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. In 2012, Wright delivered a talk at TEDxWomen in Washington, DC, called "Fifty Shades Of Gay," discussing sexuality and gender as a spectrum. The talk has been viewed over 3 million times. Wright has given keynote lectures at Harvard, Stanford, Georgetown, Nike, Postmates, The Atlantic summit, and countless  others. Photographer. Wright is a self-taught photographer, whose first camera was a Pentax KX. Wright's photographs appeared on the cover of "The New York Times" magazine in August 2010, marking the beginning of his public photography career. On September 22, 2010, Wright 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". To date, Wright has photographed 10,000 people in all 50 of the United States. 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. He is an avid participant and organizer within Black Lives Matter. Television personality. In 2016, Wright began co-hosting the MTV show "Suspect" with Nev Schulman. In 2017 , Wright was a co-host with Max Joseph, on MTV's TV show, "" Season 6 Episode 6. Actor. As an actor, Wright appeared in numerous independent films, on "Sex and the City", and after an almost decade long hiatus, the feature film "Holy New York". Podcast & Scripted Television. 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. Created with Zac Stuart-Pontier and Marc Smerling, creators of Crimetown, The Jinx, and more, the show takes listeners on a deeply personal journey through crime , catharsis, and love. In 2020 the show was optioned by Touchstone for development into a television mini-series, to be produced by Jenni Konner and Jon Hamm, produced and co-written by Wright. Wright hosts the first five episodes of New York Magazine's flagship investigative features podcast "Cover Story", Season one, "Power Trip", about abuses within psychedelic therapy and is credited as a producer on the show. The first episode of "Power Trip" was released on November 30, 2021. Personal life. Wright moved to California in 2013.