Billions star Asia Kate Dillon forced to seek restaurant work as acting jobs have dried up after 11 years
The Orange Is the New Black actor has made a public appeal for part-time hospitality work, revealing opportunities in television and film have dried up despite their success in major Hollywood productions.
Asia Kate Dillon has revealed they are looking for work in the hospitality industry after their acting career slowed dramatically – despite spending more than a decade appearing in major television shows and Hollywood films.
The 41-year-old actor, best known for playing Taylor Mason in the financial drama Billions and Brandy Epps in Netflix’s Orange Is the New Black, has shared a statement on social media explaining that they needed to return to customer service work.
Asia, who is non-binary and uses they/them pronouns, said acting opportunities had become increasingly scarce, particularly for transgender, non-binary and gender-nonconforming performers.
They wrote: “Now, like for many, many performer colleagues of mine – particularly those of us who are trans/nonbinary/gender nonconforming – acting work has all but diminished, and I’m in need of service work once more.”
The actor explained they had previously spent years working in restaurants and other customer-facing roles before becoming financially independent through acting in 2015.
Their first hospitality job was at Ithaca Bakery in New York, where they worked weekends while still a teenager.
Asia wrote: “In the year 2000, when I was 15, I got my first job in food service. It was a weekend gig at the (locally) famous, always bustling Ithaca Bakery.”
They described beginning their shifts by sorting freshly baked bagels before restocking refrigerators, maintaining the coffee station, cleaning and greeting customers.
Asia added: “I loved it.”
Before finding success on television, they worked in positions ranging from dishwasher and food runner to floor manager while auditioning for acting roles.
They wrote: “Ranging from dishwasher to food runner to floor manager, I continued working in food and general customer service, alongside any acting gigs I could rustle up, until the fall of 2015 when I was finally able to make the transition to a full time income stemming from just my acting work.”
Asia added: “I have worked exclusively in theater, film and TV for the last eleven years.”
Their breakthrough came with a recurring role as Brandy Epps in Orange Is the New Black, the Netflix prison drama that starred Taylor Schilling as Piper Chapman and Uzo Aduba as Suzanne Warren.
The series became one of Netflix’s most prominent original productions, running for seven seasons before ending in 2019.
Asia subsequently joined the Showtime drama Billions in 2017, playing Taylor Mason, a highly intelligent financial analyst who became a central figure in the series.
The programme starred Paul Giamatti as prosecutor Chuck Rhoades and Damian Lewis as billionaire hedge fund manager Bobby Axelrod.
Asia appeared across six seasons of the drama, becoming one of the first openly non-binary actors to play a non-binary character in a major American television series.
The actor also appeared alongside Keanu Reeves, 62, in the 2019 action film John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum, playing the Adjudicator, a representative of the High Table.
Their other television credits include Younger, Master of None and the animated science-fiction series Gen: Lock.
More recently, Asia starred in the 2025 independent drama Outerlands, directed by Elena Oxman, playing Cass, a non-binary gig worker in San Francisco who struggles to make ends meet.
The film follows Cass as they take responsibility for a colleague’s young daughter after the child’s mother fails to return. The cast also includes Louisa Krause and Lea DeLaria.
Asia has also been an outspoken advocate for greater recognition of non-binary performers within the entertainment industry.
In 2020, they challenged the use of gender-specific acting categories at the Screen Actors Guild Awards, now known as the Actor Awards.
In a letter calling for changes to the awards system, Asia wrote “separating people based on their assigned sex, and/or their gender identity, is not only irrelevant when it comes to how an acting performance should be judged, it is also a form of discrimination.”
In their social media statement on their struggle to find acting work, Asia emphasised they remained enthusiastic about returning to an industry in which they had previously spent much of their working life.
They wrote: “I love customer service. I love creating welcoming environments for people to relax in and connect with each other. I love food and drink. I am passionate and curious, and a great teammate.”
Asia acknowledged technology used in modern restaurants and hospitality businesses might require some adjustment after more than a decade away.
They wrote: “I imagine the hurdle to reentry will be learning the new POS systems, but I’m a quick study. I’m available for part time, night and weekend work.”
The actor concluded their public appeal by writing: “Thanks in advance for your consideration.”
They signed the message with their full name, Asia Kate Dillon, followed by the pronouns “they/them”.
