Fictional Selves

About the book

From the beloved actor and star of Twin Peaks, Blue Velvet and Sex and the City comes a candid and deeply personal memoir.

'charming, self-effacing, completely authentic, and slyly wise' Ethan Hawke

'fascinating and insightful...big-hearted and revealing...I loved this book' Carrie Brownstein

In this highly anticipated memoir, the beloved actor and star ofTwin Peaks, Blue Velvet, Sex and the City and more shares his utterly original account of his offbeat journey in Hollywood, his battles with fear and fame, and the projects that shaped him―and created a cult icon.

Everywhere I go I am followed by a mystery man. He looks like me but―not quite. On talk shows, I sip coffee on couches and pretend to be him; on social media, I put on his mask to engage in suburban silliness. And of course, we work together. But for him, the movies and TV shows never end. Where does this guy―this Kyle MacLachlan―end and where do I begin? And is he even real? And, holy mackerel…am I?

To be in the black suit, or not to be? Kyle MacLachlan’s funny, moving, and playfully self-aware memoir charts a career that could belong to no other. Plucked from obscurity to star in David Lynch’s Dune, the Hollywood blockbuster that never was, MacLachlan rebounded with a startling performance in Lynch’s provocative masterpiece Blue Velvet, which would mark him as a master of the unusual and ultimately lead to his career-defining role as Agent Dale Cooper on the TV sensation Twin Peaks.

Fictional Selves is a book of doppelgangers, with MacLachlan mirrored by his own prodding ego (“Other Kyle”), the iconic characters he inhabited, and the ones that eluded his grasp but gave him a profound and surprising lens onto himself as a person and a performer. Taking us to the heights of critical success for Blue Velvet to the depths of the backyard pool in his infamous (and delightful) Showgirls love scene, MacLachlan brings us into the mind of one of the most distinctive actors of his generation, offering profound insights on collaborators like David Lynch, Laura Dern, Dennis Hopper, Anthony Hopkins, and more. Featuring lessons learned the hard way about ambition, love, and fatherhood, this memoir is an honest look into the remarkable―and often unpredictable―life of an enduring and endearing Hollywood icon.