Who Are Elliot Page’s Parents? The Actor Said He Hadn't Spoken to His Father in Years

The 2023 film Close to You, co-written by and starring Elliot Page, follows a transgender man named Sam who returns home to visit friends and family for the first time since their transition. The relationship between Sam and his father is particularly complicated and touches on themes of love, rejection, and acceptance. Elliot has called the film “one of the best experiences I’ve ever had.”

The movie took huge creative liberties by having actors improvise the majority of their lines. While some actors would struggle with this, Elliot was able to pull from his own experiences. The actor previously shared that his family rejected him after coming out. Additionally, the actor said he hadn’t spoken to his father in over five years.

Here, we explore Elliot Page’s parents and the relationship of the family.

Elliot Page’s parents are Martha Philpotts, a teacher, and Dennis Page, a graphic designer. Elliot was assigned female at birth and given the name Ellen. In 2014, Elliot came out gay, and in 2024, the actor came out as transgender.

Elliot Page was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. His exact ethnicity isn’t known, but Ethnicity of Celebs reports that Elliot is English, Scottish, Irish, and Welsh.

The Umbrella Academy actor has been open about his family not accepting him being a part of the LGBTQ community. In a 2023 interview with LA Times, Elliot said that the family wasn’t accepting when he came out as gay.

This led to a strained family dynamic for several years. The toll was even heavier on Elliot who turned to self-harm and food restriction to cope.

Things improved between Elliot and his mom when he came out as trans. He shared that his mom felt a “sense of relief” and apologized for her past actions.

"I think it’s really inspiring that she’s changed and become such an advocate and ally,” Elliot shared. "It took her time to break out of the ideas she grew up with."

While promoting his Pageboy memoir, Elliot explained that his mother’s being raised in a religious family (her father was a minister) played a role in her initial reaction:

“Ultimately, so much of it came, I think, from a place of concern and love and wanting to protect you from the scary things in the world. Now, she couldn’t be more supportive of her son and I think in so many ways is relieved, because she really saw me struggle a lot.”

Sadly, Elliot and his father, Dennis, do not appear to have a relationship. He told the LA Times in its 2023 profile that they hadn’t spoken in over five years. A lot of this has to do with his father supporting those who “attacked” and “ridiculed” him on a “global scale.”

"When [right-wing author] Jordan Peterson was let back on Twitter after he'd made a horrific tweet about me, he posted a video, just his head filling the frame. Staring menacingly into the camera, he said, 'We’ll see who cancels who.' My dad 'liked' it," Elliot revealed.