When the producers of "Will & Grace" put out a search for a "Capote-esque, small Southern man in a white suit," Leslie Jordan had only to chat for a few seconds before landing the role of Beverley Leslie, a part that required devilish sparring with Karen Walker and earned him an Emmy in 2006.

Although HBO recently shelved "12 Miles of Bad Road," a politically incorrect series he starred in, the 4-foot-11 actor from Missionary Ridge, Tenn., has a good momentum going. He reprises the role of Brother Boy in the TV series "Sordid Lives" — based on the cult film in which Jordan played an institutionalized transvestite who believes he can channel Tammy Wynette — which debuts on the Logo channel July 23. And his one-man show, based on his new memoir "My Trip Down the Pink Carpet," comes to the 14th Street Playhouse for two nights.

Dan Steinberg/STR (ENLARGE)
Leslie Jordan brings the one-man show based on his new memoir 'My Trip Down the Pink Carpet' to the 14th Street Playhouse for two nights.
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ON STAGE Leslie Jordan — "My Trip Down the Pink Carpet." $46.50-$75. 8 p.m. June 22-23. 14th Street Playhouse, 173 14th St., Midtown. 404-733-4750, www.woodruffcenter.org. • Book signing: Free. 7:30 p.m. June 21. Outwrite Bookstore, 991 Piedmont Ave., Atlanta. 404-607-0082, www.outwritebooks.com. RELATED LINKS: • Blog: ATLarts • Find other plays

You recount some happy moments from your childhood in the book. What's one of your favorites?

I was 3 years old and my mom took me to a wedding and they were worried I wouldn't sit still because I was such a hyper little kid, and the bride came down the aisle and I just froze. ... So when Christmas came around and Santa asked me what I wanted, I said a bride doll. This was 1958, and my lieutenant colonel daddy in the hills of Tennessee said "over my dead body am I getting that boy a bride doll." My mother said that was all I talked about so she told my dad if he's not getting that doll you're the one who's going to explain it to him. So my daddy went out on Christmas Eve 1958 and bought his son the most beautiful bride doll. Mother said when I came down the steps and spotted that doll I squatted on the floor and peed. Like a little Chihuahua. I was so excited.

Is your mom proud of you now?

She is. My mom said to me once when I was doing all those one-man shows, she said, "Leslie, I will never understand if I live to be 105 this deep-seated need you have to air your dirty laundry." She said, "Why can't you just whisper it to a therapist?" My mother's very private. She wishes so badly I would do something she could brag about to the girls at Sunday school. My mother will never be like Betty DeGeneres. She will never be marching in a gay pride parade with a sign that says "I'm the proud parent of a gay son."

Do you think media and the entertainment industry help the rest of the country break down prejudices against gay people or reinforce stereotypes?

A little bit of both. They thought on that HBO show I did that my character was not a good representation of the gay community because I played this kind of spiteful older homosexual who loved young hustler rough boys off the Internet. Well, that just is what it is. There's good gay people, there's bad gay people. ... So sometimes I think they go too far trying to make gay people politically correct.