Jay Ellis Announces Debut Memoir: ‘The Story I’ve Been Wanting to Tell’ (Exclusive)

The actor's book, which describes his imaginary friend and life's misadventures, will hit shelves this summer

Jay Ellis is coming out with a book, and its subject matter is something that many readers will find relatable.

The Insecure and Top Gun: Maverick actor announced, exclusively with PEOPLE, that he will publish his debut memoir. Did Everyone Have an Imaginary Friend (Or Just Me?) will be published by One World this summer.

"I never thought I would write a book. It wasn’t something that I aspired to," Ellis, 42, tells PEOPLE. "But one day during the pandemic, I sat in front of my computer and started writing stories from my childhood."

Did Everyone Have an Imaginary Friend, as the title suggests, introduces readers to Ellis’ childhood invisible pal Mikey, who he describes as a cross between Dwayne Wayne from A Different World and Will Smith from The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. As an only child in a military family, Ellis moved around frequently and invented Mikey to keep him company and help him cope with whatever life threw at him.

"Story after story, the one common denominator in all of it was my imaginary friend, Mikey," Ellis says. "With Mikey popping up in so many of my memories, I started asking questions: Where do imaginary friends come from? Why? What purpose do they serve? What happened to Mikey? Why did he come to me in the first place?"

Related: 'Insecure' 's Jay Ellis: 'I'm Most Proud ... People Who Look Like Me Connect to the Characters I Play'

Across a collection of humorous and nostalgic essays, Ellis will detail misadventures both big and small: his first relationship and subsequent first betrayal, college hoop dreams and even spending a week in a gang. Mikey was also there to help Ellis through more difficult experiences, such as losing his cousin.

"People might not know this, but I’ve loved storytelling and books my entire life," Ellis says. "Stories show us different perspectives of the world we all share, and they reaffirm and teach us new ways to process that world. Stories give a voice to folks who often don’t get to tell their truth or relate to someone like them. Storytelling allows us to suspend disbelief and it lets our imaginations run wild. So now, it’s my turn."

“Did Anyone Else Have An Imaginary Friend (or Just Me)? is not only affirming, but also transporting, a true beacon for both our younger and older selves who were once lonely, and perhaps still lonely at times, but always capable of wielding our immense imaginations,” says Hanif Abdurraqib, author of books like A Little Devil in America, a finalist for the National Book Award. "This is a joyous, celebratory, fluorescent and fully alive book.”

Related: 'Top Gun: Maverick' Star Jay Ellis Says He Flew Tom Cruise's Christmas Cake to His Mexico Vacation

Ellis got his start on the BET show The Game. In 2022, he starred in the blockbuster Top Gun: Maverick alongside Tom Cruise, though his best-known role is as Lawrence, the boyfriend to Issa Rae's character on HBO’s Insecure. Ellis was awarded the NAACP Image Award for that role. His 2024 projects include the thriller and comedy film Freaky Tales, which also stars Pedro Pascal.

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Did Everyone Have an Imaginary Friend, however, shows how imagination and curiosity can help us even in adulthood.

"Did Everyone Have an Imaginary Friend (or Just Me)? is my story, the story I’ve been wanting to tell for a long time without even knowing it," Ellis says. "I hope it finds readers who can relate, whether their guiding inner voice was an imaginary friend or not."

Did Everyone Have an Imaginary Friend (Or Just Me?) will arrive in bookstores on July 9, 2024 and is now available for preorder.

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