Michael James Mansel Willett (born September 11, 1989) is an American actor and musician. Willett is known most for his roles as Lionel in ''

United States of Tara ''United States of Tara'' is an American television comedy-drama created by Diablo Cody, which aired on Showtime from 2009 to 2011. The series follows the life of Tara (Toni Collette), a suburban artist and mother coping with dissociative identit ...

'' and Tanner in '' G.B.F.''. He starred in the

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

show '' Faking It'' from 2014 until its cancellation in 2016.

Early life

Willett grew up in

Fresno Fresno () is a major city in the San Joaquin Valley of California, United States. It is the county seat of Fresno County and the largest city in the greater Central Valley region. It covers about and had a population of 542,107 in 2020, maki ...

, California, and attended

Clovis West High School Clovis West High School (CWHS) is a co-educational, public high school part of the Clovis Unified School District in the well-established suburban community in northeast Fresno, California. It was founded in 1976, and has grades 9-12. Clovis West ...

. From a young age he always wanted to perform, and has stated, "When I was younger I was more uncomfortable with that side of myself, being outgoing and talkative. I realized along the way that was how you get people to know you. I've grown to be a more open person." When he was asked about playing gay characters in multiple roles, Willett responded, "I want to play all different kinds of people; gay or straight. For example, when you go in to play a serial killer, you don't question if it meets your physical or moral standards. You disregard that and play the character. I didn't question it ccepting the'' G.B.F'' role I want to play all different kinds of characters and hope to continue to do so."

Career

Willett is also a singer, listing himself on his

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

as a singer first and actor second. He has stated that after ''G.B.F'' he would like to start writing his own music. Willett's debut album is named ''Diapason'', which he describes as the "full, rich, melodious outpouring of sound. That is exactly how I describe what I do".

Personal life

Willett is

openly gay Coming out of the closet, often shortened to coming out, is a metaphor used to describe LGBT people's self-disclosure of their sexual orientation, romantic orientation, or gender identity. Framed and debated as a privacy issue, coming out of ...

, stating in an interview with '' The Advocate'' published on their website that, "I didn't really ever want to make it a thing ... I never saw it being something that separated me from anyone else. If anything, I found that it has given me an advantage in the industry."

Filmography

Film

Television

Discography

References

External links

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Michael J. Willett
at

{{DEFAULTSORT:Willett, Michael J. 1989 births 21st-century American male actors 21st-century American male singers 21st-century American singers American male film actors American male television actors American gay actors American gay musicians Male actors from Fresno, California LGBT people from California American LGBT singers Living people