Wilson Cruz (born Wilson Echevarría; December 27, 1973) is an American actor known for playing Rickie Vasquez on ''

My So-Called Life ''My So-Called Life'' is an American teen drama television series created by Winnie Holzman and produced by Edward Zwick and Marshall Herskovitz. It originally aired on ABC from August 25, 1994, to January 26, 1995. It is distributed by The B ...

'', Angel in the Broadway tour production of ''

Rent Rent may refer to: Economics *Renting, an agreement where a payment is made for the temporary use of a good, service or property *Economic rent, any payment in excess of the cost of production *Rent-seeking, attempting to increase one's share of e ...

'', Dr. Hugh Culber on '' Star Trek: Discovery'', and the

recurring character A recurring character is a fictional character, usually in a prime time TV series, who frequently appears from time to time during the series' run. Recurring characters often play major roles in more than one episode, sometimes being the main ...

Junito on ''

Noah's Arc ''Noah's Arc'' is an American cable television comedy-drama series that aired for two seasons on the Logo network from October 19, 2005 to October 4, 2006. The show centered on the lives of four Black gay friends who share personal and professio ...

''. As a

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late 1 ...

man of Afro-Puerto Rican ancestry, he has served as an advocate for gay youth, especially gay youth of color.

Early life

Cruz was born in

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, to parents born in

Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and unincorporated ...

. His family eventually moved to

Rialto, California Rialto is a city in San Bernardino County, California, United States, 56 miles east of Los Angeles, near the Cajon Pass, Interstate 15, Interstate 10, State Route 210 and Metrolink routes. Its population was 104,026 as of the 2020 Census ...

, where he attended Eisenhower High School, graduating in 1991. At age 19, Cruz

came out 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 ...

to his parents as gay, first to his mother and then his father. While his mother was initially hurt and shocked, she eventually accepted the news. His father, however, threw him out of the house, and Cruz spent the next few months living in his car and at the homes of friends. He later reconciled with his father.

Career

Cruz went to

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywoo ...

to seek work as an actor, intending to be open about his sexuality from the beginning of his career. In 1994 he was cast as Enrique "Rickie" Vasquez, a troubled, gay teen, in the short-lived, critically acclaimed

cult classic A cult following refers to a group of fans who are highly dedicated to some person, idea, object, movement, or work, often an artist, in particular a performing artist, or an artwork in some medium. The lattermost is often called a cult classic. ...

TV series ''

''. This made Cruz the first openly gay actor to play an openly gay character in a leading role in an American television series. Following ''My So-Called Lifes cancellation, Cruz went on to play

J. Edgar Hoover John Edgar Hoover (January 1, 1895 – May 2, 1972) was an American law enforcement administrator who served as the first Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). He was appointed director of the Bureau of Investigation ...

's servant Joaquin in

Oliver Stone William Oliver Stone (born September 15, 1946) is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. Stone won an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay as writer of '' Midnight Express'' (1978), and wrote the gangster film remake '' Sc ...

's film ''

Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...

'' and had a small role in the television movie ''On Seventh Avenue''. In 1996, he appeared with

David Arquette David Arquette (born September 8, 1971) is an American actor and former professional wrestler. He is best known for his role as Dewey Riley in the slasher film franchise ''Scream'', for which he won a Teen Choice Award and two Blockbuster En ...

as Mikey in '' Johns'', about the day-to-day struggles of male

prostitute Prostitution is the business or practice of engaging in Sex work, sexual activity in exchange for payment. The definition of "sexual activity" varies, and is often defined as an activity requiring physical contact (e.g., sexual intercourse, n ...

s. In 2000, he played Victor in the final season of ''

Party of Five ''Party of Five'' is an American television teen and family drama created by Christopher Keyser and Amy Lippman that originally aired on Fox for six seasons from September 12, 1994, to May 3, 2000. The series featured an ensemble cast led by ...

''. He also had a recurring role as Rafael de la Cruz on the series, ''

Raising the Bar Raising the Bar may refer to: Film and television * ''Raising the Bar'' (2008 TV series), an American legal drama television series * ''Raising the Bar'' (2013 TV series), an American reality web series about barmaking * ''Raising the Bar'' (20 ...

''. Cruz's other acting credits include the films '' Joyride'' (1996), '' All Over Me'' (1997), ''

Supernova A supernova is a powerful and luminous explosion of a star. It has the plural form supernovae or supernovas, and is abbreviated SN or SNe. This transient astronomical event occurs during the last evolutionary stages of a massive star or whe ...

'' (2000), '' Party Monster'' (2003),

Margaret Cho Margaret Moran Cho (born December 5, 1968) is an American comedian, actress, LGBT social activist, and musician. She is known for her stand-up routines, through which she critiques social and political problems, especially regarding race and se ...

's ''

Bam Bam and Celeste ''Bam Bam and Celeste'' is a 2005 comedy film starring Margaret Cho Margaret Moran Cho (born December 5, 1968) is an American comedian, actress, LGBT social activist, and musician. She is known for her stand-up routines, through which she c ...

'' (2005), ''

Coffee Date ''Coffee Date'' is a 2006 independent film written and directed by Stewart Wade and released by BrownBag Productions. Originally a short film by Wade, it was expanded into a feature and played at various film festivals. The film stars Jonathan ...

'' (2007), and ''

He's Just Not That Into You ''He's Just Not That Into You'' is a self-improvement book written by Greg Behrendt and Liz Tuccillo that was published in 2004 and later adapted into a film by the same name in 2009. It was a New York Times bestseller and was featured on ''Th ...

'' (2009); the television film ''The Perfect Pitch'' (2002); and guest appearances on the series '' Great Scott!'', '' Sister, Sister'', '' ER'', '' Ally McBeal'', ''

The West Wing ''The West Wing'' is an American serial political drama television series created by Aaron Sorkin that was originally broadcast on NBC from September 22, 1999, to May 14, 2006. The series is set primarily in the West Wing of the White Hous ...

'', ''

'', and ''

Grey's Anatomy ''Grey's Anatomy'' is an American medical drama television series that premiered on March 27, 2005, on ABC as a mid-season replacement. The series focuses on the lives of surgical interns, residents, and attendings as they develop into s ...

''. Cruz starred as Adrian in the film '' The Ode'' (2007), based on the novel ''Ode to Lata'' by Ghalib Shiraz Dhalla. He also appeared/starred in the 2009 movie ''

The People I've Slept With ''The People I've Slept With'' is a 2009 American sex comedy film directed by Quentin Lee. Plot Angela Yang ( Karin Anna Cheung) is a young woman who enjoys sex and has had a number of partners. As mementos, she photographs her lovers and gives ...

''. He plays the openly gay best friend of a

promiscuous woman Promiscuity tends to be frowned upon by many societies that expect most members to have committed, long-term relationships. Among women, as well as men, inclination for sex outside committed relationships is correlated with a high libido, but evo ...

who tries to find out who got her pregnant so that she can get married. Since 2020, Cruz has been a recurring guest on ''

25 Words or Less ''25 Words or Less'' is a party board game in which two teams of players take turns bidding words back and forth, until one team allows the other to try to give that number of clues to their team to try guessing five words from a card in only ...

''.

Personal life

Cruz works with and advocates on behalf of

LGBT ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term ...

youth, especially youth of color. He has volunteered his time as host for the Youth Zone, an online community at Gay.com for LGBT youth. He was the Grand Marshal of the 1998 West Hollywood Gay Pride parade, the 2005 Chicago Pride Parade and the 2019

Fierté Montréal Fierté Montréal, also called Montreal Pride, is an annual LGBT pride festival in Montreal, Quebec. The event was founded in 2007 at the initiative of Montreal’s LGBTQ+ communities after the city's prior Pride festival, Divers/Cité, repositio ...

Pride Parade in

Québec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirte ...

. In 2008, he was the keynote speaker at the

University of Illinois at Chicago The University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) is a public research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its campus is in the Near West Side community area, adjacent to the Chicago Loop. The second campus established under the University of Illinois ...

's Lavender Graduation and Rainbow Banquet honoring graduating LGBT students. Cruz joined the board of directors of

GLAAD GLAAD (), an acronym of Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, is an American non-governmental media monitoring organization originally founded as a protest against defamatory coverage of gay and lesbian demographics and their portrayal ...

in 1997 in order to assist the organization through a leadership transition, and joined the staff of GLAAD in 2012 as a National Spokesperson and Strategic Giving Officer.Davis, Brendan (September 4, 2012). Actor and Activist Wilson Cruz Joins GLAAD Staff. GLAAD, September 4, 2012. Retrieved from http://www.glaad.org/blog/actor-and-activist-wilson-cruz-joins-glaad-staff. Cruz's maternal stepaunt Brenda Lee Marquez McCool was among the 49 victims killed in the 2016

Orlando nightclub shooting On , 2016, Omar Mateen, a 29-year-old man, killed 49 people and wounded 53 more in a mass shooting at Pulse, a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, United States. Orlando Police officers shot and killed him after a three-hour standoff. In a ...

; Cruz stated that she was killed while protecting her son Isaiah, who survived, from the gunfire. In 2020, Wilson was honored on one of the covers of ''

Out Out may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Out'' (1957 film), a documentary short about the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 * ''Out'' (1982 film), an American film directed by Eli Hollander * ''Out'' (2002 film), a Japanese film ba ...

'' magazine's annual

Out100 ''Out'' is an American LGBTQ news, fashion, entertainment, and lifestyle magazine, with the highest circulation of any LGBTQ monthly publication in the United States. It presents itself in an editorial manner similar to '' Details'', '' Esquire' ...

issue, saying Wilson "beautifully weaves his activism inside every aspect of his work".

Filmography and stage

Television

Film

Stage

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cruz, Wilson 1973 births Living people Male actors from New York City American male film actors American people of Puerto Rican descent American male stage actors American male television actors American gay actors LGBT people from New York (state) LGBT rights activists from the United States People from Brooklyn People from Rialto, California 20th-century American male actors 21st-century American male actors Activists from California Activists from New York (state) LGBT Hispanic and Latino American people People of Afro–Puerto Rican descent 20th-century African-American people 21st-century African-American people