“Now, I don’t have to answer the questions all by myself and I get to share this moment with all of these incredibly talented and diverse representatives of our community. “I was the most visible and the only one willing to talk about it, all the questions were coming to me,” he said about the early career as an actor. The Hollywood landscape has been more open when it comes to LGBTQ representation, but during the days of Ricky, Cruz was one of a few and he felt “an enormous amount of pressure to try and be all things for all people.” That is an impossible feat, and he certainly shouldn’t have felt that way - but the pressure was there nonetheless. ![]() “You know, I’ve been saying for 25 years… I’ve been building an army and when I look at the people who are now part of this rainbow of representation on TV and film - people like Billy Porter, Mj Rodriguez and Sara Ramirez - these are people that are telling three-dimensional stories about our real lives.” Jared Leto, Claire Danes, Cruz, Devon Gummersalk, and AJ Langer in “My So-Called Life” Shutterstock “For me now, at 45 years old, to look back after 25 years, and having worked not just on screen, but behind the scenes, to create an atmosphere where these stories can be told and where LGBTQ people of color are being hired to tell these stories, it’s a dream come true,” he said. At the time, he was about 20 years old, and he said that the character became a catalyst for more representation for LGBTQ stories to be told - especially for young LGBTQ people of color.Īs the show closes in on its 25th anniversary, Cruz still recognizes the significance of Ricky and the impact he has had on television and the lives of many members of the LGBTQ community. Cruz made history as the first openly gay actor to play an openly queer character in a leading role on network primetime television series. Knight voice the main characters in “The Bravest Knight” Huluįor many, Cruz is known for a specific role: Ricky Vasquez on the canceled-too-soon ABC series My So-Called Life, which ran for one season in 1994. If we teach these values to them now, they will take them with them into adulthood.” He added, “Imagine the world we can create when we’re talking about young people who were taught courage and inclusion and acceptance and perseverance at this young age.” Cruz, Storm Reid and T.R. “I learned a sense of community from those shows, I learned about the very basics of human interaction. “The lessons we teach our children at this young age stay with them forever,” he pointed out. With that, he stresses how important these types of shows are for kids. We’ve seen them succeed.”Ĭruz has a special connection with family programming as he learned to speak English from shows like Sesame Street and The Electric Company. Those streaming services and networks are doing it because it’s in their best interest to tell these stories because they know that there is an audience for them. I think this generation of LGBTQ people and families are saying, ‘No, we want to be visible, we want to be seen,’ and they’re demanding and urging networks and streaming services to tell these stories. He continued, “You feel that your story isn’t important, that it’s not as valued as the heterosexual, cisgendered norm. “When you don’t see yourself depicted, when you don’t see your stories being told in the media, it’s not just that you’re not there, it’s not like there’s just a void, it’s that you are invisible.” “I’ve been saying this about LGBTQ characters for decades, which is we long - whether we’re LGBTQ or black or brown or Asian - to see ourselves,” Cruz told Deadline. For Cruz, shows like The Bravest Knight and Andi Mack with LGBTQ characters in major roles have “come out of the closet” with marriage equality, providing more visibility for queer characters in family settings.ĭGA Vows To Keep Fighting For An "Inclusive Society" Despite Supreme Court's Rulings On Affirmative Action & LGBTQ+ Rights With a cast that features the likes of RuPaul, Wanda Sykes, Christine Baranski, Dot Marie-Jones and others, the series is certainly continuing family series with LGTBQ elements. In addition to going on Sir Cedric’s farmer-to-knight journey, the series introduces the couple’s adopted 10-year-old daughter Nia (Storm Reid), who is training to become a brave knight herself. ![]() Knight), who has grown up and married the prince of his dreams, Prince Andrew (Cruz). ![]() The series follows a knight, Sir Cedric (voiced by T.R. Hugh Culber on CBS All Access’ Star Trek: Discovery as well as Hulu’s recent animated fantasy series The Bravest Knight, another series that continues to move the needle with LGBTQ representation. For more than two decades, Cruz has been taking roles on the screen and stage, and his plate has been full as Dr.
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