![]() It wasn’t just LGBTQ people – it was LGBTQ people and the people who love them who took up the baton when we were unable to, when we weren’t being hired to tell our own stories or we were afraid to come out and be public about it. A lot of people risked a lot in order to have this conversation. But what the series does really well is to remind us of what happened just within some of our own lifetimes – that, yes, we have come a long way and a lot of work went into getting us here. ![]() I think that there’s a lot that we forget just because that’s the nature of the human experience. How do you think Visible broadens the historical perspective of the LGBTQ experience? Then I came back on to help them continue to bring them who they needed to speak to, and also to make sure that we always had an eye on this not just being a documentary about the LGBTQ movement but really about how television was used as an agent of change by the movement. We came to Apple and Apple brought on two amazing documentary filmmakers, Ryan White and Jessica Hargrave, in order to finish the film and really mold it. That’s how it happened.Įventually we interviewed 60 people on our own, and it became clear that this was going to be more than two hours and that we were going to need some help. We had a long lunch and it became pretty clear really quickly that I had a passion for this subject matter, but also that I had access to many of the people he wanted to interview just because of the nature of my career and my relationship with GLAAD for over a decade, and so I could be very helpful to him. Seven years ago (political activist and Visible producer) David Bender, who had been working on this project for many years, reached out to me because he was interested in interviewing me for the documentary, for obvious reasons (laughs). Here, Cruz talks about the docuseries’ evolution, Rickie as his own personal catharsis, and his issue with studios casting straight actors to play gay as awards bait. During it, Cruz recalls auditioning for My So-Called Life and turning back to late veteran casting director, Mary Goldberg, and telling her: “I don’t know if I’m ever going to see you again, but please tell whoever wrote this that it means a lot to me, that it would have made a difference if I had seen this when I was 15.” Then, as Goldberg replied, the twist he didn’t see coming: “Don’t worry,” she said, “you’re going to be able to tell it yourself.” Through a wide range of archival footage and interviews with actors, journalists and activists, the docuseries investigates how TV has shaped the American conscience. Emmy-nominated filmmakers Ryan White and Jessica Hargrave directed the series. Now 46, the actor reflects on the role as one of the interviewees in the new Apple TV+ five-part documentary, Visible: Out on Television, which, along with Wanda Sykes, he also executive produced. Cruz paved the way for shows such as Will & Grace and Ellen with his portrayal of Rickie Vasquez, the troubled gay Latino high schooler on the teen drama My So-Called Life, which ran for one season in 1994. ![]() ![]() The first openly gay actor to play an openly gay series regular in a leading role on TV, Wilson Cruz has witnessed firsthand the changing tides of TV representation. By Chris Azzopardi | Photo by David Miller ![]()
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