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 aired on ABC from August 25, 1994 to January 26, 1995. Set at the fictional Liberty High Sch ...

'', 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 f ...

Junito on '' Noah's Arc''. 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 ...

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

Early life

Cruz was born in

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

, to parents born in

Puerto Rico ; abbreviated PR), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, is a Government of Puerto Rico, self-governing Caribbean Geography of Puerto Rico, archipelago and island organized as an Territories of the United States, unincorporated territo ...

. 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 LGBTQ people's self-disclosure of their sexual orientation, romantic orientation, or gender identity. This is often framed and debated as a privacy issue, ...

to his parents as gay, first to his mother and then to 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) * Hollywood ...

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 is a group of Fan (person), fans who are highly dedicated to a person, idea, object, movement, or work, often an artist, in particular a performing artist, or an artwork in some List of art media, medium. The latter is often cal ...

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 attorney and law enforcement administrator who served as the fifth and final director of the Bureau of Investigation (BOI) and the first director of the Federal Bureau o ...

's servant Joaquin in

Oliver Stone William Oliver Stone (born ) is an American filmmaker. Stone is an acclaimed director, tackling subjects ranging from the Vietnam War and American politics to musical film, musical Biographical film, biopics and Crime film, crime dramas. He has ...

's film ''

Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 until his resignation in 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as the 36th vice president under P ...

'' 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, producer, and retired professional wrestler. Arquette's breakout came with his starring role as Dewey Riley in the slasher film '' Scream'' (1996), a role which he later reprised i ...

as Mikey in '' Johns'', about the day-to-day struggles of male prostitutes. In 2000, he played Victor in the final season of ''

Party of Five ''Party of Five'' is an American teen and family drama television series created by Christopher Keyser and Amy Lippman that originally aired on Fox from September 12, 1994, to May 3, 2000, with a total of six seasons consisting of 142 epis ...

''. He also had a recurring role as Rafael de la Cruz on the series, '' Raising the Bar''. Cruz's other acting credits include the films '' Joyride'' (1996), '' All Over Me'' (1997), ''

Supernova A supernova (: supernovae or supernovas) is a powerful and luminous explosion of a star. A supernova occurs during the last stellar evolution, evolutionary stages of a massive star, or when a white dwarf is triggered into runaway nuclear fusion ...

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

Margaret Cho Margaret Moran Cho (born December 5, 1968) is an American stand-up comedian, actress and musician. In her Stand-up comedy, stand-up routines she critiques social and political problems, especially about race and sexuality. She starred in the Ame ...

'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 stand-up comedian, actress and musician. In her Stand-up comedy, stand-up routines she critiques social and politica ...

'' (2005), '' Coffee Date'' (2007), and '' He's Just Not That Into You'' (2009); the television film ''The Perfect Pitch'' (2002); and guest appearances on the series '' Great Scott!'', '' Sister, Sister'', '' ER'', ''

Ally McBeal ''Ally McBeal'' is an American legal comedy-drama television series created by David E. Kelley that originally aired on Fox from September 8, 1997, to May 20, 2002. It revolves around Calista Flockhart in the title role as a lawyer working ...

'', ''

The West Wing ''The West Wing'' is an American 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 House, where t ...

'', '' Noah's Arc'', and ''

Grey's Anatomy ''Grey's Anatomy'' is an American medical drama television series focusing on the personal and professional lives of surgical internship (medicine), interns, residency (medicine), residents, and attending physician, attendings at the fictional ...

''. 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, 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 ...

''. He plays the best friend of a promiscuous woman who tries to find out who got her pregnant so that she can get married. Since 2017, Cruz has portrayed Dr. Hugh Culber on the science fiction series '' Star Trek: Discovery''. Since 2020, Cruz has been a recurring guest on '' 25 Words or Less''. In 2023, Cruz became the new chair of the board of directors for GLSEN.

Personal life

Cruz works with and advocates on behalf of

LGBTQ LGBTQ people are individuals who are lesbian, Gay men, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or questioning (sexuality and gender), questioning. Many variants of the initialism are used; LGBTQIA+ people incorporates intersex, Asexuality, asexual, ...

youth, especially youth of color. He has volunteered his time as host for the Youth Zone, an online community at

Gay.com Gay.com was a chat, personals, and social networking website catering to the LGBT community. The site was a digital brand of Here Media Inc. In addition to community features, the site featured LGBT-related news and features. As of September 20 ...

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, reposi ...

Pride Parade in

Québec Quebec is Canada's largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, New Brunswick to the southeast and a coastal border ...

. 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, United States. Its campus is in the Near West Side community area, adjacent to the Chicago Loop. The second campus established under the Universi ...

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

GLAAD GLAAD () is an American non-governmental media monitoring organization. Originally founded as a protest against defamatory coverage of gay and lesbian demographics and their portrayals in the media and entertainment industries, it has since ...

in 1997 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, 29-year-old Omar Mateen shot and killed 49 people and wounded 53 more in a mass shooting at Pulse, a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, United States before Orlando Police officers fatally shot him after a three-hour standoff. I ...

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

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

'' magazine's annual Out100 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 20th-century African-American male actors 20th-century American LGBTQ people 20th-century American male actors 21st-century African-American male actors 21st-century American LGBTQ people 21st-century American male actors American actors of Puerto Rican descent American gay actors American male film actors American male stage actors American male television actors Eisenhower High School (Rialto, California) alumni GLAAD Media Awards winners LGBTQ Hispanic and Latino American people LGBTQ people from New York (state) LGBTQ rights activists from California LGBTQ rights activists from New York (state) Living people Male actors from Brooklyn People from Rialto, California People of Afro–Puerto Rican descent