![]() ![]() “I hope what I hoped back then, which is that they see themselves as whole and complete and perfect, just as they are made,” Cruz said. Related: After a difficult time coming out as transgender, Harvard-bound valedictorian Syd Sanders shared how parents can give support. “My So-Called Life” began streaming on Hulu in March, and Cruz is looking forward to the show resonating with a new generation of teens. ![]() And it wasn't until (‘My So-Called Life’ creator) Winnie Holzman plucked me out of nowhere and said ‘Yes, you can do this and here it is.’ It was in that moment that it all became real, that my life was in Technicolor in that moment, from black and white.” Up until I played Rickie Vasquez, my idea of being an actor, of being a professional actor and being paid and being allowed to do this was just that, was just an idea. “I actually know what he would have meant to me because playing him gave me all of those things. “He would have made me feel less alone,” he said. MY SO CALLED LIFE (Mark Seliger / Walt Disney Television via Getty Images)Ĭruz, who was 20 when the show premiered on ABC, reflected on what a character like Rickie would have meant to him when he was in high school. You know, the fame and all of that is lovely, but the freedom that I gave permission for people to have, now that will live on way after I’ve moved on.” So, this was somebody who was truly figuring themselves out, and his arc in those 19 episodes, we get to see him from beginning this journey to actually realizing and being able to communicate the fact that he was gay.”Ĭruz, 47, says the most satisfying part of the role has been hearing from people who say, “You gave me permission to be free you let me see who I was.” “He didn't hang out in the boys’ room he hung out in the girls’ room, because that's where he was comfortable, but he didn't consider himself trans. “I understood that this was somebody who lived in the in-between worlds, like he wasn't fully Black, he wasn't fully Puerto Rican, he considered himself bisexual,” Cruz said. Rickie, who sported eyeliner and a colorful wardrobe, brought a powerful authenticity to the critically acclaimed teen drama, which aired for just one season.Ĭruz recalled Rickie’s description during the audition as “15, half Black, half Puerto Rican, androgynous, like Jodie Foster in ‘Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore.’” And he was doing that for everybody who saw themselves in him.” He was somebody who was demanding to be seen. “I mean, up until that point, we were the sidekicks, and the people that were always thought of after the fact, but Rickie Vasquez forced you to notice him,” he continued. “I have great pride in being that person, but the freedom and the relief and the strength that people were able to garner, just from seeing him, and the feeling of validation they received by his existence - his very existence of being on a national television show about teenagers, that people like him felt seen, and included and were a part of the story,” Cruz told TODAY for our 2021 LGBTQ Pride Month series. In 1994, Wilson Cruz became the first openly gay actor to play an openly gay teen on primetime TV, as Rickie Vasquez on “My So-Called Life.” Nearly three decades later, Cruz says it’s the response to the groundbreaking character that means the most to him.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |