An Actor's Fight For LGBTQ Rights
People|November 20,2017

WILSON CRUZ

The Star Trek: Discovery actor broke barriers as an openly gay teen in My So-Called Life— now he wants to help others like him

 

Gillian Telling
An Actor's Fight For LGBTQ Rights

The Role That Changed Him

When Cruz became the first openly gay teen to play an openly gay teen—Ricky Vasquez in 1994’s My So-Called Life—his world changed. “It was life-altering,” he says. “People come up to me all the time to tell me how much the show and character affected them, and I always tell them it meant just as much to me. Because that role literally saved my life. It saved my relationship with my family, and it changed the trajectory of my career. It was an honor to play him.”

This story is from the November 20,2017 edition of People.

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This story is from the November 20,2017 edition of People.

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