Alan Cumming: “Instinct” (CBS)
If you want to see how far the pendulum has swung for LGBTQ representation, try the CBS crime procedural “Instinct,” based on a popular series of thrillers by James Patterson. The network used to have a reputation for bland, middle-of-the-road programming. At least until it met Alan Cumming, the quadruple threat actor-musician-writer-activist who’s been slaying audiences ever since he donned lederhosen as the emcee in the hit 1998 Broadway revival of “Cabaret.” On the CBS legal saga “The Good Wife,” Cumming played ornery political fixer Eli Gold with a mischievous gusto that connected with audiences. So the network did something radical, casting him as the hero sleuth on “Instinct,” where he stars as a criminal psychologist who just happens to be gay.
“Everyone at the network was a bit uptight about it the first time around — a gay character as the lead of a cop show, the snappy dialogue, a same-sex relationship,” Cumming tells Alexa. “And what was amazing was that when it went out, all those things were what people liked about it.”
The show has now returned for a second season, enabling Cumming to make a virtue of the things that caused flutters among execs the first time around. “It’s great to be playing on our strengths rather than worrying they might be weaknesses,” he says. The actor prides himself on creating a space that invites people in, before altering their perceptions. He’s an activist who woos with charm and wit.
“I’m from the school of thought that if you don’t make it a big deal it won’t be a big deal to other people,” he says. “I truly believe that all bigotry comes from ignorance and fear, so if you make it not scary and you let people know what you are, they’re not afraid of you.”
Ser Anzoategui: “Vida” (Starz)
Who does a non-binary Latinx actor look to for inspiration as a child? For Ser Anzoategui, who prefers they/them/theirs as personal pronouns, that person was Lucille Ball.
“‘I Love Lucy’ was on my television every single day,” laughs Anzoategui. “I related to Ricky because he was a dude, and I wanted to be him, aesthetically, but I wanted to be Lucy, too. I was, like, ‘Lucy can do anything.’” Indeed, something of Lucy’s grit and determination seems to have rubbed off. “My parents were immigrants to this country [from South America], so there was a concern about how we conducted ourselves in life,” says Anzoategui. “But I always had a drive, a gene that says, ‘I believe in myself so much that I will prove it to the world.’”
You can see Anzoategui proving it as Eddy Martinez in Starz’s multilayered “Vida,” a show that upends the usual tropes of family drama after two Mexican-American sisters return home to mourn the death of their mother, only to discover that her partner was a butch, deep-hearted lesbian. For Anzoategui, the show is a vindication of years of struggle.
Before “Vida,” they were supplementing their income by driving a van, and still falling into debt. Their electricity was cut off, a lien put against their bank account. In order to continue auditioning for roles, a friend offered to cover Anzoategui’s union dues. So when “Vida” came along, they knew it was a make-or-break moment. One lingering frustration? “Because there aren’t a lot of people like me on-screen, some people assume I’m not acting,” says Anzoategui. “There’s a difference between me and Eddy, but that’s not the point. It’s about the performance — does it transport you? That’s what matters.”
Nico Santos: “Superstore” (NBC)
Nico Santos never thought he’d find a space for himself on television. “When I started in entertainment, this kind of career didn’t seem possible at all,” he says. “Yet here I am, able to have a flourishing career that celebrates the fullness of my identities — the fact that I am Asian and Filipino and LGBTQ, and also a femme [man] — it’s astounding to me.”
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The actor, who moved to Oregon from Manila, Philippines in his teens, was living off restaurant tips five years ago. Then came his role as gay Filipino associate Mateo on “Superstore,” the hit NBC comedy, which boasts a diverse ensemble cast. The show was greenlit for a fifth season in March, while plans are also in the works for a sequel to “Crazy Rich Asians,” the global rom-com juggernaut in which Santos played Oliver, the self-described “rainbow sheep” of the powerful family at the movie’s center.
“There are so many stories to pull from within the LGBTQ community and the Asian community, and it’s only now that we’ve been able to explore every tiny part of our community and tell specific stories,” the actor tells Alexa. “People are realizing that we have a right to a seat at the table.” Santos, who just wrapped a short run playing a gay Filipino opposite Susan Sarandon in Jesse Eisenberg’s off-Broadway play, “Happy Talk,” doesn’t worry about being typecast.
“These characters are all very different from each other,” he says. “Their only common thread is that they’re queer and they’re Asian, and as long as the heart of the character is different, with different wants, needs and flaws, that’s what’s important.”
Caitlin Kinnunen: “The Prom” (Broadway)
“I feel my sexuality has always been a fluid thing, and I just didn’t really act on it,” says actress Caitlin Kinnunen. “Then I happened to meet this girl who was incredible.” Sometimes art follows life, sometimes the other way around. On Broadway, Kinnunen has been wowing audiences in “The Prom” as Emma Nolan, a high-school student who wants to bring her girlfriend to her small-town prom. When Kinnunen and her co-star, Isabelle McCalla, performed one of their show-stopping numbers during last year’s Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade, they kept in the steamy kiss that closes the song. Not everyone liked what they saw on TV, but many more did.
“We did get a lot of backlash, a lot of hate, but we received 10 times that amount of love and support from people who felt they’d been seen,” says Kinnunen. “That’s why we do it.”
So does she see herself in her Tony-nominated alter ego? “We’re both awkward and we’re both insecure, but we want to do the right thing,” says the 27-year-old. “Emma’s taught me so much about my own bravery and my own voice.”
Although Kinnunen first arrived on Broadway at the tender age of 16 — in the hit musical “Spring Awakening” — the buzz around “The Prom” has been challenging for a self-confessed introvert. “I don’t like being the center of attention, I don’t like talking about myself, and here I am, the lead of a Broadway show,” she marvels. But onstage, none of that matters. “Theater let me be myself,” she says. “I’ve gotten to be part of a lot of pieces that mean something and have a voice. I just want to keep going onward and upwards with things that say something.”
Murray Bartlett: “Tales of the City” (Netflix)
Armistead Maupin’s revolutionary novel cycle, “Tales of the City,” began life as a 1970s newspaper column centered on a group of primarily LGBTQ friends in San Francisco. Despite the huge popularity of the books, a 1993 TV adaptation generated a swift backlash and was dropped by PBS after a single season (Showtime, then a nascent cable station, picked it up for a second season). But times have changed, and so has television. Netflix has now revived Maupin’s characters, led by Australian actor Murray Bartlett, who plays Mouse Tolliver and joins Laura Linney and Olympia Dukakis, both reprising their original roles.
Fans will know Bartlett best from HBO’s acclaimed “Looking,” a series that sought to capture contemporary gay life in San Francisco. Now he goes back in time to the ’70s, when the city was a magnet for outsiders looking to find a place to call home. Bartlett recalls watching the original “Tales” during his first visit to San Francisco in the mid-1990s and feeling emancipated by its exultant celebration of gay life. “I hadn’t seen such a joyful portrayal of the gay community, on TV or in film,” he recalls. “It was this wonderful manifestation of what I thought our community could be, and also a sense of the possibilities of that.” Although his own coming out was relatively easy — “I had never had big issues about being gay,” he tells Alexa — the 48-year old actor has found the comparisons between him and his character exhilarating.
“I tend to be very romantic and idealistic, and he tends to be as well. He has a very boyish spirit, and is a bit of a man-child,” Bartlett says. “Armistead taps into the common experience of all of us — it’s a real privilege to be able to play roles that I am allowed to bring my personal experience to.”