Dec 15, 2006   | COMMENTS     

Being an out gay actor in L.A. isn’t easy, but with a successful career in television, openly gay actor Wilson Cruz, known for his roles on “My So-called Life” and the recent gay hit “Noah’s Arc,” continues to work and play in Hollywood.

Taking a break from the West Coast gay club scene, Cruz will be appearing in D.C. at the Southwest dance spot Club Lime, on Friday, Dec. 22, at 11 p.m.
“I love D.C.,” Cruz says. “I love the fact that the African-American and Latino gay community are very active here. And for me, who is a little bit of a political junkie, visiting the Smithsonians and all the memorials is always a highlight.”

Though this is Cruz’s first time headlining a club event, the Los Angeles resident is not generally inclined to spend his weekends reading in bed.

“I can’t really say I have a specific scene,” says Cruz. “I went to a very cool place downtown [in L.A.]. It was mixed. Straight, gay, bi, black, Latino, Asian, very cool music. That’s more my scene. When I’m in New York I’ll go to the Roxy, I’ll go out with my brother in Hell’s Kitchen. I like to have a good time, I like to get my groove on every now and then.”

Lime, formerly known as Abyss, is a straight club that hosts one gay night each week called Fresh Fridays. Ivan, the president of Trade Promotions and organizer of Fresh Fridays, has previously hosted events at other D.C. venues, including Club Five, Republic Gardens and Fur.

“Our events are trying to keep a balance between the gay community and keeping a flavor of DL/Trade,” said Ivan, who goes exclusively by his first name because of his conservative day job. “We like Wilson because he has not been overexposed. This is his debut to the D.C. club scene. He will be meeting and greeting, probably doing autographs, showing his support for the event.”

CRUZ FIRST GAINED national fame as the gay teenager Rickie Vasquez on the much loved 1994 ABC sitcom “My So-Called Life.” When the show was cancelled in 1995, Cruz went on to roles in movies and TV shows, most notably a stint on Fox’s ’90s drama “Party of Five.”

The actor recently re-emerged with a guest role on the popular Logo show “Noah’s Arc,” which is about a group of gay black men in L.A. Cruz played Junito, an HIV-positive doctor who is a love interest to one of the show’s leads. Though Cruz’s time on the show is over, he thinks the show is only going on to better things.

“It’s a big deal to see a gay person on TV,” Cruz says regarding “Noah’s Arc.” “It’s an even bigger deal when you see a gay person of color, and here’s a whole cast. I’m done with it, but I think they’re continuing to find their way and it’ll just get better.”

Cruz’s next big project is his movie “Coffee Date,” which has already been released in L.A. and will be given theatrical showings in D.C. in the future. (The movie had a brief showing in D.C. at this year’s Reel Affirmations Film Festival.) “Coffee Date” is the story of a straight man named Todd (Jonathon Bray) who strikes up a friendship with Cruz’s gay character Kelly after meeting him for a blind date under the assumption that Kelly is actually a woman.

“It’s about a friendship that’s created between a gay man and a straight man,” Cruz says. “I loved doing it, because I think it’s a conversation about the relationships we have with straight men, and how complicated they can be.”

THOUGH CRUZ HAS continued to find worthwhile dramatic roles he recognizes that things are not always so easy.

“The harder part of being a gay Latino actor is the gay part, not the Latino part,” he says. “There’s this whole practice within Hollywood where they prefer to hire straight actors to play gay roles because they think it’s harder or more impressive when it’s really not.

“It can be a challenge for someone like me to find work. Knock on wood, I haven’t gotten any bad reviews yet. Once I get the job, I try to be as authentic as I can. I tend to be pretty assertive when I look for work, I’m not laying down or ...