Biography

It's difficult for me to imagine Justin as a real person. He's so thoroughly a character created for serial television that his behavior, though dramatically justified on Queer as Folk, would register as childish, self-obsessed and absurd if it were displaced into the reality I'm familiar with. How could I be friends with someone who has nervous breakdowns at spilled marinara sauce, assaults high school enemies with small firearms, and has been systematically and repeatedly betrayed, lied to, condescended to, and humiliated by his boyfriend for four years? Were I placed into the TV wonderland of Queer as Folk, on the other hand, Justin and I would f**k once, realize we were twins separated at birth, and try to get our parents back together using elaborately quirky schemes. I'd most like to tell Justin to calm down. Maybe get him into a yoga class.

What I've learned most while working on Queer as Folk has come really indirectly, less from playing Justin Taylor than from dealing with press, corporations, advertisers, the gay community, and fans of the show. I've learned the necessity of constantly realigning your perspective and the importance of standing up for yourself and being constantly aware that people are going to skew and censor you in order to make the idea of you better represent whatever agenda they've decided you'll promote. And it's all done so matter-of-factly, its such the status quo, that it becomes very simple to accept even though it completely corrodes the soul.