Kiss & Tell With Wilson Cruz

By Keith Boykin, in pop culture
Monday, December 11 2006, 12:21AM

If you watched LOGO TV this weekend, there's a good chance you saw Wilson Cruz. That's because he's one of the cast members on Logo's annual Queer Year special, which started airing over the weekend. Wilson joins Bruce Daniels, Amanda Bearse, Neil Giuliano, Jenny Shimizu and Sarah Warn on the month-long special. But of course that's not the first time we've seen him on the new network.

Just a couple of months ago, Wilson was playing the role of Junito, the hot and sexy HIV positive doctor who was dating Ricky (Christian Vincent) on Noah's Arc. And just a few weeks ago, he was hosting LOGO's coverage of The Out 100 Awards from New York. A few days after that, he was down in Atlanta to receive his own Clik Award. The man is everywhere, and this month he's going to be even more ubiquitous. So what better time to sit down with him for a one-on-one interview?

INTERVIEW WITH WILSON CRUZ

Keith Boykin: Hi Wilson, thanks for doing the interview. So how’s it going out in LA?

Wilson Cruz: Actually in San Francisco right now. I’m here for the opening of Coffee Date opening here this weekend.

Keith Boykin: What’s your role?

Wilson Cruz: The movie’s about this straight man and everyone in his life is gay and he ends up being set up on a date with me thinking that I’m a woman because my name is Kelly and it’s about the friendship he and I create under the circumstances.

Keith Boykin: Are you originally from LA?

Wilson Cruz: No I’m originally from Brooklyn, New York.

Keith Boykin: What does your family think about you now that you’re a successful actor?

Wilson Cruz: [Laughter]

Keith Boykin: Why are you laughing?

Wilson Cruz: Cause I just think of myself as an actor who’s trying to make it through. My parents are very, very proud. I’m first generation born in the U.S. My parents were born in Puerto Rico. I don’t know that they had dreamed that big for themselves. So my brother and I now are actually working actors. And I think they take a little bit of the credit, as they should. They made us dreamers…so they get some credit for that.

Keith Boykin: Who’s your brother?

Wilson Cruz: My brother Josh Cruz, who lives in New York, is an aspiring actor as well. Much younger than me and much better looking.

Keith Boykin: I find that hard to believe.

Wilson Cruz: Well it’s true.

Keith Boykin: How did you enjoy working on Noah’s Arc?

Wilson Cruz: I enjoyed it a lot. I’ve known [director] Patrik [Ian Polk] for 12 years. Before he was even…he was straight out of college and working as a P.A. and hadn’t even made his first film, and we became good friends and our careers started to take off, and we had been looking for an opportunity to work together for years, and our schedules never matched up…He wrote the role specifically for me and asked if I felt comfortable playing this HIV positive character. And I didn’t even hesitate…I was really excited and proud to be able to play that role…and I got to be cute…I got to be the one to kiss the boy, and kissing Christian Vincent is not a bad gig.

Keith Boykin: No, I imagine it's not. So how did you like filming in Canada?

Wilson Cruz: I’d never been to Canada and I didn’t really get to explore it at all while I was there because I was doing a musical…in LA so I would only be in Vancouver for like two days…so I wasn’t really there very much. I think I walked through the park once. It could have been Kansas City for all I know.

Keith Boykin: Any word yet on season three?

Wilson Cruz: They haven’t received word yet but I know that I will probably not be back, and if I am back it will be like for a moment, because Patrik has decided to have Christian be single. But I’m pursuing other opportunities over there.

Keith Boykin: What does that mean?

Wilson Cruz: Well, I’ve made it very clear to them that I’m willing to work with the network on other projects and I’m actively pursuing that.

Keith Boykin: You’re doing the annual Queer Year review, which will be on almost everyday from now until the end of the month. How was the experience?

Wilson Cruz: It was cool. I think they put together a really dynamic panel and you couldn’t shut us up after awhile. Neil Giuliano was incredibly intelligent and had a lot to say. And Bruce Daniels had a lot to say. I hadn’t seen Amanda Bearse in years. We knew each other when I was like a child and she had always been very motherly and very protective of me…and it was fun to hang out with her…she’s irreverent and it worked well for the panel, and we tackled an [assortment] of topics.

Keith Boykin: What was the highlight of the year...for the gay community?

Wilson Cruz: I think this year was the year we finally learned that the closet truly does corrupt you and your life. We had the Mark Foley incident and the Ted Haggard incident…It brought it home not only for the straight world but even for the gay community, that this is what happens why you let shame dictate what you do and how you live your life. So hopefully people will walk away from this year and start to be authentic and genuine.

Keith Boykin: What was the low point of the year?

Wilson Cruz: I guess that would be it. [Laughter] [Pauses to think.] That’s a good question. I’m so optimistic, Keith, I never realized how optimistic I was. I don’t’ know what that would be….They [Foley and Haggard] really are the high point and the low point for different reasons. You know I like to take lemons and make lemonade.

Keith Boykin: Who’s your favorite actor?

Wilson Cruz: My favorite actor right now?

Keith Boykin: However you want to answer it.

Wilson Cruz: My favorite actor. I really enjoy Gael García Bernal. He’s lovely to look at and he’s authentic. Always interesting to watch. I will watch Meryl Streep read the phone book if I have to. I think she’s fascinating. That’s pretty obvious…I think Patrick Wilson was really great in Little Children this year. And Forest Whitaker. Oh my God, Forest Whitaker in the Last King of Scotland was transcendent. If he doesn’t win Best Actor this year it’s a travesty.

Keith Boykin: Well first he has to get nominated.

Wilson Cruz: I can’t imagine. It was a frightening performance. Have you seen it?

Keith Boykin: No I haven't. I had to talk about it once on "My Two Cents" and hadn't seen it yet so I just kind of talked around it instead...

Wilson Cruz: Oh my God, Keith you have to go. It’s so good.

Keith Boykin: Then I definitely will. So, do you prefer doing TV or film?

Wilson Cruz: I prefer to work. Here’s the thing. I just prefer to do interesting projects. I don’t really differentiate between the two mediums. At this point television has become so good that it’s like making little movies…I don’t really have a preference. It’s always about the stories and the character. On TV, it’s really fun to take a character and watch that journey happen week after week…And I think also you’re given some freedom in that…And on a film you have a fixed amount of time and you know exactly what the middle and end are going to be…I don’t come to them any differently than I do the other.

Keith Boykin: What about live theater?

Wilson Cruz: It’s my favorite.

Keith Boykin: To do or see?

Wilson Cruz: Both. There’s something to be said about the challenge of making it real or fresh every night. It can be kind of exhausting but that’s the challenging part…and how do I let go of last night. How do I try to be honest about tonight. And I love that…And the audience is right there and they let you know if it works or if it doesn’t.

Keith Boykin: A lot more to memorize though.?

Wilson Cruz: I don’t even think about memorizing anymore. I don’t even memorize. I don’t sit down and memorize my lines. I rehearse and rehearse and somehow they make it into my brain…if you’re rehearsing and you do the work you’re exploring the emotions and what you feel at the time…Some times you watch an actor and you’ll see that they memorize the lines but there’s nothing going on underneath.

Keith Boykin: Do you have any hidden talents?

Wilson Cruz: I don’t know hidden it is but I played the clarinet, the flute and the sax. It’s what I did first in junior high, elementary school, high school, and through college…That was my first love....And I’m a really good kisser.

Keith Boykin: Uh oh, you shouldn’t have said that. Now everybody’s going to want to have proof.

Wilson Cruz: But it’s true. I only speak truth.

Keith Boykin: [Laughter] So I guess Christian is very lucky then?

Wilson Cruz: He tried to play it very professional...But I didn’t want him to forget his lines. [Laughter]

Keith Boykin: How do you stay in such great shape?

Wilson Cruz: To steal a phrase from Mario Lopez, I don’t eat anything…

Keith Boykin: Mario Lopez said that?

Wilson Cruz: [Wilson explains a scene from Nip/Tuck where Mario Lopez walks into a shower stall and another man compliments him on his body.]

Keith Boykin: Oh, I saw that on the Internet. Mario Lopez was hot! But back to you.

Wilson Cruz: I work out everyday. I go to the gym everyday like it’s my job. It sort of is my job at this point. And I like going…I run every morning and I go to the gym. I eat right…

Keith Boykin: Do you have a trainer?

Wilson Cruz: I don’t now. I had a trainer right before I did Coffee Date. But I only used him because I have skinny legs because I was a dancer for so long….I just like to go [to the gym] by myself. It’s my time.

Keith Boykin: Do you listen to music on your Ipod at the gym?

Wilson Cruz: God yes. I’m obsessed with my John Legend and my Corrine Bailey Rae and my Amos Lee.

Keith Boykin: Were you an athlete in school?

Wilson Cruz: God no. I was not an athlete. I was in the marching band, I was in show choir and I was in the theater. That was my whole life. That and school. I knew pretty quickly what I wanted to do. There was never much of a doubt.

Keith Boykin: And you were a dancer before too?

Wilson Cruz: I was dancing throughout all that.

Keith Boykin: But you said something before about having skinny legs because you were a dancer, and I thought that dancing usually makes your legs bigger.

Wilson Cruz: This is what happened. I had these big ole legs and then I stopped dancing. In order for me to get big legs again I have to do an enormous amount of weight and I just don’t have the energy. But I mean [my legs] they’re fine…

Keith Boykin: What advice would you give to aspiring actors?

Wilson Cruz: Do the work. People are always saying I want to be an actor and I want to do TV and I want to do film. That’s great but in the meantime it’s about doing the work and taking every opportunity that comes along…You can take all these classes and they’re all going to give you different ways to do the same things…and the only ways you’re going to find out…is by doing it…it’s one of the only jobs I can think of where you learn on the job…In the end the only instrument you have to learn how to play is you, and you’re the only one who’s going to know how to do it.

Keith Boykin: I do a series on my web site where I ask prominent people to tell me five of their favorite things. Can you tell me five of your favorite things?

Wilson Cruz:

1. My favorite place to visit is San Juan, Puerto Rico.
2. My favorite song is Over the Rainbow.
3. My favorite time of the week is Sunday morning reading the paper with a cup of coffee.
4. My favorite book right now is The Audacity of Hope
5. My favorite TV show right now is Grey’s Anatomy.

Keith Boykin: Well, that’s it. Thank you so much Wilson.

Wilson Cruz: Thank you.

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