I love my blackness... I love my queerness.
My father is from Jamaica, my mother is from the U.K., but I was adopted as an infant by a really wonderful family in Alberta, Canada. What we refer to as 'Texas of the North.'
At 16 years old, I was signed to my very first modeling agency. That was my first real introduction to the entertainment industry. It really opened my eyes to a world that was available to me.
I never really felt like I quite fit in. Other boys were playing sports and into hunting and stereotypically masculine activities. I was always more attracted to the arts. I loved to dance, I loved to sing, and I always knew I would be an actor. I don't really know why.
At 21 years old, I found myself in Vancouver, and that's where I got the part for my first movie. I was sitting in a restaurant, and the director came up to me and asked me to read for his film. I really took it with a grain of salt. It was the creepiest casting situation, probably. It turned out that it wasn't.
A couple of my favorite podcasts are 'Still Processing' from 'The New York Times,' Oprah's 'Super Soul Conversations,' RuPaul's 'What's the Tee?'
It's so important to recognize that there have been fabulous queer artists all throughout our history.
It's important to be able to have representation for black queer women, because I feel like there's not much representation for them in the mainstream.
I think that Linda Perry is such a beautiful example of strong female representation in the industry.
I am an 'other.' As a queer, biracial man who occupies and embodies many different intersections of 'otherness,' I've spent my entire life seeking reflections of myself in the world around me to connect and relate to.
People often ask me why I choose to primarily play queer characters, and my answer is that as a queer man, I choose to align myself with projects in which I can be of service for a purpose greater than myself: to be for an audience of queer people of color, something I didn't have the privilege of seeing as a young man.
I'm grateful to the creative allies behind 'UnReal' who are willing to stand behind disenfranchised communities of people worldwide and help to tell their stories.
I watched some shows like 'The Simple Life' and 'The Anna Nicole Smith Show,' but I hadn't really watched 'The Bachelor' until I was cast on 'UnReal.'
Every fan interaction I have when someone tells me they can look to their television screens and see themselves reflected in me is a dream come true.
Coming of age as a young queer man of color, it was a rarity to see any reflections of myself portrayed in mainstream media. Turning on the television or going to the movies was an escape into the imagination, yet it did not allow me a place of true connection to what I was viewing on the screen in front of me.
The more queer characters I play over my years of working as an actor, and the more I see other young artists stepping up with the same intention I have, to make space for the voices of a generation of people who may not fit the status-quo, the more it inspires me to keep going.
Each time I turn on my own television screen and see reflections of myself in other courageous young LGBTQ-identifying actors and artists, I know that the dream is expanding. That would not be possible without LGBTQ Pride. Celebrate yourself, and the world will catch up.
