| Gale Harold | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Birth name | Gale Morgan Harold III |
| Born | July 10 1969 Decatur, Georgia |
Gale Morgan Harold III (born on July 10, 1969 in Decatur, Georgia, United States) is an American actor, who rose to fame for his portrayal of Brian Kinney on the Showtime TV Series Queer as Folk.
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Early life
He has an older sister and a younger brother. Eschewing publicity, Harold's upbringing is a mystery, aside from his own admission that growing up was a "bizarre Pentecostal" experience. Jack London, David Bowie and J. R. R. Tolkien's Gandalf have often been credited as influences in his younger years. After graduating from The Lovett School in Atlanta, Georgia, Harold attended American University in Washington, DC, on a soccer scholarship. He began a Liberal Arts degree in romance literature, only to depart after a year and a half following a conflict with his coach. Harold then moved to San Francisco, California, United States to pursue an interest in photography at the San Francisco Art Institute. He worked a variety of jobs including positions as a mechanic and a construction worker. In 1997, friend Susan Landau, daughter of actor Martin Landau, suggested Harold try acting. He relocated to Los Angeles and began a 3-year period of intensive drama study. At 28, he was accepted into the Actors Conservatory Program with the classical theater company A Noise Within. In his theatrical debut, Harold appeared as "Bunny" in Me and My Friends. In 2003, he starred in Wake, produced by Susan Landau Finch and directed by her husband Henry Leroy Finch. The movie featured a cameo by Martin Landau and the lead part of Kyle Riven was written specifically for Harold.
Queer as Folk
In 2000, Harold landed the controversial role of unapologetic homosexual lothario, Brian Kinney, a central character on Showtime's popular gay drama Queer as Folk, a breakthrough performance that included the first depictions of male homosexual sex on American television. Brian Kinney's character, as well as the show itself, elicited quite a great deal of controversy. It was alternately lauded and criticized for its explicit depictions of gay club life. The show lasted for five seasons, ending in 2005.
After Brian Kinney
Harold had the lead role of Special Agent Graham Kelton in the short lived FOX series Vanished in 2006, but his character was killed off in the seventh episode and appeared only as a corpse in the eighth episode -- in which Harold nominally starred but was actually replaced by a new leading man, Eddie Cibrian. Cibrian received top billing only on the very last episode to be broadcast. The show's ratings plummeted after Harold's character's death, and the last two episodes (in a new timeslot on Friday night at 8 p.m. Eastern time) limped on with half the previous viewership. Although the loss of viewership has also been attributed to the so-called "Friday night death slot," it is useful to note that the show also ranked last in its time slot, that it declined further from its first Friday airing to its second, and that Fox's replacements in the slot (including a rebroadcast of a three year old Jim Carrey movie Bruce Almighty) did considerably better. Harold also guest-starred as Wyatt Earp in two episodes of the HBO series Deadwood and appeared twice on the CBS series The Unit. Alongside childhood idol David Bowie, Gale is an associate producer of the upcoming documentary Scott Walker: 30 Century Man. Gale Harold returned to the New York stage in Tennessee Williams' play Suddenly Last Summer on November 15, 2006, in the role of Dr. Cukrowicz ("Dr. Sugar"). Harold's co-stars in this Roundabout Theatre repertory production, a limited engagement running through January 20, 2007, were Blythe Danner and Carla Gugino. Gale appeared in November 2007 in a guest role on ABC's Grey's Anatomy as Shane, a paramedic and white supremacist with a swastika tattooed on his abdomen, who is injured in an ambulance crash.
Film credits
- Andrew Barrington, Jr. : Falling For Grace (a.k.a. "East Broadway")(2005)
- Harold : The Unseen (2005)
- Chaz : Life on the Ledge (2004)
- Elliot: Fathers and Sons (2005)
- Kyle Riven : Wake (2003)
- Phil Barbara : Rhinoceros Eyes (2003)
- Morrison Wiley: Particles of Truth (2003)
- David Ryan : Mental Hygiene (2001)
- Booker O'Brien : 36K (2000)
Television credits
- Shane : Grey's Anatomy (2007) Season 4 Episode 9 "Crash Into Me -- Part One and Two"
- Graham Kelton : Vanished (2006) episodes 1 - 8
- Wyatt Earp : Deadwood in episodes "Leviathan Smiles" and "Amateur Night" (2006)
- Rory "The Missile" Radio Station Manager: The Unit in episodes "Dedication" and "Unannounced" (2006)
- Peter Bacanovic : Martha: Behind Bars (2005 made-for-TV movie)
- Dr. Garret Lang : Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (1999) in episode "Perfect" (2003)
- Geoff Beddoes : Street Time (2002) in episodes "Get Up, Stand Up" and "Gone" (2003)
- Brian Kinney: Queer as Folk USA (2000-2005)
- Himself : Larry King Live (1985) in April 2002
Theater credits
- Dr. Cukrowicz : Suddenly Last Summer (2006-2007)
- Josh : Uncle Bob (2001)
- The Misanthrope by Molière
- Cymbeline by William Shakespeare
References
External links
- Gale Harold at the Internet Movie Database
- AfterElton.com: Documenting a Musical Outsider; interview with Stephen Kijak and Gale Harold
