GREG IN HOLLYWOOD

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Greg In Hollywood chats with Peter Paige!

http://www.whiteknot.org/glaadlaphotos/peterpaige.jpgIt’s always great to see the talented actor-writer-director Peter Paige out and about.

The Queer as Folk alum was part of last weekend’s LA Gay and Lesbian Center 39th Anniversary Gala and we had a chance to chat on the red carpet.

Peter, who has done guest spots on Grey’s Anatomy, CSI Miami and Raising the Bar in recent years, will guest star on TNT’s The Closer when the popular show returns for its mini-season on Dec. 6.

So is he playing a good guy or a bad guy?

“You’ll have to see,” Peter teased. “I wear a lot of orange, that should give you some clue.”

(Photo below is Peter on set of The Closer)

Besides the work on episodic TV work, Peter is always working on various film and television projects. He has directed the indie features Say Uncle and Leaving Barstow and he has a pilot called Hard Cover for USA Network that he hopes goes to series.

“I’m doing the hustle,” he said.

Since he has been an out actor since the beginning of his Queer as Folk days, I wanted to get Peter’s thoughts on anti-gay bullying and suicides among gay teens.

“Kids have been killing themselves for hundreds of years because they were gay but it’s just now that it’s coming out,” he said. “It’s heartbreaking but we have to take it as energizing, we have to remember that there’s still work to do.”

That’s one of the reasons why Peter is happy to be a board member of the LA Gay and Lesbian Center where there are so many services for LGBT youth.

“It’s the largest gay and lesbian organization in the world,” he explained. “We have a $50 million operating budget, we provide unbelievable amounts of service and I so respect the way the organization works and how much of that money actually gets to the people who really need it. I can’t say enough good things.”

http://www.sofacinema.co.uk/guardian/images/products/2/103522-large.jpgHe added his own personal experience: “When I moved to LA and was a starving actor and out of my head and didn’t know what to do, I got to come t0 the center and get a therapist for $10 a week. I’ll never forget it. There’s no way for me to repay what that was for me. So I’m happy, happy, happy to be a part of the organization.”

While the center does its hands-on work, Peter is grateful for a show like Glee featuring a gay character like Kurt Hummel and tackling his specific issues including dealing with being bullied by a closeted football player.

“I think it does a lot of good,” he said. “I think any time we’re getting into people’s living rooms showing them complicated, interesting, relevant portrayals of gay people, we’re doing something right. It matters. I know from Queer as Folk that it matters. We gave people a vocabulary they didn’t have and that was important. I had friends who called me up after the pilot first aired who said, ‘I didn’t know gay people could have sex face to face.; I was like, ‘You think we’ve been doing it doggie style all this time? We have all kinds of options.’ Seeing Kurt stand up for himself, it really is a beautiful thing.”

FILE UNDER: Interviews, Out Stars

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One Remark

  1. Peter Paige is great. I thought he deserved an Emmy for his role on Queer as Folk. He was the reason I watched it.

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