Luke is filming the Netflix Christmas movie “Single All the Way”, directed by Michael Mayer. He plays the role of James.
Luke está filmando la nueva película de Nadal por Netflix “Single All the Way”, dirigida por Michael Mayer. Interpreta el papel de James.
Luke sta girando il nuovo film di Natale di Netflix “Single All the Way”, diretto da Michael Mayer. Interpreta il ruolo di James.
Luke tourne le film de Noël Netflix “Single All the Way”, réalisé par Michael Mayer. Il joue le rôle de James.
18/06/2017
The famous Canadian actor from hit television drama Brothers and Sisters Luke Macfarlane come out as gay in 2008. The news surprised his fans and the media thoroughly. However, Macfarlane has been enjoying his romantic life just well.
Today we discuss on Luke Macfarlane’s relationships and affairs!
Hi. I’ve just updated the press section with the Italian translation of the French article Luke Macfarlane: “Une série peut aider à changer les mentalités”. Thanks to Alessandra.
Hola. Acabo de añadir en la sección de prensa (Press) la traducción en italiano del artículo francés Luke Macfarlane: “Une série peut aider à changer les mentalités”. Gracias Alessandra.
Ciao. Ho appena aggiornato la sezione stampa (Press) con la traduzione in italiano dell’articolo francese Luke Macfarlane: “Une série peut aider à changer les mentalités”. Grazie ad Alessandra.
Salut. Je l’ai juste mis à jour la section de presse (Press) avec la traduction italienne de l’article français Luke Macfarlane: “Une série peut aider à changer les mentalités”. Merci à Alessandra.
26/02/2011
Célèbre pour son rôle de Scotty Wandell dans “Brothers & Sisters”, diffusé tous les jours sur TF 1, Luke Macfarlane est aussi connu pour être l’ami à la ville de Wentworth Miller.
Grâce à la série, vous êtes reconnu dans le monde entier. Cela vous fait-il peur?
Non, car je suis encore très loin d’être une star ! J’en suis seulement à mes débuts. “Brothers & Sisters “, c’est en quelque sorte un pas sur le chemin pour devenir une célébrité.
Avez-vous remarqué un changement depuis l’arrivée de Barack Obama à la présidence?
Oui, mais il faut savoir qu’il a une tâche très lourde et beaucoup de choses à réaliser. Mais je crois sincèrement qu’il va aider la communauté homosexuelle.
On annonce moins d’épisodes dans la prochaine saison. Est-ce un signe que «Brothers & Sisters» est en danger?
Je ne sais pas. Deux éléments sont essentiels aujourd’hui pour la survie d’un feuilleton télévisé: «Est-ce que ça va marcher ? Les chiffres d’audience seront-ils bons?» Ce que je peux vous dire, c’est que certains acteurs ne reviendront pas. La série sera même très différente!
Cela se passe bien avec Calista Flockhart, votre partenaire?
J’adore Calista ! C’est une de mes actrices favorites! C’est très agréable de travailler avec elle. Je vous avoue que j’étais intimidé lors des premiers tournages, car c’est une grande star… Elle est quand même mariée à Harrison Ford ! (Rires.) Mais j’ai vite découvert que c’était quelqu’un de très simple et humble.
Calista, Rob Lowe, Sally Field… Avec autant de célébrités dans la série, n’y a-t-il pas des disputes comme sur le plateau de «Desperate Housewives»?
Non, non. Nous connaissons tous les bonnes manières. (Rires.) Nous nous entendons très bien depuis le début. Nous sommes même devenus des amis et profitons souvent d’une soirée pour nous retrouver dans un restaurant. Il n’y a donc pas de conflits.
Retrouvez l’intégralité de l’interview dans Ciné-Télé-Revue du 24 février 2011.
Traduzione in italiano, grazie ad AlessandraFamoso nel ruolo di Scotty Wandell in “Brothers & Sisters”, trasmesso tutti i giorni su TF1, Luke Macfarlane è noto anche per essere il compagno di Wentworth Miller.
Grazie a questa serie tv lei è conosciuto in tutto il mondo: questo le fa paura?
No, perché sono ancora molto lontano dall’essere una star. Sono solo agli inizi. “Brothers & Sisters “ è in qualche modo un passo sulla strada per diventare una celebrità.
Perché ha accettato il ruolo di Scotty Wandell?
Prima di tutto perché avevo bisogno di trovare un lavoro. (Risata). Durante una conversazione il produttore della serie, che è mio amico, mi ha chiesto di unirmi allo staff. All’inizio pensavo che fosse per 5 episodi.
E l’avventura continua ancora oggi…
Sì, e me ne stupisco io per primo!
Stupito? Il suo personaggio affascina i telespettatori…
Certo. Come dico spesso, in tv si impiegano molte caratteristiche di se stessi. Tuttavia Scotty ha più pazienza di me e molti più problemi. (Risata).
Come spiega il successo di “Brothers & Sisters” in Europa?
“Brothers & Sisters” racconta storie di grandi famiglie, e in questo continente è sempre un argomento importante e molto popolare.
Lei ha fatto il suo coming out nel corso di un’intervista nel 2008. Da allora i giornali scandalistici non smettono di considerarla “fidanzato” con Wentworth Miller (“Prison Break “)… La cosa la infastidisce?
Le dirò una cosa: io non parlo mai della mia vita privata. E per rispondere alla sua domanda, no, non sono seccato.
Il matrimonio gay è ancora lontano dall’essere accettato negli Stati Uniti: come si spiega questo blocco?
Per cominciare trovo geniale che paesi come il Belgio, la Spagna e il Canada accettino l’unione tra due persone dello stesso sesso. Penso che un giorno lo faranno anche gli Stati Uniti, ma ci vorrà un po’ più di tempo. Speriamo di riuscire a velocizzare questo processo grazie a serie tv come “Brothers & Sisters”.
Ha notato qualche cambiamento con l’arrivo di Barack Obama alla presidenza?
Sì, ma c’è da dire che lui ha dei compiti molto pesanti e varie cose da realizzare. Comunque sono convinto che aiuterà la comunità omosessuale.
Si parla di un minor numero di episodi nella prossima stagione: significa che «Brothers & Sisters» è in pericolo?
Non lo so. Al giorno d’oggi sono essenziali due elementi per la sopravvivenza di un telefilm: «Funzionerà? L’audience sarà buona?» Quel che posso dire è che alcuni attori non torneranno. La serie stessa sarà molto diversa!
Come si trova con Calista Flockhart?
Adoro Calista! E’ una delle mie attrici preferite! E’ molto bello lavorare con lei. Vi confesso che ero intimidito le prime volte che abbiamo girato insieme, perché è una grande stella del cinema… Ed è anche sposata con Harrison Ford! (Risata.) Ma ho scoperto molto in fretta che è una persona molto semplice e umile.
Calista, Rob Lowe, Sally Field… Con così tanti attori famosi nella serie, non ci sono discussioni come nello staff di «Desperate Housewives»?
No, assolutamente. Tutti quanti conosciamo le buone maniere. (Risata.) Siamo andati d’accordo perfettamente sin da subito. Siamo diventati addirittura amici e spesso organizziamo una serata per riunirci in un ristorante. Non ci sono conflitti.
Intervista completa su Ciné-Télé-Revue del 24 febbraio 2011.
25/10/2010
When it comes to gay characters and storylines, Brothers and Sisters is among the select few that gives them prominence on mainstream television. And this is thanks, in large part, to out actor Luke Macfarlane.
The relationship between Kevin Walker and Scotty Wandell on Brothers and Sisters, one of the best-rating dramas on American television, has arguably been a watershed for gay rights. Their courtship, intimacies and eventual wedding have played out in millions of lounge rooms around the world. As Kevin and Scotty prepare to have a baby, Canadian actor Luke MacFarlane, who plays Scotty, talks about his character, the politics of the show, and craft of acting.
It’s been a pretty interesting year for Brothers and Sisters. Talk about what stands out to you with regards to the storyline.
I guess this year was a big storyline for us with this, kind of, ‘How do two men have a baby?’ story, which I think is an important area. And they’ve been taking their time with it and addressing the details really carefully so [I’m] really, really impressed with that story line and the boldness of [US network] ABC going out there and telling their story.
Certainly something big was playing out back in the US with regards to the politics and everything too.
Yes, absolutely. Totally. Well, there seems to always something terrible happening to the gays in the media, so … there’s always some big story about it. Actually, I remember hearing this controversy when Adam Lambert who was refused an interview or something like that. Do you remember the story too?
Yeah. I remember the season of American Idol and also following up, yes.
Right. And I remember listening to some talk radio program and they were saying the “ABC and the news media coverage, they’re not letting Adam Lambert go on and it is just a shame, it’s awful”. And I felt like calling him in and saying, “ABC has these incredible gay story lines that are being represented in both Brothers and Sisters and Modern Family”.
Do you guys feel like a certain sense of responsibility because you are on the front lines with that particular kind of topical theme that’s happening?
Sure. I mean, everybody takes their storylines really seriously, so yeah, in some sense I think we’re doing good things. I was actually friendly with one of the lawyers that was responsible for this new federal case which is trying to overturn some of the legislation at federal level of proposition 8. And he said that quite often, Brothers and Sisters was used as a conversation pointer, that it was a sort of good representation of a gay healthy couple to others. That was encouraging.
How long do you think that it will be for gays who want to ever really be something accepted by everyone?
Who knows? You know, all you can continue to do is look forward and generally, politically speaking, all political movements kind of move towards inclusion, so we’ll see it one day.
Has it restricted you in terms of your career?
Sure, absolutely. I mean, one never knows. I’ve been fortunate enough to be on a show that’s lasted for more than three episodes, which is not often the case in television. So, there’s certainly concern about what life will bring after, but, you know, life’s short. Then you die.
Are there any other projects looming that you’d like to work on?
I began in the theatre and that’s always been my passion. I went to Juilliard and started in New York, so actually, right before we go back to work, I’m going to New York to work on a musical which is new for me. And it’s actually a one-man musical.
A one-man musical? Excellent. Singing and dancing?
No, no dancing. I cannot dance. I wish I could. So, this is something that a good friend of mine has written and he’s a fantastic writer and I’ve done his plays before and hopefully this will have a life of its own, and I can go right from Brothers and Sisters to my touring one-man show.
This is quite a different thing.
It is, yes.
What kind of emotion you have in one side and then the other one?
Well, the theatre is great. I mean it is really the actor’s medium. Television is the producer’s medium and film is the director’s medium. So, I think actors love going back to the theatre so they can kind of get back to a little bit of the control.
And do you know Scotty very well?
I’m getting to know him better. It took me a little bit of a while to get to know him, but I think I started off in a very different place than I ended up now. But that’s part of the joy of getting to figure a character out over a long period of time.
Source: SX Australia
03/10/2010
TV’s sexy taboo-buster, Luke Macfarlane
Luke Macfarlane is the sexiest gay on TV — an out actor playing a well-rounded gay character on network television. The 30-year-old Canadian plays Scotty Wandel on the ABC serial drama Brothers and Sisters (now in its fifth season on Global), a character who has smashed taboos south of the border.
The commitment ceremony between him and his partner Kevin Walker (played by Matthew Rhys) was the first-ever gay marriage by continuing characters on a US network (broadcast the same year as California’s notorious Prop 8 banning same-sex marriage). Last season, Kevin and Scotty began planning for a child through surrogacy. And the two men’s relationship is portrayed as physically passionate; no missing nor chaste kisses on this show.
Macfarlane is humble in the face of such controversial fare.
“I think the writers are doing something controversial. I’m just saying the words on the page,” he says. “I do feel a part of it, though; it’s wonderful.
“I’m quite proud of the fact that we told the story of how two people meet, how they fall in love, how they break up, how they fall in love again and how, ultimately, they build a life together, including kids, and integrate it into a wild family.”
Last season ended with a bang, a bloody car crash that will impact greatly the sprawling Walker family headed by matriarch Nora (Sally Field). Leads Rob Lowe and Emily VanCamp are gone and this season picks up one year later. “It’s been a year of tragedy for the family,” says Macfarlane. “A lot has happened since the car accident. In a strange sort of way it sets a tone that’s different for the show, it’s a little bit darker.”
MacFarlane is looking forward to taking his character into new territory. Given the Walker family’s penchant for drama, in many ways, Scotty and Kevin’s relationship is the most normal on the series. “Scotty is kind of the perfect guy, and Kevin and Scotty have almost the perfect relationship. But we’re actually in the middle of taping an episode that calls all that into question, which I’m pretty thrilled about. I’ve always thought that Scotty lets Kevin get away with way too much shit.”
Macfarlane was born and raised in London, Ontario. After high school, the LB Pearson School of the Arts, he bypassed Toronto and headed straight to New York to attend Juilliard to study drama. He graduated in 2003. LA soon beckoned. “So I’ve never did the whole Canadian thing.”
He did nab a leading role in the 2008 CBC miniseries Iron Road. “I had a great experience. I had always wanted to go to China. And we had an excellent cast, who I’ll never get to work with again: Peter O’Toole, Tony Leung and Sam Neill.
“I remember from my childhood these epic CBC miniseries… so it felt like I am a part of it, now.”
Notwithstanding Canadian progress on gay rights, Macfarlane is continually struck by how different the US and Canada are. “They do really feel like two different places,” he says. “The stereotype is true — Canadians are nicer.”
Is he worried about American reaction to that observation? “Oddly, I think Americans sort of pride themselves on not being nice,” he says, laughing. “I don’t think they’re going, ‘Ah, gee. I wish we were nicer.’”
Kevin, are you listening?
Macfarlane came out to the media in 2008. “It’s odd being put in the situation where you feel you have to talk about it, that it’s the right thing to do to talk about it.
I certainly never regret it, but
I guess I was a little bit naïve to think that once you come out, you are done. I think it’s something that’s been said before, but coming out is almost a lifelong process. It’s been very strange for me.
“Not that I don’t want to talk about my sexuality, I guess I’ve just run out of things to say.”
Despite his leading man good looks, Macfarlane may have narrowed his career options by coming out. He remains hopeful, however. “The only thing I can say is that I don’t know…. Society tends towards inclusion — in my lifetime it certainly has. So I’ll be part of that movement towards [gay actors] being leading men, because that’s the direction everyone wants to go.”
Source: InToronto
27/09/2010
The boys of Brothers & Sisters on the joys of siblinghood
I HAVEN’T got any brothers, but after meeting some of the guys from Brothers & Sisters, who were a barrel of irreverent laughs, I almost wished I did.
I say “almost” because Dave Annable, Matthew Rhys and Luke Macfarlane reminded me that large families are almost inevitably full of conflicts and squabbles. In other words: “God gave us our family; thank God we can choose our friends.”
In fact, in Annable’s dressing room, where a video game system was prominently set up, the 30-year-old, who is getting married to actress Odette Yustman this autumn, joked that he was trying to get co-star Calista Flockhart and her husband, Harrison Ford to adopt him.
For TV’s Walker family, the drama will never die down, especially not as Brothers & Sisters goes into its fifth season.
The new season fast-forwards to a year after the last season’s climatic car-accident ending. Rob Lowe’s character Robert McCallister is dead, which means wife Kitty (Calista Flockhart) is single again; Sarah (Rachel Griffiths) is in a steady relationship with Giles (Luc Laurent); Justin (Annable) comes back from Afghanistan a changed man; Kevin (Rhys) has a new career as a defense attorney and hubby Scotty (Macfarlane) is running his new restaurant together with Saul (Ron Rifkin); and, to top it all off, matriarch Nora (Sally Field) is acting strangely. And you thought your family life was complicated.
If you guys had your way, where would you like the show to go?
Dave Annable: Well, besides (Justin) living in a sorority house … (Laughs) Well, I think what they’re doing with Justin is really great. I’m curious to see where we’ll go next when he’s alone and single.
Matthew Rhys: I think the Walkers should trace their roots back to Wales. There should be a trip. Walkerrrnen was their original Welsh name before they came to Ellis Island.
Matthew, you’re Welsh – what are families like in Wales?
Matthew: They like drinking. They like singing. In that order. They’re pretty much matriarch-led in Wales – like, the world over, really. As much as we (men) like to think we rule the roost, we don’t.
I was just wondering if all families were as complicated as the Walkers.
Luke: (Laughs) Not all families have to turn out a television show every week.
Matthew: And keep it interesting. There is dysfunction, I think, in every family – it’s just varying levels of it. We just seem to have it in abundance. And, you know, having the high number of siblings, you’re sort of guaranteed that someone’s having a problem anywhere at one point, at one time.
But dysfunction’s fashionable now, anyway.
Matthew: It is. I think society’s evolved in some certain way – people are less frightened to talk about the dysfunction. As people become more emotionally articulate, it sort of aired a lot more.
Have the characters become part of you? Have you found yourself taking on any of the quirks?
Matthew: I’ve started taking home a lot of the clothes!
Luke: I borrowed suits for my sister’s wedding.
Fancy dress?
Matthew: “I went as a chef”!
Luke: I’m wearing, actually, Nora Walker’s dress to my sister’s wedding.
Is your mom like Nora?
Matthew: Oh, yeah. And that’s the one thing you hear all the time from people who like the show: (Puts on a squeaky, high-pitched voice) “Oh, my mother’s exactly like Nora. I know exactly how she feels. Why are you so rude to her? Why are you so rude to Sally Field???”
What’s the great Sally Field like in person?
Dave: Uh, she’s terrible! No, don’t write that! She’s the best! It’s a lot of work to wrangle us actors to get ready for a scene and Sally’s the one running the show – and she has been from day one.
Matthew: And it’s no irony that this sort of family’s led by the matriarch, and in our show, it’s sort of the same. She’s a consummate professional and really does lead by example.
So she bosses you around off the set as well?
Dave: Oh, totally. Actually, I have to go get her a coffee right now.
What’s the most valuable lesson you’ve learned from her?
Dave: I think it’s “be prepared”. She always knows her lines when she comes into work and knows what she’s doing. Clearly she goes home and works. It’s easy to be young and get caught up in the fun nightlife and come to work going, “Woo, whatever, I got lines”, you know. It sort of works a lot easier if you do your homework and go home and study your lines and all that fun stuff, and not play too many video games (looks sheepishly at his console).
Matthew: She comes in early, she’s on time, she’s prepared, she’s thought about what she’s going to do. She never holds anyone up. Sits by the camera while they light, doesn’t go off and drink coffee and chit chat and get on the Internet. Old school.
Luke: No matter where you are in your career, you still have to work hard. Because she really has kind of done it all, but she doesn’t rest on her laurels.
Source: Today Online
11/08/2010
Elogiado por su papel de gay de Cinco hermanos, Luke Macfarlane habla de su trabajo en la serie que protagonizan Sally Field y Calixta Flockhart en la cadena Fox y cuya cuarta temporada se estrena esta noche en varias plataformas de pago (22.20 horas). 
Nacido en Canadá (1980), el actor encarna a Scotty Wandell, casado con el abogado Kevin Walker (Matthew Rhys), cuarto hijo de la familia, ahora es cocinero de un restaurante de Los Ángeles.
–¿Admitir públicamente que era gay, como hizo usted hace dos años, fue una decisión difícil?
–Lo pensé mucho. Fue una decisión muy meditada. Había, claro está, ciertos riesgos, ciertos temores…
–¿Y cómo ha sido la reacción?
–Muy positiva en todos los sentidos. La verdad es que sigo teniendo las mismas necesidades y los mismos problemas que antes. Mi vida no ha cambiado básicamente. El día a día es el mismo.
–¿Ser homosexual le ayuda a interpretar un papel como el de Scotty?
–Pienso que entiendes mejor ciertas situaciones. Personajes como el mío ayudan a cambiar la mentalidad de la gente. Además, los anunciantes también se dan cuenta de que los gays son un público rentable.
–¿Cómo se siente en una serie con un reparto tan amplio?
–Me siento muy a gusto. Es algo muy raro para un actor el poder trabajar durante tanto tiempo en una serie. Encontrar cierta estabilidad por un periodo más largo de lo habitual en nuestra profesión, al lado de las mismas personas, es como formar parte de una gran familia.
–¿Se lleva bien con Matthew Rhys?
–Oh sí, muy bien. Es un gran actor y un gran tipo. Matthew es británico y yo soy canadiense, aunque todo el mundo cree que soy estadounidense. Tanto Mathew como yo venimos del teatro y tenemos una forma de entender el trabajo muy similar.
–Usted ha hecho televisión, teatro y cine. ¿Qué medio prefiere?
–Empecé en el teatro y me siento muy bien en el escenario: eres tú el que controlas lo que haces. En el cine mi experiencia es muy limitada. Lo interesante de la televisión es que te metes en una historia en la que no sabes nunca que giro a va tomar ni como va a terminar.
–¿Cree que en el futuro le volverán a ofrecer papeles de heterosexual?
–Espero que sí, pero será interesante ver qué papeles me proponen.
Source: El Periódico
21/01/2010
The Welsh actor discusses moving from Cardiff to California and starring in the hit US drama series.
“I love and embrace the cultural differences,” says Rhys – now almost a California native, after four years’ worth of Brothers & Sisters (shown here on More4). “In some ways, they’re so profoundly different from Britain. In other ways, very similar.”
Rhys plays Kevin Walker, a glossily gay Californian in his mid-thirties, and one of the siblings of the show’s title. He’s sitting in a Disney conference room joshing with actor Luke Macfarlane, who plays his on-screen husband Scotty. Though Rhys’s American accent never slips on-screen, his voice now is straight from the valleys. “When I speak to people from Britain, that’s when I feel like a fake, speaking with an American accent,” he says, slightly sheepishly.
Macfarlane, who hails from Canada, joins in. “Matthew’s also exceptionally talented at all accents,” he says archly.
“Yes. Even neighbourhoods of Canada,” says Rhys.
“Not just neighbourhoods – specific hockey teams,” quips Macfarlane.
The pair’s good-natured off-screen banter is exactly how fans of the show would hope. Brothers & Sisters has no time-travelling cops, no jets crashing on desert islands. It rivets more than 10million American viewers with nothing more than the intertwined stories of one family. Warm, prosperous and sentimental, the show – and its high-octane, often tear-jerking emotion – is kept from descending into soap opera not just by polished scriptwriting, but by a classy cast: Calista Flockhart, Rob Lowe and, crucially, Sally Field as materfamilias Nora Walker. On Facebook, there’s a “Which Walker are you?” quiz – and, quips Macfarlane, “everyone just keeps taking it until they get Nora.”
As British viewers start season four tonight, they will catch up with Kevin and Scotty’s newest storyline: the quest for a baby. “We’re lucky that that storyline is relatively uncharted,” says Rhys. “The whole journey of going about it makes very interesting TV.”
“And so do the different ways one goes about it – adoption versus surrogacy,” adds Macfarlane.
Along with the gay couple on ABC’s new sitcom Modern Family, Kevin and Scotty are blazing a trail for gay parenting on American primetime television. But, says Rhys, he doesn’t feel like a “poster child” for gay rights. “The press we’ve had has been very positive,” he says. “A very healthy, very nice response – that what we’re doing is on the right track.”
Macfarlane agrees. “The cultural significance is always surprising,” he says. “We just show up and do the work, and they tell us it’s groundbreaking – but it doesn’t necessarily feel groundbreaking.” Certainly Brothers & Sisters doesn’t trumpet itself as a genre-altering show. It is executive produced by Ken Olin, who appeared on screen as self-obsessed ad exec Michael Steadman in the Eighties-zeitgeist series thirtysomething. Brothers & Sisters reflects a more mature version of the same sensibility, with enviable suburban houses and beautiful knitwear as much on show as Rhys’s American accent.
Rhys himself is evidently having the time of his life. “I feel comfortable here primarily because I think Los Angeles is made up of people who don’t come from here, so you can find kindred spirits very easily,” he says. “It’s a town of gypsies.”
But Rhys has a more versatile CV than some TV actors, having played Dylan Thomas in the 2008 film The Edge of Love – and opposite Kathleen Turner in the West End version of The Graduate. “I definitely want to go back to the theatre. It is hard work, it is repetitive, but it is intensely rewarding,” he says.
His career as a chameleon extends even to talking to journalists. “You play to whatever publication you’re being interviewed by,” he says cheerily. So who is he being today, for The Daily Telegraph. “Upright Tory. Bring back Maggie!” So… does he hunt and shoot and fish? “I do, yes. I actually do! Well, I don’t hunt on horseback. In Wales, it’s a little more practical. It’s vermin control.” As Rhys is called back to the cavernous sound stage, it’s hard not to think: you can take the boy out of Cardiff…
Brothers & Sisters is on More4 tonight at 9.00pm
Source: The Telegraph
20/10/2009
Luke Macfarlane is quickly establishing himself as a leading man in Hollywood by bringing a winning combination of charm, versatility and intelligence to his roles. He plays Scotty Wandell in the critically-acclaimed drama Brothers & Sisters – and with the season three DVD released this week, we bring you an interview with the actor about his role on the show.
You appeared in the first season of ‘Brothers & Sisters’ as a guest star. Did you know back then that you would become a cast regular by the third season?
It’s funny, but I never imagined I would be a cast regular on Brothers & Sisters – especially by way of marriage. I remember riding bikes over to one of the sets a while ago and asking Matthew Rhys [who plays Luke’s lover on the show], “What do they have in store for us?” And he said, “I think we’re getting married.” It was a total surprise to me.
Were you excited about the prospect of becoming a series regular?
Definitely. It’s always really nice when you come into something and your agents tell you, “There’s a possibility for you to become a series regular here.” However, it was a complete surprise because I had no idea where they were going with the storyline. In fact, I continue to have no idea where they’re going with it.
Was there an immediate chemistry between you and Matthew Rhys?
We always got along very, very well and there was never any awkwardness between us. Matthew was ready to jump into the gay love affair with great aplomb, which was fantastic. I don’t think we’ve ever had any tension between us. It’s always been great.
Do you receive much fan mail on the show?
I’ve had a number of letters from the gay community talking about the lack of role models for gay people on television and how happy they are to see Scotty and Kevin together. I really applaud the show’s creators for depicting a real romance for them. I’m glad they didn’t go for any clichés.
Do you receive more letters from women or men?
I’m always surprised that I get as many letters from girls as I do from boys. In fact, I’m always amazed at the care these people put into some of the letters. Sometimes I get drawings and it’s totally flattering. At the end of the day, we wake up really early in the morning and we go to work to do our thing. We sometimes forget that the show gets beamed out into the universe, so it’s always very touching and flattering to receive mail about it.
How long does it take to shoot an episode?
We usually work on nine-day episodes. Hopefully they give us the script about a week in advance, but as you approach the end of a season, it sometimes arrives about two days before we start on an episode. I think we’re very fortunate because we have such terrific writers and terrific actors – and there is a real sense of collaboration on the show.
Do you have much input into your character?
Sure. After the first table read, which they try to do for every episode, the actors can approach the writers and say, “I think I might want to do this.” I love the way it’s open for us to do that. From my experience on other television shows, I haven’t seen as much collaboration between the actors and the writers. We’re very fortunate on Brothers & Sisters.
Can you change the wording in the script if you’re not satisfied with it?
Well, you can talk about it with the writers and change things. With certain producers you have to say every line as it’s written in the script, but there are other producers who let you do your own thing. That’s not to say we don’t respect the scripts tremendously – but the longer the show goes on, the more the actor owns the part. The writers and producers start to encourage us to say what we want to say.
Your character marries Kevin Walker in the show, but that’s something that most gay couples in California cannot do anymore. How did this storyline come about?
I find this a fascinating story because I think the election happened about a week after the show aired in the States – and then Prop 8 didn’t pass. It was amazing that we’d done this thing that was, without foresight, very provocative.
Did you enjoy filming the wedding scene?
It was wonderful. It kind of felt like we were doing something big – and it was all done with great care. The writers spoke with someone who had officiated gay marriages, so the words were very accurate and in line. It was all really beautiful.
How well does the cast get along?
We all get along extremely well. There’s a great camaraderie on our set and everyone is very professional. We all get on with our work, but we also hang out together when we’re not working. It’s a great show in that respect.
What’s it like to work with Matthew Rhys?
It’s great. Matthew is an incredible actor and an incredible guy. We both come from theatre backgrounds, so our approach to the material is very similar. I couldn’t be happier.
And what’s it like to work with Sally Field?
Sally Field is amazing. She really makes you raise your game when you’re on set. She’s like a leader in some ways. I remember one time specifically when we were filming a dinner scene and there was a lot of chatter among the cast. It was late at night and we’d had a really long day, but she just stood up and said, “Everybody be quiet.” Everyone went quiet. She has that kind of effect.
‘Brothers and Sisters: Season 3′ is available to buy on DVD now.
Source: Entertainment Focus