Few actors have pushed LGBTQ+ representation on television as far as Wilson Cruz. From his breakthrough role as Rickie Vasquez on the 1990s teen drama My So-Called Life, Cruz was the first openly gay actor to play an openly gay role on a TV series. In the years since Rickie and Cruz made their mark on a generation of queer youth, he has carried his talent and activism into recurring roles on 13 Reasons Why, Party of Five, and Noah’s Arc, as well as executive producing the doc series Visible: Out on Television. As Dr. Hugh Culber on Star Trek: Discovery, things have come full circle, in a sense, for the actor playing a happily partnered gay man and father figure to a non-binary human close to 30 years after his indelible debut.

In conversation with Raffy Ermac, editor-in-chief of the LGBTQ+ youth-oriented entertainment website Pride, Cruz traces his television legacy from Rickie in 1994 to showcasing queer representation all the way into the 23rd century as Dr. Culber.

The Frameline Talks series is supported by Variety.