Wilson Cruz

Actor

Birthday December 27, 1973

Birth Sign Capricorn

Birthplace Brooklyn, New York, U.S.

Age 50 years old

Nationality United States

Height 174 cm

#4199 Most Popular

1973

Wilson Cruz (born Wilson Echevarría; December 27, 1973) is an American actor known for playing Rickie Vasquez on My So-Called Life, Dr. Hugh Culber on Star Trek: Discovery, and the recurring character Junito on Noah's Arc.

As a gay man of Afro-Puerto Rican ancestry, he has served as an advocate for gay youth, especially gay minorities.

Cruz was born in Brooklyn, New York, to parents born in Puerto Rico.

1991

His family eventually moved to Rialto, California, where he attended Eisenhower High School, graduating in 1991.

At age 19, Cruz came out to his parents as gay, first to his mother and then to his father.

While his mother was initially hurt and shocked, she eventually accepted the news.

His father, however, threw him out of the house, and Cruz spent the next few months living in his car and at the homes of friends.

He later reconciled with his father.

Cruz went to Hollywood to seek work as an actor, intending to be open about his sexuality from the beginning of his career.

1994

In 1994, he was cast as Enrique "Rickie" Vasquez, a troubled, gay teen, in the short-lived, critically acclaimed cult classic TV series My So-Called Life.

This made Cruz the first openly gay actor to play an openly gay character in a leading role in an American television series.

Following My So-Called Life's cancellation, Cruz went on to play J. Edgar Hoover's servant Joaquin in Oliver Stone's film Nixon and had a small role in the television movie On Seventh Avenue.

1996

In 1996, he appeared with David Arquette as Mikey in Johns, about the day-to-day struggles of male prostitutes.

Cruz's other acting credits include the films Joyride (1996), All Over Me (1997), Supernova (2000), Party Monster (2003), Margaret Cho's Bam Bam and Celeste (2005), Coffee Date (2007), and He's Just Not That Into You (2009); the television film The Perfect Pitch (2002); and guest appearances on the series Great Scott!, Sister, Sister, ER, Ally McBeal, The West Wing, Noah's Arc, and Grey's Anatomy.

1997

Cruz joined the board of directors of GLAAD in 1997 in order to assist the organization through a leadership transition, and joined the staff of GLAAD in 2012 as a National Spokesperson and Strategic Giving Officer.

1998

He was the Grand Marshal of the 1998 West Hollywood Gay Pride parade, the 2005 Chicago Pride Parade and the 2019 Fierté Montréal Pride Parade in Québec.

2000

In 2000, he played Victor in the final season of Party of Five.

He also had a recurring role as Rafael de la Cruz on the series, Raising the Bar.

2007

Cruz starred as Adrian in the film The Ode (2007), based on the novel Ode to Lata by Ghalib Shiraz Dhalla.

2008

In 2008, he was the keynote speaker at the University of Illinois at Chicago's Lavender Graduation and Rainbow Banquet honoring graduating LGBT students.

2009

He also appeared/starred in the 2009 movie The People I've Slept With.

He plays the openly gay best friend of a promiscuous woman who tries to find out who got her pregnant so that she can get married.

2016

Cruz's maternal stepaunt Brenda Lee Marquez McCool was among the 49 victims killed in the 2016 Orlando nightclub shooting; Cruz stated that she was killed while protecting her son Isaiah, who survived the gunfire.

2017

Since 2017, Cruz has portrayed Dr. Hugh Culber on the science fiction series Star Trek: Discovery.

2020

Since 2020, Cruz has been a recurring guest on 25 Words or Less.

In 2023, Cruz became the new chair of the board of directors for GLSEN.

Cruz works with and advocates on behalf of LGBT youth, especially youth of color.

He has volunteered his time as host for the Youth Zone, an online community at Gay.com for LGBT youth.

In 2020, Wilson was honored on one of the covers of Out magazine's annual Out100 issue, saying Wilson "beautifully weaves his activism inside every aspect of his work".