Openly gay actor/producer Robert Gant has a role as a film director in Joshua Tree 1951: A Portrait of James Dean which screened at L.A.’s Outfest on Monday night, but I first became aware of him in his role as Ben Bruckner on the Showtime TV series Queer as Folk (2001-2005). The character Ben was an HIV positive college professor who became the long-term partner of lead character Michael (Hal Sparks), and the two eventually married in season 4. Gant came out publicly at the time Queer as Folk was on the air.
Born Robert John Gonzales in 1968 in Tampa FL, he studied law at Georgetown University in Washington DC and accepted a position with the L.A. office of Baker & McKenzie. The international firm's Los Angeles office closed soon thereafter, and Gant decided to abandon his career in law and devote his time to acting.
Gant stayed in the closet for over a decade while securing roles in television shows such as Caroline in the City, Friends, Melrose Place and Popular. Even after his success and recognition as Ben in Queer as Folk, he believes that openly gay actors are limited in their choices until achieving the stature of a romantic leading man. In 2009 Gant had a role in a BBC series called Personal Affairs that aired in the U.K. He was the sole American in the cast and crew, playing a straight guy from Amarillo, Texas.
Gant believes that “the last real frontier in Hollywood” is an openly gay actor playing a leading romantic straight role. Robert was cast as a straight man involved with a woman in the Lifetime movie Special Delivery, in which his character was involved with a woman played by Lisa Edelstein (House). The role involved an on-screen kiss.
Robert, who turned 44 on July 13, is involved in several philanthropic organizations that focus on the issue of aging in the gay community.
Trailer for a film about the ex-gay movement: Save Me with Chad Allen
Queer as Folk compilation of scenes with Ben (Robert Gant) and Michael (Hal Sparks). Considering that Sparks is straight, that's a whole lot of man-on-man kissing. Guess that's why they call it acting:
Once again, I digress. Let's get back to the tan lines you came to see:
Island Studs Video: Photo Shoot
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