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Interview AfterElton

From 2002 until 2008, twenty-two-year old Adamo Ruggiero played gay teen Marco Del Rossi on the long running teen drama Degrassi: The Next Generation. Viewers followed Marco as he struggled to come out to his friends, fell victim to a gay bashing, found love for the first time and simply struggled to find his way in the world as an openly gay man. Behind the scenes, Ruggiero dealt with his own personal coming out story, which mirrored his on screen counterpart's life in many ways.

Recently, AfterElton.com talked to Ruggiero not only about his decision to come out of the closet, but how it affected his career, his feelings about his years at Degrassi, his thoughts about the struggles of young gay men today, his first feature film and much more.

But we started off by talking about his starring role in Dog Sees God, a stage play about the lives of the grown up versions of the classic Peanuts characters. The play is currently running at the Six Degrees Venue in Toronto, Ontario until April 18th.

The cast of Dog Sees God

AfterElton.com: You're starring in Dog Sees God where you play Schroeder. Is this your first stage work?
Adamo Ruggiero:
I did a lot of community theater growing up like many young actors do. And I went to an arts high school. I was a drama major, so essentially I kind of, maybe from 11 till 18 did stage work and then haven't done it really since.

AE: How is it different from doing television or movies?
AR:
Oh, man. It's like a completely different ballgame. I think what's psyching me up more right now is the fact of the whole live aspect. You get really comfortable when you're doing television, especially when you're doing television with the same people for so long and you have the freedom to stop and start and memorize a page and a half as opposed to a hundred pages. ... To a live experience - 100 pages, right there, right then with immediate reaction and that's the most exhilarating part. I think theater has a little bit more in-the-moment exhilaration, much more than film does.

Ruggiero plays Van, a straight character, who is the grown up version of
Linus Van Pelt, while Ben Lewis plays Beethoven, the play's gay character

AE: Were you familiar with the Peanuts characters before this?
AR:
I never really watched the Charlie Brown cartoons, but I always watched the movies, so I always saw like the Halloween special I remember as a kid, and like the Christmas Special and all those different things. I was definitely familiar with the characters. Not with the comics. But with like the basics of the characters.

AE: You played Marco, one of the best gay teen characters ever. How did your own coming out process mirror the character that you played?
AR:
Oh, it was a really weird time. I look back and I try to organize it in my head to see exactly chronologically how it worked out, and I still can't figure it out, but it was actually very similar.     

I think when I was playing a gay character and I knew I was gay myself, I kind of had three lives. You know I had my straight life, my gay life and then my gay TV life and I was juggling all of those at once, but there were a lot similarities. Ultimately, Marco really kept beating me to the punch, which was a little overwhelming as a young person because people would turn on the TV and see him come out to his parents and I hadn't even come out to my friends yet, and so it would be very kind of overwhelming. But ironically, it really was life imitating art because the way Marco came out to his mom, I came out to my mom almost in the exact same way like maybe a year later. And it wasn't really planned that way.

A scene from 'King of Pain' where Marco comes out to his mother

AR: (continued) Marco came out to his mom in his bedroom while on his bed and it was very emotional and it was the exact same scenario with my mom. I came out to my mom in my bedroom, sitting on my bed, very emotional. And in terms of my Dad, it was the same thing. I came out to him in the kitchen like Marco came out to his father. I mean I've always been so grateful for Marco because he kind of was - ironically, I know this sounds weird, but a little bit like my gay role model growing up. I got to read the scripts and see what he was doing and see how he responded to negative and positive and I kind of had my own little gay coming-out manual through him.

Marco comes out to his father in 'Total Eclipse of the Heart"

AE: What was the fan reaction like when you finally came out?
AR:
This has been a really big gay year for me. So many different things happened. Since I've done it, it's just been so incredibly positive. I think a part of me underestimated a lot of the people, even the people at the periphery in my life, but at the same time a lot of people everywhere. I thought there would be things all over the Internet and people would be a lot more shocked than they were, but it was almost as if the kids were just kind of waiting for it.

They were just so moved. My goal was to represent them, to give them, you know, to say, "Hey, you can be gay. You can be successful. You can be young. You can do whatever you really want." I know it sounds a little bit cliché and preachy, but I think that a lot of the kids saw, you know, an opportunity and hopefully saw a role model to say, "I can come out and still be happy and still be successful."

John Bregar played Dylan, Marco's boyfriend

AE: How has it affected your career so far?
AR:
Yes, well that's why I said it's been a really big gay year for me. Everybody kept coming at me and saying, "What if you get typecast?" and I've had agents in the past that probably would have had a heart attack and died if I did this. I have a fantastic agent who's just as open-minded as I am, but so many people attacked me with this like concept and I was just like, dude - I don't know? Like what am I going to do?

My career may never really blossom in the direction that I hoped and then I kind of gave up this voice that I had. And now I have it and I'd rather live for the moment and just own it and maybe I was being a little bit too idealistic, but I was thinking, you know, art will prevail. And this year really proved that it did. I got my own show called The Next Star, which is really exciting for me.

Former Degrassi stars Mike Lobel (Jay) and Jake Epstein (Craig)
co-star with Ruggiero in Dog Sees God

AR: I shot my first feature in L.A. called Make the Yuletide Gay, which was a gay feature and it's going to premier I think at the LGBT festival in Toronto. So that was exciting. I lived in L.A. for a month and totally met a whole group of new people, and I got this play. And I think what's really important for me about this play is there's a huge gay central storyline in it and I play the comedic relief straight character.

When I sit back at the end of 2008 and 2009 started, I just went, "Whoa. You know what? Everything seemed to work out." You know, everything worked out. I don't know if it was a coincidence or maybe I have a little bit more confidence when I walk into an audition room right now. I don't know what it was, but I've been very lucky. I wish I could declare I'm gay every year.

AE: You only get to do it once!
AR:
I know. It sucks. You can only come out of the closet once. Hey - that's enough.

AE: You said you had a TV show coming out?
AR:
Yeah, it's called The Next Star. It's a youth TV show. We did our first season last year. And it's kind of like an American Idol-esque thing. It's for young people and I host it. I travel all over Canada and just get like six young people that we kind of essentially bring to Toronto to a really cool summer camp and we mentor them. It was just a really fun job and I work with such great people and I get to travel all over Canada throughout the summer and it's a really cool little show.

AE: Tell me about the movie you have coming out?
AR:
It's called Make the Yuletide Gay so it's a Christmas feature, obviously and it's basically - I play an out character named Nathan and it was a really great setup for me because I mean, I'm out and for me to have to be like "I'm gay" all over again, it's overkill. But, in this film I'm already out and comfortable with who I am, but it's my boyfriend who's in the closet and he goes back to his parents' house for Christmas and I end up surprising him there.

So the whole film kind of is really kind of funny, but heartfelt comedy about me and my boyfriend in his parents' house, his Wisconsin parents' house. It was such a blast to shoot and it's really adorable and I think what people will get from it is, it's a really great coming out story and you can never get enough of those.


Ruggiero with fellow Degrassi alum Lauren Collins (Paige)

AE: Are you going to be doing any more episodes of Degrassi this season or in the future that you know of?"
AR:
We did shoot a two-hour special movie of the week. Totally off the wall, probably the biggest two-hour special, four-part episode of Degrassi that we've shot. It's kind of like a Degrassi does Hollywood. We shot in L.A. and we shot in Toronto. It's really fun. We have great cameos from different great actors. There are just some epic things that happen with all the characters. It's going to be really, really awesome and it premiers in August on The N, and here in Toronto on C-TV. Hopefully we'll have little premieres in a few limited cities to really kick it off, but it was awesome. I hadn't been on the show for a year and for us to come back on the Degrassi set and shoot and do our thing was really fun. Really fun.

AE: How different do you think things are these days for young men to come out and dating and all that? Because older people often say that younger gay guys have it so easy these days. What do you think? Is it really easier or is it just our perception?
AR:
Well, you know what, I think about that a lot. You watch films like Milk and I think as a young person you sit back and you forget. Not that you forget, but many don't know what the LGBT community had to go through for many, many years and I think that we are very, very blessed to be born in a time where everybody is a lot more tolerant. Think about we're born in a time where Obama can be president. I mean, I think for the next generation of young people, their whole perception of life I think will be very different. At the end of the day, I think, maybe - and this is a sensitive term so I'm using it in a Canadian context - but maybe legally we're all seen as equal or we're getting there. We're definitely getting there. And maybe we're growing up in a world where people are a little bit more open-minded.

Ruggiero with Degrassi co-stars Jamie Johnston (Peter),
Shane Kippel (Spinner) and Aubrey Graham (Jimmy)

AR: (continued) It's kind of a complicated thing because it's all symptomatic of location. You know, what I feel in Toronto may not be what somebody might feel in a small town on the prairies in Canada. And at the same time, too, there are a lot of issues that young people face every day at the social level, at the family level. Having to come out to parents regardless of time, I think the struggles are very equal. We're not fighting in the Castro, but we're kind of in our own little reality - I think of a young person in the prairies who doesn't know any better or a young person in Middle America in a small town who doesn't know any better, probably doesn't have any kind of connection to any LGBT community, is in a very heterosexual, closed-minded family - and then how do we judge? How do we say one's harder than the other? Their life is just as difficult.

AE: Are you seeing anybody?
AR:
(laughing) No, no, I'm not. It's interesting. It was a really great year for my career. Not so big for a relationship. Like what Carrie Bradshaw says in Sex and the City, you get a great apartment, a great relationship, a great job - can you have all three? I don't know. I have a great apartment. I have a great job. I just need to get the great relationship. I'm not really a rusher. I just kind of take it as it comes. I'm surrounded with such like cool, great people. I have great friends, and so they distract me. They distract me. Come over - I'm lonely!

AE: So at least you're looking, then, or interested?
AR:
Of course. I mean I'm a young person and relationships are such a huge part of that. A huge part of everybody's life, but especially when you're young because you haven't had very many. You need to date so many more people because you're going to break up so many more times. I'm ready for these adventures.

AE: What about your years on Degrassi. What do you think about your time on that show and how has that affected your life?
AR:
I really grew up on the show. I mean Degrassi was a second high school for me and a second family for me. I mean I got it when I was so young and I stayed on it for so long and it really defined my life. It definitely, 100% defined the direction of my life. I don't know who I would be as a person, and especially as a young gay person, if I didn't played Marco.

I think that's really what it comes down to. I think every single day how coincidentally it was that I was a young gay person and got cast as a young gay person. And my mom is so like spiritual. She always says, "Well, no, this one was meant to be. This one was meant to be." And I think about that, you know? These are those rare scenarios in life where you actually sit down and you think, regardless if you're religious or not, you think maybe this was meant to be because it just matched up so perfectly and playing Marco completely changed the direction of my life and I don't know if I would be the confident person - I don't if I would even be out the way I am right now if it wasn't for Marco. I actually have absolutely no clue who I would be and it's really because of Degrassi. I just have no clue how I would have grown up otherwise. I don't know.

Marco is gay bashed in the Degrassi episode "Pride"

AE: What was your favorite storyline or episode you did while you were there?
AR:
Oh, wow. That's always so hard. I mean I think the episode that will always stay in my heart and that is most important to me is "Pride". That was in Season 3 when Marco comes out to his friends and gets gay bashed and there's just the whole two-parter of his whole coming out process. I think those two were so dependent on Marco and really were the first time as an actor I was really challenged and I completely put myself out there and this was during the time that I was coming out to my friends and I've never been so vulnerable and I just feel like in those two episodes everything kind of lined up. Those were the episodes that were nominated for a GLAAD award and we were all so excited. Yeah, those will always kind of be special to me.

AE: Is there a story that you would have like to have told by Marco that they didn't?
AR:
It's tough because it borderlines on what I want and what happened and criticizing the whole thing, but I think sometimes what did lack, or what does lack a little bit now with Marco, I think that while we needed to kind of provide this focus a young gay character, I was hoping for in the later seasons just a little bit more storylines where we could learn about Marco as a person and I think sometimes that's where the show sometimes lacked. I was hoping to have a few more stories that were not completely unrelated, but related in the sense that we can learn a little bit more about him outside than just being the gay kid. I think that toward the end, Marco hit the comfortable, politically correct gay character. And very different from what he was at the beginning.

AR: (continued) I think, ultimately, yeah, I would have liked to have seen a little bit of Marco just as a regular guy. Not regular - that's the wrong word. But just as a well-rounded, full character. But at the same time, too, he always, with every episode that we did was true to his character. I think as a whole, I would love to see a transgender character on the show. I think that's ultimately what the show, in terms of the LGBT community is like really missing. We've had a lesbian character and a gay character and a bisexual character and I just think all we're missing right now is a transgender character and I think that would be really important and special to have in the last few seasons.

Argiris Karras as Riley

AE: Have you had a chance to see the new gay character on the show now, Riley?
AR:
Yes, I did. I've seen a little bit of him. Yes, definitely. Different kind of style than Marco, huh?

AE: Yes, but good. I think it's good that he's a different character. How do you think they're handling the storyline with Riley so far?
AR:
Fantastic. I mean I think it makes that perfect divide because I think the difference between Marco and Riley is that Marco, as much as he was afraid of being gay, I think he knew it was something that he wanted and it was like a quest to find himself. And I think what's different with the Riley character is he's like really situated in a heterosexual environment. You know Marco wasn't really that situated in one.

His friends were girls and he knew he was different, but I think Riley's really is in this like really heterosexual environment and has to ultimately come to terms with himself, which inside he kind of knows, but I think the key difference between characters is that he doesn't want to be gay. And I think as much as Marco struggled, he knew what he wanted and he knew - that's why he could walk down an alley and tell his best friend, "I'm gay. This is who I am." And I think that's the key difference and I think those are really important differences and I don't think Marco really ever felt loathing and hating to the point where you actually - you really question him, but I think Riley is.

Argiris with Jamie Johnston, who plays Peter.

AR: It's interesting that, you know, at the end of the day, there are so many different versions of coming out. There's so many coming out stories and people that are from different places and ultimately products of different environments and from different families and I always say to young people when they ask me for advice, it's like, "Well, how do I know when I'm ready?" or "How do I come out?" And I'm like, "Ach - there really is no manual." And that's the hardest part and I think that's what's great about having Marco and Riley and putting them together. You see that there's no manual to coming out and everybody's going to take it differently.

Ruggiero at the 8th Annual Trevor Project Benefit Gala

AE: And so what advice would you give to young gay men these days?
AR:
Well, like I said, there's no manual ultimately to coming out and my advice is always symptomatic of my experiences, which of being in Toronto I've been so lucky. I think the first thing to do is I think that young people don't need to rush their coming-out process and I try to tell all the young people to come out when you're ready and I know that sounds easy to say, "Come out when you're ready," but I just find from my experience is that a lot of people pressure each other, especially young people with other young people. They're like, "Well, your parents already know and these people already know. And your aunts and uncles already know. They already know. Trust me, they already know."

AR: (continued) I think my biggest piece of advice though from what I've learned in the last few years is that coming out is a very selfless time and sometimes I think we misperceive it as a very selfish time because we're thinking they have to accept us and they need to support us. And in a huge sense, that's true, but I mean I think growing up with parents from a different generation and aunts and uncles and friends, many from different generations and many from a different country and culture, I think that coming out is selfless in a sense in that we really all have to do it together.

And as young people who are part of a new generation that are in an environment in cities and in places that are a lot more open-minded and different from back then, I really think it's up to us to help educate our parents, to help enlighten them, to show them, to teach them about modern relationships and modern life. Otherwise, you know, a lot of the parents sometimes don't understand and I don't think often, in certain contexts I don't think we should see it as homophobia. I think we should just see it as an opportunity to help educate, to help enlighten them so that we can really - and I think that's where the change is going to come.

AR: (continued) And so I encourage young people to not be on the defensive, to understand their parents' lack of understanding in the moment, to give them some time, to be patient with them and to help them out, because if you can get your parents, your aunts and uncles, really teach them, let them understand your side, that's a band of ten people that you've changed, that you've changed their perception. And that's why I always say no matter if you're coming out on TV or you're coming out in a small town - no matter where you're coming out, I really think every person that does come out is an ambassador for change.

We're taking that step. We're standing up for something that seems a little bit different, trying to change perception. But at the same time, too, like I said, symptomatic of my experience, I've been very blessed to not be confronted with situations where I don't have the opportunity to help enlighten my family because they've shut me out or have abused me or abandoned me. And in that sense, all I can say to young people is two things. I think the first and most obvious is to seek help and I think what makes us very lucky in the LGBT community these days is that we have such an amazing access to information. I mean even hopping on Google and calling help lines like Trevor Project and in Toronto our youth lines and going on websites or even watching films.

Paul James of Greek, Gabrielle Christian of South of Nowhere
and Ruggiero at the
19th Annual GLAAD Awards.

AR: (continued) Like we have information all around us, the really active support systems, and help educate yourself just so you can, you know, see that there are people just like you. But I think in the other sense for kids confronted with that kind of intolerance, I encourage them to just remind them to be smarter than the ignorant. Just to remind them that you know where this is coming from. It's coming from a place of fear and ignorance ad they don't understand and that's where the hate's ultimately coming form, so be smarter than that.

Don't let it kill you. Don't let it get you down. Understand where it's coming from and try to move forward, but every situation's different. And I'm learning that coming out is really not - it's a long process. It's not a simple opening and closing of the closet door. The closet door is open for a while and it's a growing experience. I'm still dealing with certain demons. I sit there and wonder why am I not as open at Christmas dinner in front of 30 Italian people? That's a closet door issue to me. And I think at the very finale of it all, young people have to be patient with themselves. When you're ready and do what you can and don't expect come out and be able to change the world and be the most confident person. Be patient with yourself. It'll take some time. 

Ecrit par brucas59 

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Ecrit par brucas59 
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