The Role That Changed Him When Cruz became the first openly gay teen to play an openly gay teen—Ricky Vasquez in 1994’s My So-Called Life—his world changed. “It was life-altering,” he says. “People come up to me all the time to tell me how much the show and character affected them, and I always tell them it meant just as much to me. Because that role literally saved my life. It saved my relationship with my family, and it changed the trajectory of my career. It was an honor to play him.”
Art Imitates Life “When I came out, it didn’t go well,” says Cruz of telling his Puerto Rican-immigrant parents he was gay. “My dad kicked me out. I ended up sleeping in my car.” But an identical scene in My So-Called Life was a turning point. “My dad had been secretly watching the show,” says Cruz. “After the episode where Ricky gets kicked out for being gay, he called me and said maybe it was time for a talk. He’s now an incredibly important ally in my life. He’s my hero, because he put love and family first.”
A New Mission Cruz, who stars on both CBS’s Star Trek: Discovery and season 2 of 13 Reasons Why, works with LGBTQ youth from Puerto Rican and Latino backgrounds to help them feel safe with coming out. “The Catholic Church plays a huge role in our culture, which has been an obstacle with people opening up,” he says. “There’s the added obstacle of machismo and gender roles in our community. ButI’m hopeful. The new pope and the church are doing exciting things that I never thought I’d see in my lifetime.” Still, he stresses the importance of Latino youth having solid support before coming out so they don’t fully follow in his footsteps: “Sleeping in my car? That was not cute.”