that the last thing television needs is yet another legal drama (okay, the last

thing it really needs is yet another legal, cop or medical drama), ABC’s The Whole Truth does offer something

genuinely different for the genre: an out gay character who is actually

featured prominently.

The character is Alejo

Salazar, a defense attorney who is the best friend and right hand man for Jimmy

Brogan (Rob Morrow), the founder of the law firm for which Alejo works. And not

only is Alejo gay, but he’s a gay man of color, something still all too rare on

network television.

Even better, unlike

many current legal and crime procedurals, The Whole Truth promises that viewers

will get to know the personal lives of the characters. And in the case of

Alejo, that includes a partner involved in Washington D.C.

politics and who should eventually become somewhat involved with the show’s

storylines.

AfterElton.com

recently caught up with Anthony Ruivivar, the actor playing Alejo. While

Ruivivar isn’t yet a household name, he’s been acting on television since 1991

and sharp-eyed viewers might even recognize him from the gay comedy In &

Out.

AfterElton: Tell me about Alejo.

Anthony Ruivivar: Alejo's second in

command [of Jimmy’s law firm]. He's basically Robin to Jimmy's Batman. He runs

a law office with Jimmy and they're basically best friends, joined at the hip. Alejo

is a bit more buttoned-down, [he’s the] law wiz. Jimmy's a bit more

off-the-cuff and Alejo's a little bit more streamlined, a little bit more

focused on the work.

Alejo's Character Bio

AE: Alejo appears completely out in the pilot.

What’s the situation with him and Jimmy?

AR: It's a total non-issue, which I think is great.

You can really tell when society as a whole is getting somewhere when it

doesn't have to be explained and it doesn't have to be at the forefront of

their relationship.

And it doesn't have to be at the forefront of

the storytelling. It just is. It's just the landscape of the show. So Alejo's

been out to Jimmy, he's been out since, I think, 16 when he came out to his

parents. His father freaked out and ended up kicking him out, and as a result

he kind of had to pull himself up by his own bootstraps. You see some of that

in the second episode, you end up getting some of that backstory.

AE: I'm surprised because a lot of times on

shows like this, especially with a fairly large cast and that are about the

legal world or the police world, you

don't see much of a personal life at all, much less a backstory that far back.

AR: Tom and the writers are amazing at

maintaining... I mean, it's a procedural show, a law show at heart, but they

are very interested in focusing on the characters so ultimately it's kind of

like a workplace drama in the sense that yeah, we're all working this case but

they do a good job of dropping in all this backstory and dropping in character.

AE: What sets The Whole Truth apart from

other legal shows?

AR:

With Law and Order they're trying to catch the bad guy. With our show,

we're not trying to catch the bad guy. Our show is kind of exposing the law and

all of its contradictions and its beautiful, strange glory. So our whole show

takes a case and breaks it down and you're with it the entire time. You get so

many different perspectives and you also understand the perspectives of the

human beings that are trying the case.

With that said, it's imperative that we as the

actors, as the characters in the show, bring our point of view to the case that

we're trying. So we definitely have a very strong point of view.

AE: Thankfully, gay characters on television

aren't as rare as they used to be, but unfortunately gay male characters of

color still are something that's pretty rare. Were you aware of that fact?

AR: I wasn't aware of that. I was more aware of

ethnic minorities being the lead on primetime network shows.

AE: Which there seems to be a lot more of this

season, thankfully.

AR: I think that's great, to kill two birds with

one stone. It's great that it just is. I'm happy that we're not, like,

explaining it away so much. I'm happy that it just is part of the landscape of

what the show's about.

I know as an ethnic minority it's exciting to be

one of the leads of the show, not relegated to the soft stories, the little

stories, like they'll give you a little bit of a chance here and a little bit

of a chance there. Alejo is a strong lead of the show. It really makes me

happy.

Ruivivar (right) with co-star Rob Morrow

AE: In the show, Alejo has an actual partner

which is really nice to see. What can you tell me about him and the

relationship and how much we see of that relationship?

AR: He's continually mentioned, but as we work so

much in the office, I don't think we're actually going to see him until a

couple of episodes in. He works in D.C., he's heavy in the D.C. political

circuit which allows me access and Jimmy access and our law firm a lot of

access to power clientele. We kind of rub elbows with the power elite.

I do know there will be some episodes coming up

where he comes back from D.C. and we are actually going to have some episodes

where he's going to come in and he's going to want me to come back to D.C. with

him. We're going to have to play these kind of couple/relationship questions

out, you know? Where you've got a couple who both have high-profile jobs and

see what happens when you negotiate those relationships where both people have

intense professional needs and how do you negotiate that and still maintain a

loving, happy relationship?

AE: I know Tom Donaghy, the show’s head writer, is

a gay man himself. What did he talk with you about Alejo?

AR: My

conversations with Tom have been about the script, not so much about Alejo in

terms of being gay, but in terms of who he is as a human being. It's been

interesting working alongside Rob. Really trying to work our relationship out

and see where Jimmy's strengths are and where Alejo's strengths are, where

Jimmy's weaknesses are and how that kind of yin and yang fits together. Trying

to have fun with all the odd couple moments.

Series star Maura Tierney with The Whole Truth's head writer Tom Donaghy

AE: Given that it's 2010 and you're an actor and

you live in Los Angeles, I'm guessing that gay people aren't exactly unusual in

your circle of friends. Ten years ago, though, if we’d been doing this

interview, it might have been more of an issue about playing a gay character.

I'm assuming that none of that even exists for the most part anymore, at least

in your circle.

AR: It's an absolute non-issue. I don't think I even

bumped on it when, you know, thinking about doing it. It is what it is. And

it's fun. As an actor, all that stuff is a fun, rich tapestry to explore, you

know?

AE: Looking over your bio, I see that you had a

part in In and Out. What was your role there?

AR: I was a friend of...what did we do? Matt

Dillon's character- when he won...what was it, the Oscar? There was some

all-night binge in some Malibu

house and we were all kind of part of that whole posse. I think, oddly enough,

I did it and then it was cut out the film and then it was put back in.

AE: Is this the first gay role you've played?

AR: No. I did a play in New York with the Ma-Yi Theatre Company- Han

Ong's Watcher. My character was gay in that, so no, it's not.

The Whole Truth airs Wednesdays on ABC at 10

P.M.