Jason Stuart mixes it up
Back in the 1990s Jason Stuart made his mark with his Coming Out Comedy Tour, which made him the first out comic to appear in a major comedy clubs. In the ensuing years he made the successful leap to acting, having appeared in more than 100 films and television shows in both gay and straight roles. Most recently Stuart was seen on The Closer as the owner of a storage facility that discovers a dead body. It’s a performance that is being considered for an Emmy Award nomination.
He also may be a familiar face from his appearances on Will & Grace, George Lopez, Everybody Hates Chris, House, M.D., It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia and Charmed, to name a few. He is best known playing "Dr. Thomas", the gay family therapist on My Wife and Kids. Some of his more recent film roles include Coffee Date (for which he was nominated for a Gay International Film Award for best supporting actor), the recent remake of The Pit and the Pendulum (the gay version in which he plays the villain) and his own totally improvised independent film 10 Attitudes.
In his role as the chair of the Screen Actors Guild National LGBT Actors Committee, Stuart made headlines recently when asked to respond to Newsweek’s Ramin Setoodeh’s contention that gay actors couldn’t convincingly play straight roles. "It’s damaging words like his that continue to be used to pressure actors to stay in the closet, and place doubt in those in positions of power about their casting choices," Stuart wrote in LA Frontiers Magazine. "At the end of the day, though, if Setoodeh can’t accept a gay actor in a straight role, then that’s really his problem, isn’t it? And he needs to keep that in the closet."
But it is stand-up that brings Stuart to Provincetown this week when he appears with Poppy Champlin at the Art House on Friday and Saturday, July 2 and 3, for a show entitled Boy on Girl Comedy... No Touching EDGE caught with Stuart recently where he answered questions about acting vs. stand-up, playing straight roles, and that Setoodeh snafu.
A sister act?
EDGE: You’re in Provincetown at the Art House for two nights with Poppy Champlin. Is this a sister act?
Jason Stuart: Well Poppy would call it a brother act! But I love Poppy and her talent and am thrilled to be performing with her.
EDGE: Have you performed at the Art House before?
Jason Stuart: No. But have met Michelle Crone the owner and excited to work with there! I Love Ptown. No big companies are in the Ptown, but main street is call Commercial Street.
EDGE: Do you consider yourself an actor who does stand-up or a stand-up comic who is a character actor?
Jason Stuart: An actor who does stand-up. Like Barbra Streisand is an actress who sings.
