Gale Harold
Encyclopedia
Gale Morgan Harold III (born July 10, 1969) is an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...

 widely known for his roles on Queer as Folk, Desperate Housewives
Desperate Housewives
Desperate Housewives is an American television comedy-drama series created by Marc Cherry and produced by ABC Studios and Cherry Productions. Executive producer Cherry serves as Showrunner. Other executive producers since the fourth season include Marc Cherry, Bob Daily, George W...

and Hellcats
Hellcats
Hellcats is an American cheerleading comedy-drama television series that originally aired on The CW in the United States from September 8, 2010 to May 17, 2011...

.

Early life

Harold was born in Decatur
Decatur, Georgia
Decatur is a city in, and county seat of, DeKalb County, Georgia, United States. With a population of 19,335 in the 2010 census, the city is sometimes assumed to be larger since multiple zip codes in unincorporated DeKalb County bear the Decatur name...

, Georgia
Georgia (U.S. state)
Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...

, the son of an engineer
Engineer
An engineer is a professional practitioner of engineering, concerned with applying scientific knowledge, mathematics and ingenuity to develop solutions for technical problems. Engineers design materials, structures, machines and systems while considering the limitations imposed by practicality,...

 father and a mother who was a real estate agent. The second of three children, Harold's parents were devout Pentecostals, and Harold had a strict Pentecostal upbringing. At age 15, he left the church, saying that he "knew it was bullshit." Harold's father left the church several years later.

After graduating from The Lovett School
The Lovett School
The Lovett School is a coeducational, kindergarten through twelfth grade independent school located in north Atlanta, Georgia.-History:In September 1926, Mrs. Eva Edwards Lovett, an innovative educator who emphasized the development of the whole child, officially began The Lovett School with 20...

 in Atlanta, Georgia, Harold attended American University
American University
American University is a private, Methodist, liberal arts, and research university in Washington, D.C. The university was chartered by an Act of Congress on December 5, 1892 as "The American University", which was approved by President Benjamin Harrison on February 24, 1893...

 in Washington, DC, on a soccer scholarship. He began a Liberal Arts
Liberal arts
The term liberal arts refers to those subjects which in classical antiquity were considered essential for a free citizen to study. Grammar, Rhetoric and Logic were the core liberal arts. In medieval times these subjects were extended to include mathematics, geometry, music and astronomy...

 degree in romance literature, departing after a year and a half following a conflict with his coach. Harold then moved to San Francisco, California
San Francisco, California
San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...

, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 to pursue an interest in photography at the San Francisco Art Institute
San Francisco Art Institute
San Francisco Art Institute is a school of higher education in contemporary art with the main campus in the Russian Hill district of San Francisco, California. Its graduate center is in the Dogpatch neighborhood. The private, non-profit institution is accredited by WASC and is a member of the...

. He worked a variety of jobs including positions as a Ducati motorcycle technician and a construction worker.

In 1997, friend Susan Landau, daughter of actor Martin Landau
Martin Landau
Martin Landau is an American film and television actor. Landau began his career in the 1950s. His early films include a supporting role in Alfred Hitchcock's North by Northwest . He played continuing roles in the television series Mission: Impossible and Space:1999...

, suggested Harold try acting. He relocated to Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...

 and began a 3-year period of intensive drama study. At 28, he was accepted into the Actors Conservatory Program with the classical theater company A Noise Within
A Noise Within
A Noise Within is an American theatrical company performing classic works of the European canon as well as American playwrights, in rotating repertory. It is based in Glendale, California....

. In his theatrical debut, Harold appeared as "Bunny" in Me and My Friends. In 2003, he starred in Wake, produced by Susan Landau Finch and directed by her husband Henry Leroy Finch. The movie featured a cameo by Martin Landau
Martin Landau
Martin Landau is an American film and television actor. Landau began his career in the 1950s. His early films include a supporting role in Alfred Hitchcock's North by Northwest . He played continuing roles in the television series Mission: Impossible and Space:1999...

 and the lead part of Kyle Riven was written specifically for Harold.

Career

In 2000, Harold landed the controversial role of unapologetic gay man Brian Kinney
Brian Kinney
Brian Kinney is a fictional character from the American/Canadian Showtime television series Queer as Folk, a drama about the lives of a group of gay men and women living in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The character was portrayed by American actor Gale Harold during the show's five year run...

, a central character on Showtime's popular gay drama Queer as Folk, a breakthrough performance that included a level of explicit gay male sex unusual for American television. Brian Kinney's character, as well as the show itself, elicited quite a great deal of controversy. It was alternately lauded and criticized for its explicit depictions of gay club life. The show ran for five successful seasons, ending in 2005.

Harold had the lead role of Special Agent Graham Kelton in the short-lived FOX
Fox Broadcasting Company
Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...

 series Vanished
Vanished
Vanished is an American serial drama television series produced by 20th Century Fox. The series premiered on August 21, 2006 on Fox and its last episode aired on November 10, 2006. Based in Atlanta, Georgia, the series begins with the sudden disappearance of the wife of a Georgia senator, which is...

in 2006, but his character was killed off in the seventh episode and appeared only as a corpse in the eighth episode.

Harold also guest-starred as Wyatt Earp
Wyatt Earp
Wyatt Berry Stapp Earp was an American gambler, investor, and law enforcement officer who served in several Western frontier towns. He was also at different times a farmer, teamster, bouncer, saloon-keeper, miner and boxing referee. However, he was never a drover or cowboy. He is most well known...

 in two episodes of the HBO series Deadwood
Deadwood (TV series)
Deadwood is an American Western drama television series created, produced and largely written by David Milch. The series aired on the premium cable network HBO from March 21, 2004, to August 27, 2006, spanning three 12-episode seasons. The show is set in the 1870s in Deadwood, South Dakota, before...

and appeared twice on the CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...

 series The Unit
The Unit
The Unit is an American action-drama television series that focuses on a top-secret military unit modeled after the real-life U.S. Army special operations unit commonly known as Delta Force...

. Alongside childhood idol David Bowie
David Bowie
David Bowie is an English musician, actor, record producer and arranger. A major figure for over four decades in the world of popular music, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s...

, Gale is an associate producer of the documentary Scott Walker: 30 Century Man
Scott Walker: 30 Century Man
Scott Walker: 30 Century Man is a 2006 documentary film about Scott Walker. The film gets its title from the Scott 3 song "30 Century Man". It is directed and co-produced by Stephen Kijak, with Grant Gee serving as director of photography...

.

Gale Harold returned to the New York stage in Tennessee Williams
Tennessee Williams
Thomas Lanier "Tennessee" Williams III was an American writer who worked principally as a playwright in the American theater. He also wrote short stories, novels, poetry, essays, screenplays and a volume of memoirs...

' play Suddenly Last Summer on November 15, 2006, in the role of Dr. Cukrowicz ("Dr. Sugar"). Harold's co-stars in the Roundabout Theatre repertory production, a limited Off-Broadway engagement running through January 20, 2007, were Blythe Danner
Blythe Danner
Blythe Katherine Danner is an American actress. She is the mother of actress Gwyneth Paltrow and director Jake Paltrow.-Early life:...

 and Carla Gugino
Carla Gugino
Carla Gugino is an American actress known for her roles of Sally Jupiter in Watchmen, Dr. Vera Gorski in Sucker Punch, Lucille in Sin City, Amanda Daniels in seasons 3, 5 and 7 of Entourage, Ingrid Cortez in the Spy Kids film trilogy, and as the lead characters of the television series Karen Sisco...

.

Harold was the male lead in the indie romantic comedy Falling for Grace
Falling for Grace
Falling for Grace is a 2006 romantic comedy film directed by Asian-American Fay Ann Lee, who also co-wrote the film with Karen Rousso, and stars alongside Gale Harold. It debuted at the 2006 Tribeca Film Festival...

, which debuted favorably at the 2006 Tribeca Film Festival
Tribeca Film Festival
The Tribeca Film Festival is a film festival founded in 2002 by Jane Rosenthal, Robert De Niro and Craig Hatkoff in a response to the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and the consequent loss of vitality in the TriBeCa neighborhood in Lower Manhattan.The mission of the festival...

 (under working title East Broadway). Harold played an eligible New York bachelor in an inter-racial relationship with an Asian-American woman. The film screened at festivals, theaters and campuses in the U.S., China and Germany; it was released on DVD in March, 2010.

Gale appeared in November 2007 in a guest role on ABC's Grey's Anatomy
Grey's Anatomy
Grey's Anatomy is an American medical drama television series created by Shonda Rhimes. The series premiered on March 27, 2005 on ABC; since then, seven seasons have aired. The series follows the lives of interns, residents and their mentors in the fictional Seattle Grace Mercy West Hospital in...

as Shane, a paramedic and white supremacist with a swastika tattooed on his abdomen, who is injured in an ambulance crash.

Harold joined the cast of Desperate Housewives
Desperate Housewives
Desperate Housewives is an American television comedy-drama series created by Marc Cherry and produced by ABC Studios and Cherry Productions. Executive producer Cherry serves as Showrunner. Other executive producers since the fourth season include Marc Cherry, Bob Daily, George W...

on the fourth season finale May 18, 2008 as Jackson Braddock, Susan Mayer
Susan Mayer
Susan Delfino is a fictional character played by Teri Hatcher on the American Broadcasting Company television series Desperate Housewives. The character was created by television producer and screenwriter Marc Cherry and first appeared in the pilot episode of the series on October 3, 2004...

's love interest. Six months after a serious motorcycle accident, Harold returned to play Jackson on the May 3, 2009 episode of the show.

In January and February 2010, Gale performed alongside Denise Crosby
Denise Crosby
Denise Michelle Crosby is an American actress best known for portraying Security Chief Tasha Yar on Star Trek: The Next Generation...

 (Star Trek TNG) and ex-model Claudia Mason in Tennessee Williams' Orpheus Descending
Orpheus Descending
Orpheus Descending is a play by Tennessee Williams. It was first presented on Broadway in 1957 where it enjoyed a brief run with only modest success. The play is basically a rewrite of an earlier play by Williams called Battle of Angels, which was written in 1940, but had been closed on its opening...

at Theater/Theatre in Los Angeles. The production and cast received mostly positive reviews, with the Los Angeles Times calling his performance "brilliant" and adding "Harold, ideally cast, beautifully ignites with Crosby, whose unconventional interpretation is an affecting revelation."

In July 2010, it was announced at the Television Critics Association Summer Tour that Harold had accepted a recurring role as a law professor in the upcoming series Hellcats
Hellcats
Hellcats is an American cheerleading comedy-drama television series that originally aired on The CW in the United States from September 8, 2010 to May 17, 2011...

. Executive Producer Kevin Murphy said of him: “Oh my God, I was such a fan of his on Queer As Folk. He has the ability to be really, really wicked smart and also just really kind of sexy and immersive, and his character, he pulls you in. He’s a seducer and I think all the great lawyers are seducers.” The series concluded its season with Harold's character involved in a sexual affair with the show's lead character Marti (played by Aly Michalka). However, the series was cancelled after one season. Prior to cancellation, however, it was announced that Harold would be a regular in another prospective CW series, The Secret Circle
The Secret Circle (TV series)
The Secret Circle is an American television series broadcast on The CW Television Network. It was developed by Andrew Miller, based on the book series of the same name written by L. J. Smith. On May 17, 2011, The CW announced they had picked up the pilot as a series...

, based on a trilogy of popular young adult novels
The Secret Circle
The Secret Circle is a fictional novel series created by L. J. Smith. The series revolves around thirteen teenage witches that form an infamous coven known as 'The Secret Circle'....

.

Following considerable buzz in the press, the CW picked up The Secret Circle
The Secret Circle (TV series)
The Secret Circle is an American television series broadcast on The CW Television Network. It was developed by Andrew Miller, based on the book series of the same name written by L. J. Smith. On May 17, 2011, The CW announced they had picked up the pilot as a series...

 for the Fall of 2011. The series will revolve around a coven of teenaged witches in a small town in Washington State (changed from Maine in the novels), each a member of a different witch clan dating back to the 17th Century. Harold will play the show's villain, a scheming and powerful male witch (the word "warlock" will apparently not be used) who is the father of one of the teenagers. Because the author of the novel cycle, L. J. Smith
L. J. Smith (author)
Lisa Jane Smith, known professionally as L.J. Smith, is an American author of young-adult literature. Her books, which combine elements of the genres of supernatural, horror, science fiction/fantasy, and romance, are populated with young and apparently young human and supernatural characters...

, is also the author of the novels on which the CW series The Vampire Diaries
The Vampire Diaries (TV series)
The Vampire Diaries is an American supernatural drama television series developed by Kevin Williamson and Julie Plec, based on the book series of the same name written by L. J. Smith. The series premiered on The CW Television Network on September 10, 2009, and is currently in its third season that...

 is based, and because the series creators (Kevin Williamson
Kevin Williamson
Kevin Meade Williamson is an American screenwriter, best known for the horror films Scream, I Know What You Did Last Summer and The Faculty, as well as the popular television series Dawson's Creek and, more recently, The Vampire Diaries and The Secret Circle.-Early life:Williamson was born in New...

 and Julie Plec) are the same, the CW intends to use the latter show as the lead-in for The Secret Circle
The Secret Circle (TV series)
The Secret Circle is an American television series broadcast on The CW Television Network. It was developed by Andrew Miller, based on the book series of the same name written by L. J. Smith. On May 17, 2011, The CW announced they had picked up the pilot as a series...

. Both shows will air on Thursday nights.

Reaction from journalists who have seen the show's pilot episode has been almost uniformly positive, with one writer predicting: "We feel like Gale Harold is going to steal every single scene he's in on the show, just like he basically stole this extended trailer. He was creepy as hell threatening Adam's father (Adam Harrington) and even creepier when he was putting on the nice guy act for Cassie... after killing her mother. We already love to hate him."

Personal life

Harold is a motorcycle enthusiast and former motorcycle technician. On October 14, 2008, Harold was hospitalized after a serious motorcycle accident at USC
University of Southern California
The University of Southern California is a private, not-for-profit, nonsectarian, research university located in Los Angeles, California, United States. USC was founded in 1880, making it California's oldest private research university...

 Medical Center's intensive care unit. He remained in critical condition after swelling of the brain was discovered as well as a fractured shoulder. Harold was subsequently released from intensive care and returned to complete his interrupted role on Desperate Housewives
Desperate Housewives
Desperate Housewives is an American television comedy-drama series created by Marc Cherry and produced by ABC Studios and Cherry Productions. Executive producer Cherry serves as Showrunner. Other executive producers since the fourth season include Marc Cherry, Bob Daily, George W...

. The online motorcycle publication Clutch & Chrome, which has followed his recovery closely, celebrated his new Hellcats
Hellcats
Hellcats is an American cheerleading comedy-drama television series that originally aired on The CW in the United States from September 8, 2010 to May 17, 2011...

role with an article on August 3, 2010.

Filmography

Film
Year Title Role Notes
2000 36K Booker O'Brien
2001 Mental Hygiene David Ryan Short film
2003 Particles of Truth Morrison Wiley
Rhinoceros Eyes Det. Phil Barbara
Wake Kyle Riven
2005 The Unseen Harold
Life on the Ledge Chaz
2006 Falling for Grace
Falling for Grace
Falling for Grace is a 2006 romantic comedy film directed by Asian-American Fay Ann Lee, who also co-wrote the film with Karen Rousso, and stars alongside Gale Harold. It debuted at the 2006 Tribeca Film Festival...

Andrew James Barrington, Jr.
2009 Passenger Side Karl
2010 Fertile Ground Nate Weaver
2011 Rehab Dr. Daniel Brody Post-production
Television
Year Title Role Notes
2000-2005 Queer as Folk Brian Kinney
Brian Kinney
Brian Kinney is a fictional character from the American/Canadian Showtime television series Queer as Folk, a drama about the lives of a group of gay men and women living in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The character was portrayed by American actor Gale Harold during the show's five year run...

 
Main cast (Seasons 1-5; 2000-2005)
2003 Street Time Geoff Beddoes 2 episodes
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit is an American police procedural television drama series set in New York City, where it is also primarily produced...

Dr. Garrett Lang Episode 4.24: "Perfect"
2005 Fathers and Sons Elliott Made-for-television film
Martha: Behind Bars
Martha: Behind Bars
Martha: Behind Bars is a TV-movie that aired on September 25, 2005. It chronicled domestic diva Martha Stewart's court case regarding ImClone stocks, and subsequent time behind bars.While the first movie with Cybill Shepherd as Ms...

Peter Bacanovic Made-for-television film
2006 The Unit
The Unit
The Unit is an American action-drama television series that focuses on a top-secret military unit modeled after the real-life U.S. Army special operations unit commonly known as Delta Force...

Rory Episode 1.07: "Dedication"
Episode 1.10: "Unannounced"
Deadwood
Deadwood (TV series)
Deadwood is an American Western drama television series created, produced and largely written by David Milch. The series aired on the premium cable network HBO from March 21, 2004, to August 27, 2006, spanning three 12-episode seasons. The show is set in the 1870s in Deadwood, South Dakota, before...

Wyatt Earp Episode 3.08: "Leviathan Smiles"
Episode 3.09: "Amateur Night"
Vanished
Vanished
Vanished is an American serial drama television series produced by 20th Century Fox. The series premiered on August 21, 2006 on Fox and its last episode aired on November 10, 2006. Based in Atlanta, Georgia, the series begins with the sudden disappearance of the wife of a Georgia senator, which is...

Agent Graham Kelton Main cast (Episodes 1-7)
8 episodes
2007 Grey's Anatomy
Grey's Anatomy
Grey's Anatomy is an American medical drama television series created by Shonda Rhimes. The series premiered on March 27, 2005 on ABC; since then, seven seasons have aired. The series follows the lives of interns, residents and their mentors in the fictional Seattle Grace Mercy West Hospital in...

Shane Episode 4.09: "Crash Into Me, Part 1"
Episode 4.10: "Crash Into Me, Part 2"
2008-2009 Desperate Housewives
Desperate Housewives
Desperate Housewives is an American television comedy-drama series created by Marc Cherry and produced by ABC Studios and Cherry Productions. Executive producer Cherry serves as Showrunner. Other executive producers since the fourth season include Marc Cherry, Bob Daily, George W...

Jackson Braddock  15 episodes
2010 CSI: NY
CSI: NY
CSI: NY is an American police procedural television series that premiered on September 22, 2004, on CBS. The show follows the investigations of a team of NYPD forensic scientists and police officers as they unveil the circumstances behind mysterious and unusual deaths as well as other crimes...

Kevin Scott Episode 6.22: "Point of View"
2010-2011 Hellcats
Hellcats
Hellcats is an American cheerleading comedy-drama television series that originally aired on The CW in the United States from September 8, 2010 to May 17, 2011...

Julian Parrish 9 episodes
2011 The Secret Circle
The Secret Circle (TV series)
The Secret Circle is an American television series broadcast on The CW Television Network. It was developed by Andrew Miller, based on the book series of the same name written by L. J. Smith. On May 17, 2011, The CW announced they had picked up the pilot as a series...

Charles Mead Main cast

External links

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