Michael Jeter did not let being gay or HIV-positive define his life. Jeter won Tony and Emmy awards for his acting and followed his dreams.
Jeter grew up in Lawrenceburg, Tenn. and went on to study at Memphis State University. According to Jamie Diamond in a New York Times article from Oct. 20, 1991, Jeter did not plan on a career as an actor; instead, he dreamed of being a neurosurgeon. In the article, Jeter said, "The idea of acting must have always been there. I was a child with a vivid imagination. My mother tells me I came up with some real whoppers. I was already pretending."
Jeter spent his life on the stage and in front of the camera. Jeter told the Times, "As a child I told untruths, but I believed them with all my heart and that's basically what an actor does. An actor has to believe his pretense to make the audience believe it."
In 1979, Jeter landed his first film role in Hair. Throughout the 1980s, Jeter performed several small roles in TV and performed frequently off Broadway.
He worked as a secretary in a law firm and was searching for a new career when a casting director sought him out in 1987 for a small role in TV's Designing Women. Later, Jeter received three Emmy nominations for his role in the CBS series Evening Shade (1990-1994) opposite Burt Reynolds. Jeter won the award in 1992 and was nominated twice more for guest roles on two of his other TV appearances, Picket Fences and Chicago Hope.
In the late 1990s he had appeared in roles in Murphy Brown, Air Bud, Johnny Bravo, Mousehunt and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. In 1998, he played a mental patient in Patch Adams. In 1999, he played a mouse-loving and kindhearted death row inmate in The Green Mile. In 2001 he played Dr. Udesky in Jurassic Park III. Jeter had a recurring role on Sesame Street.
Jeter died at age 50 of AIDS complications on March 30, 2003, while filming The Polar Express. The film was dedicated to his memory.