THE VOICE OF CHICAGO'S GAY, LESBIAN, BI, TRANS AND QUEER COMMUNITY SINCE 1985

For the Denver-born Lowell, the road to stardom has had more than its share of bumps. But not unlike his resilient Queer as Folk alter ego Ted Schmidt, Scott Lowell seems to maximize his assets and moves to embrace each new challenge with an enthusiastic though watchful eye. Though born in the West, Scott Lowell was raised in Connecticut and majored in theater at Connecticut College. He studied acting at The National Theater Institute and eventually moved to Chicago, where he landed his first TV role on Early Edition.

For 11 years, Lowell embarked upon a varied and fruitful theater career in the Windy City, where his credits included A Christmas Carol at Chicago's Goodman Theater, Lifeline Theater's Production of Purloined Poe, Bailiwick's Incorruptible, and a role in Steve Martin's world-premier production of Picasso at the Lapin Agile at Steppenwolf Theater. Other stage credits include: Assassins, A Perfect Ganesh, Light Up the Sky, and Laughter On the 23rd Floor. Lowell is also a featured actor in the LA Theatre Works production of Eugene O'Neill's Anna Christie.

A frequent star of many award-winning commercials in campaigns for such companies as Nike, Budget Rent-a-car, Lexus and Payday Candy Bars, Scott is a familiar face on TV as well. His guest appearances include roles on Caroline and the City, Frasier and Early Edition and spots on Larry King Live, Rendez-View and The Pyramid.

Scott has also tried his hand at feature and independent films. His credits include: Damned If You Do, Sundance Film Festival's Love Bites, from 1999, The Debtors, and Ladies From LA. Lowell recently starred in On the Edge for Showtime and also quite notably played a young Ludwig von Beethoven in the film, Opus 27. An accomplished writer, Lowell recently penned a full-length play about Lincoln assassin, John Wilkes Booth.

DG: I think your character of Ted Schmidt is kind of the 'Ethel Mertz' of the QAF group. (laughter) I mean, I think Ted is a follower, not terribly slick, and kind of disgusted with his lot in life. Though you're the voice of reason, you're also often ready to slap your friends on the wrist if they make a mistake, etc.

SL: Absolutely. Well, I'm proud to be the Ethel Mertz of Queer as Folk! And you may quote me on that! And that's what's fun about the character and again, things that people get upset about. I know a lot of people were very upset with Ted during the second season when he was unhappy about Michael's (played by Hal Sparks) HIV-positive boyfriend (Robert Gant). When I read that script I knew it was going to be trouble … I loved it. I thought it was a brilliant choice on the writer's part because it portrays something that is very true. I mean, here's a guy who's very much in love with his best friend (Michael) and though he tries to tap that down, the feelings are still there. And he's worried for Michael's health; he's worried for his safety. And I think it's a valid point of view and one that's out there. Whether it's a nice point of view or not … maybe not, sometimes. But (in the case of Ted) it's coming from a place of great love and affection. And again, I think it's very valid, but people get all riled up about it, which is great.

DG: Well, I think if you can get people worked up it means you're doing your job. They can relate, right?

SL: Yeah. Absolutely.

DG: I got really pissed off at Ted in the first season when he kicked the pudgy chorus director out of bed right before they were going to have sex … I remember shouting at the TV screen, 'You asshole!' (Scott laughs) I normally don't get that wrapped up in a TV show, but I was really mad at Ted. You really convinced me, Scott.

SL: That's the thing that happens. I mean, in this past season (Season Two) especially, Ted has struggled with being a success, and how it affected him and (how it) affected his personality. I mean, I think he became much more of an asshole (this past season) … not really meaning to, but just not knowing how to deal with success in some ways. He made some cruel choices, and (he) just started to see things in a different way, want different things. And you know that's all part of the learning experience for him. I think he lost a little bit of the wearing his heart on his sleeve in the early part of season two and people again kind of got a little bit upset with him. It's really interesting to me, too, David, that there were times earlier in the season when Ted and Emmett would be fighting, and I think it's always easier for people to kind of pick on poor Ted for fighting with Emmett. Because Emmett is so full of light and happiness and all that all the time … it's easier for them to come down on Ted and get mad at him, 'How dare you fight with Emmett?' (we laugh) You know it's just intriguing to me how people side with the characters and will lash out at them at various points. It's great but certainly, you know, towards the end of the season … with things going on between Ted and Emmett, I think that people have kind of come back to Ted.

DG: When the executive producers of QAF (Ron Cowen and Dan Lipman) gave Ted the story line of becoming a purveyor of gay porn in the Second Season, how did you feel about that direction? Ted is certainly fascinated with Internet sex and porn, but he is also rather conservative and straight-laced. Did you have any problems?

SL: No, I actually helped them towards it.

DG: Really?

SL: Yeah. They'd mentioned it to me early on in the first season as just a thought. And later on in the first season one of our drivers on the show and I were talking on the way to work, and he was talking to me about this friend of his who's a lawyer up in Toronto who is now a millionaire from having invested and worked on a porn Web site. And we talked more and more about it … and it turns out, that the majority of people who run these sites are actually lawyers and accountants and people like that because it's the only stable dot.com business out there! And these people are getting fabulously wealthy off of it. That really struck a cord with me and given that porn is such a big part of Ted's life, when we came to the end of the first season and went into story line ideas, that was one I brought back up with them. The character had to grow and we needed to explore a way for him to find some success at something. Given that Ted and Emmett are the comic relief characters of the show—it is up to those two characters to truly bring the comedy to the show. And I thought it would open itself up for many comic situations, maybe possible guest-star appearances from actual gay porn actors! You know the Gay Porn Love Boat of the New Millennium.

DG: Who is that porn star you guys are always talking about … is it Zack … ?

SL: Zack O'Toole! (Scott laughs) ... Matt Taylor. He's a wonderful actor. And so, at times while it might have gotten a little fantastical in how it was actually handled, I truly liked the idea of Ted's porn business.

DG: I know that you have very close ties to Chicago and lived here for a number of years. What was the first thing you did professionally here?

SL: The very very first thing was in the fall of 1987. I did a play with Lifeline Theater Company called Purloined Poe. It was a play in which Edgar Allan Poe was essentially thrust into his own stories. I played William Wilson who was Poe's alter ego, I just nerked around the entire show. We had a big scary sword fight at the end. That was the first thing I did. Then I went from Lifeline over to Bailiwick when it was still over at the Hull House. I just heard through Albert Williams that Hull House is gone now. I wrote a little speech for him to read at the memorial service that they just had for the old Hull House Theater. But I spent about a year there (at Bailiwick) doing plays, one of Christopher Cartmill's first plays (was one of them). It was called Incorruptible, which was a six-hour French Revolution epic. I was all over town, Northlight, Steppenwolf. I dragged so many people to Chicago from back east because I really felt it was the best place to start off an acting career. Because the New York Theater scene is so, for the most part, business-oriented. If you get a bad review, the show is going to close the next day. In Chicago if you get a bad review you may do the whole run for four people a night but you're going to do the whole run.

DG: What about the story line of you and Emmett hooking up as lovers? Whose idea was that originally?

SL: Well, oddly enough, Peter (Paige) and myself both went into those sessions to pitch story lines for the Second Season and without even having spoken to each other we both ended up pitching a story line about Ted and Emmett hooking up (romantically). Which is kind of curious, although our versions were different—I think one of ours was more like a drunken one-night kind of thing, where they just kind of wake up and suddenly they're in bed with each other. When Dan (Cowan) and Ron (Lipman) heard that from both of us, they started thinking about it and they thought it was something that should be explored a little bit more deeply.

DG: When I was on the set of Queer as Folk in February, 2002, I got the impression from Hal (Sparks) that he really wasn't crazy about the nude scenes he was required to do. How do you feel about the issue of nudity in QAF and filming the scenes in which you have to be naked?

SL: It can absolutely be very difficult. Well, you can imagine doing a nude scene on stage; you've got the benefit where you're kind of blocking the audience out. Any sex scene or anything that's going on in our show, you know you've got a boom operator standing six inches from you with his stomach growling in your ear. The camera's right there, and then especially if you add in a situation where you have to be naked in a room now with strangers or guys who you are just meeting who are also naked … it becomes a very odd world.

DG: I would think that you have to feel somewhat safe, or at least create a feeling of safety for yourself and the people doing the scene with you …

SL: Absolutely, and our producers really do that (for us). I mean, especially any kind of sexual situation; everything is talked out ahead of time with the producers and the directors. You are informed as to what exactly will be showing, and how it's going to be shown. And they really leave it up to you in terms of if you want to be fully naked, if you want to be wearing what we call the 'cock sock.' That's a flesh-colored jewel pouch that you can kind of stuff your goodies into. So it's up to you and your level of comfort and the other actors as to how things will eventually play out. It's very, very safe. And then again that was part of the learning process. There was one scene in the first season (of QAF) where Ted is having sex in the back of an SUV; it was kind of a brief little shot.

DG: I remember that.

SL: Yeah. It was meant to be a very comical scene, with the SUV shaking and rocking and Ted really getting into it. And we ended up not having what we call a 'sex meeting' before that scene, partially because we were shooting out in the middle of a parking lot (in Toronto) in November. Time just didn't allow for a sex meeting and I think because everyone viewed it as 'Oh ha-ha-ha-a comic scene…' But the truth was, I still had to be there getting buggered by this guy even if the end result was supposed to be comical. And so I think we learned very quickly that any kind of sexual situation like this demands … that it be talked through first, that everybody is comfortable. Especially for a guest actor; the guy in the SUV scene … that was his first scene. For him to just kind of wander onto the set and now this is what you're doing (having a naked sex scene) was unnerving for him. So you're going to get more out of people if they're comfortable and relaxed. And so now we have a meeting anytime there's going to be any kind of nudity, sometimes people have a discussion even before a kissing scene.

DG: We continue to hear this criticism about Queer as Folk and its content. We don't see African Americans (as part of the regular cast), we don't see Hispanics, we don't see Asians. Do you know if this is going to change? Do you have input?

SL: I hear it a lot, I hear it from friends of mine. It's really a tricky question and it gets trickier all the time. It's a difficult thing because I'm an actor on the show, and while we're the faces of people associated with the show, we really don't have the power over these kinds of things. So it's difficult for us when we're asked these kinds of questions. I understand the concern. The first thing I would say is that it was never a conscious or deliberate choice to exclude anyone. As a matter of fact, they worked very hard to cast the role of Emmett with an African American actor. When I went to go test for the show, I was there, Michelle Clunie was there, Hal (Sparks) was there, Peter Paige was there, Randy Harrison was there and there were three African American actors—they were Peter's competition. And when they came out of that audition process, Peter was (selected as) the actor for the role. Not that those other guys weren't tremendous actors, but you know when it comes down to casting, you have to bring something magical and special to the producers and Peter Paige had that. And now I don't think most people can imagine anyone else playing that role. Yes, you need to encourage and maybe you need to make a special effort (to be inclusive), but if in the end these actors aren't the right actors for the role, you shouldn't be forced into casting someone just because they're someone of color. And I don't think they would want the role on that basis.

Now the trouble is because the show ended up so 'white' in people's minds, the difficulty is, how do you put a person of color in? You know in the pilot episode we had a Japanese actor. And he turned out to be a guy who played a male prostitute. And everyone was up in arms. 'The only Asian character you have on is a male prostitute!' So now if you put an African American character into the mix, are we allowed to put a person of color into a role in which they portray a bad guy? Will we get criticism that we put an African American in a 'bad guy' role? Or if we put in an extra 'good guy' role will they say, 'Oh, you're pandering?' It's almost that so much has been made out of it that you're painted into a corner. And the other problem is that we shoot the show, as you know, in Canada. And all of our guest actors have to be Canadian actors because of the laws we have in Canada that are allowing us to shoot up there. So our main ensemble is American but everyone else has to be cast out of Canada. There's not a huge Black population up in Canada.

DG: That's true enough.

SL: So even if you look at a role (geared toward) the Black community as limited as it is, the Hispanic community (in Canada) is even smaller! So it's one of those things where I understand that people are upset. I know the producers are conscious of it as well, but what they're about is just putting out the best show they can and finding the best people for the job. And I don't think they've ever, ever made a conscious choice to exclude anybody because of race or whatever. They didn't exclude any of us because we weren't gay; they never even asked us! If they didn't care about that, they certainly don't care about the color of a person's skin.

DG: Do you consider it a slight that Queer as Folk has never been awarded (or has even been nominated for) an Emmy or Golden Globe? You allude to feelings you have about this on your Web site …

SL: As I kind of describe in my weblog piece, it's almost impossible. I don't consider it an intentional slight. I don't think there's any conspiracy out there. But it's a question of who has money to advertise things. Showtime, in terms of cable networks, is in a relatively small number of households. So you're asking these voters (who are inundated with hundreds and hundreds of videotapes to watch 'for their consideration') to cull through just for nomination. So that unless you're already actively familiar with these programs, or you recognize a name from them, or you've read so much about it that it's been forced down your throat by the media … there's no way in hell that you can break through to the majority of these poor Emmy voters. I don't think it's a slight, I just think it's the way the system is, it's flawed.

DG: Your Web site is intriguing. I particularly like the BLOG entries. I think it's really great that you maintain this connection with the people who watch the show and who are also interested in your career. Your BLOG entries provide both kind of a backstage view and also a very personal presence. Do you get a lot of hits on this site, Scott, and is it working well?

SL: Yes, it's working really well for us and the one-year anniversary of the site was Oct. 1, 2002. I think we're over 60,000 hits in a year. And I actually get yelled at on the street by people to write more because I've been very bad since last summer. People who see me on the streets or come over [and] say, 'OK Your B LOG—NOW! GET OUT THERE!'

DG: And for those who don't know, what does B LOG stand for?

SL: It stands for 'Web Log.' It's like a journal. I don't know why they had to shorten it to BLOG, I don't know if adding the 'WE' would have added so much more time to the typing. ... But that's what these journals have become known as for a lot of these sites, 'B LOGS' or 'BLOGS.' And Annie Taylor, who runs my Web site and is just tremendous, you know she pokes me with sticks to get out there and write the thing and I'm glad she does. It's fun for me, I love writing. And there's a big part of me that's still going through this experience (of being on Queer as Folk) with a 'I can't believe I'm in this situation' kind of feel. So I think I have a pretty good feel for what people would find intriguing about this world which I think everybody has a certain impression of.

DG: Do you ever fear that being part of this revolutionary show about gays and lesbians could adversely affect your career? When Queer as Folk is over, could you fall victim to being typecast or worse?

SL: First of all, I'm an actor so of course I'm scared that this could all go away tomorrow. That's in our genetic code. I'm horribly afraid of that, that this will be my last job. If it is, it's a pretty good one to go out on. But that fear does not come specifically out of my working on Queer as Folk. That's just the actor's nightmare. And that's a struggle, a lifelong one. Do I worry about Queer as Folk being a detriment to my career? No, not really. Because it's already a blessing. And I feel the difference already, in New York casting directors wanting to meet me. I don't have to sit outside their door with popsicles and candy and hope that they'll let me in. And now they want to meet me because they're fans of the show or they recognize the show, Queer as Folk, and they say, 'OK, come on in.' It's already opened doors for me that were not opened previously, so I don't worry about that. I've been doing this professionally since 1987 and that's a long time, and I've gotten to this point. The worse that can happen is that I go back down a rung on the ladder, where I'm back to the same struggle I had before I had Queer as Folk. In terms of typecasting, I always say there's not a lot of call out there for sad-sack homosexual accountants. So I don't really worry about being cast as Ted again. But I'll still be an actor and I'll still be acting and I'll still be doing things.

The Third Season of Showtime's Queer as Folk airs Sunday evenings at 9 p.m. on Showtime with a replay Tuesday evenings at 10 PM CST.

Scott Lowell's Web site is at www.scottlowell.com

E-mail:DavdRonald@aol.com