Wilson Cruz serves Leather Daddy in Photobook Magazine

Daddy Cruz is here! 

Wilson Cruz has come a long way since starring as the bright-eyed, curly-headed gay teenager Rickie Vasquez on the groundbreaking 90s TV series My So-Called Life. He’s gone from Little Rickie to Daddy Cruz, and we are here for it! 

Cruz is all decked out in leather for this month’s cover of Photobook magazine, and the sexiness is unreal! Actually, it might be a bit of sexiness overload. And in this month’s issue of Photobook, Cruz talks to Photobook about the “biggest challenge” of his career — finding roles for LGBTQ+ actors of color.

“So much of my experience has been finding the good roles that were open to me or, in my case, finding the roles that, with some collaboration, I could make better or more accurate,” Wilson told Photobook. “It’s also been a challenge to convince content creators that the characters they envisioned don’t necessarily have to be a white straight CIS gendered [man] and giving them a good enough reason, in my audition, to change their minds.”

He also discussed his belief that the LGBTQ is gaining more visibility in mainstream television and media. 

“I think the biggest changes I’ve seen in terms of LGBTQ visibility have been on television,” Cruz continued. “I took a couple of years off to work at GLAAD, specifically to work on this issue, and I really believe the conversations we had with networks and content creators, at that time, allowed them to see, not only how important inclusivity and visibility are for the community and the powerful storytelling opportunities for them, but also alerting them to the money they were leaving on the table by NOT being more inclusive.”

When asked what was the proudest moment of his career, Wilson said what many of us knew he would — his groundbreaking performance as Rickie Vasquez almost 30 years ago. 

“That’s so hard to answer because I am so very proud of the work I’m currently doing,” Cruz told Photobook. “However, I think it’s undeniable to me that Rickie Vasquez on My So-Called Life saved, and continues to save, lives in just 19 episodes. The fact that that show has endured and continues to find an audience almost 30 years later and has the effect it has on queer young people, like it does, will stay with me for my entire life.”