90210's Trevor Donovan on His Return to the Teen Soap and His Friendship With the Dalai Lama

Trevor Donovan is so damn pretty it's really unfair he's also smart and hilarious. The California-born (of course!) actor portrays Teddy, the gay heartthrob on the CW's 90210. Just hours before his character returns for the show's season finale (the 32-year-old actor has only appeared sporadically during the fourth season), Donovan answers a few questions for The Advocate about manly man Teddy, Donovan's budding friendship with the Kennedys, and whether we might see him in the next installment of the Hunger Games series.

The Advocate: Can you tell us about your return to 90210? What brings Teddy back to Beverly Hills? Will we see him in the next season?
Donovan: Teddy finds out he has a scorching case of killer herpes and goes back to warn everyone he slept with. It's going to be quite a dramatic season finale. Kidding, but yes, it appears there will be a season 5. Will you see Teddy? Only three people know: Mark Pedowitz, the president of CW, the writers, and the third, uh, who's the third one, I can't, sorry, oops, wonder how many readers will get that reference. For real, this article goes to print before the show airs, so I can't and won't spoil it for anyone, but if you don't watch, the Kardashians win and get more years on TV! But seriously, you can't miss it, you will feel something watching it, like tingles, goose bumps, and be like WTF?! Substance returns!

Teddy is one of TV's most unstereotypical gay characters. Did anyone, on the show or off, ask you to "gay it up"?
Never. They saw it worked the way I played him and didn't mess with it. Portraying him the way we did turned out much better. Could you imagine Teddy like "Just Jack?"

Some say that the lack of LGBT representation on TV plays a part in the bullying epidemic we're seeing across the country. Would you tend to agree?
I would say that's one of the reasons. Bad parenting mixed with being a jerky teenager and lack of positive role models are a few other reasons. I think creating an unstereotypical gay character like Teddy was beneficial. Teddy was a jock, boy next door, popular, an overall good dude, loved by guys and girls. But oh, he happen to be gay.

He wasn't a chronic protester or complainer, but he spoke up when he needed to and didn't let people discriminate or take advantage of him. At least that's how I would have played him if he was given more than two minutes of screen time! But I am very grateful for the time I was given and for the opportunity to play him. From social media like Twitter and Facebook, along with meeting people, I learned Teddy had an impact, a positive one.