Issue Number 995 | Oh, Brother! | Advocate.com Oh, Brother!  |  | Advocate.com

||  Cover Story  ||
 
Oh, Brother!
As a take-charge gay lawyer on Brothers & Sisters, Matthew Rhys wins the verdicts, dates the hunks, and ushers us into network TV’s next great era.
Excerpted from The Advocate  October 23, 2007
Oh, Brother!

Here’s a twist on gay drama: At a burger stand in the heart of West Hollywood, Calif., Matthew Rhys was straight-bashed. Sort of, anyway. “This huge, muscley guy came up to me and went ‘gay power!’ and sort of punched me,” recalls the Welsh-born actor, who plays single-and-looking gay lawyer Kevin Walker on ABC’s hit family drama Brothers & Sisters. “Then the man went ‘You’re gay, right?’ I went, ‘No, I am not.’ He went, ‘You’re not? Oh, I feel betrayed.’ I was like, ‘Sorry.’ ”

It’s not always easy sharing a face with arguably the most full-blooded, romantic, and sexually active gay character in network TV history. But then, Rhys seems pretty unflappable. This, after all, is an actor who suffered through eight fruitless pilot seasons in Los Angeles and was ready to blow off Hollywood for good just before Brothers & Sisters came along. These days it takes more than a run-in at a burger joint to kill the professional buzz he gets playing one of his favorite characters to date.

“I love Kevin because in his professional life you get to play the man in charge, in control, very successful, powerful, assertive,” says the 32-year old Londoner. “And on the flip side, in his personal life he’s a bit of a puppy.”

Unlike some gay characters who seem too agreeable to be real, Kevin Walker can be, well, a bit of a dick sometimes, no? Rhys lets out a laugh in response. “I love his flaws,” says the Royal Academy drama school grad, whose past includes the films Titus, Fakers, and Very Annie Mary as well as the London stage production of The Graduate opposite Kathleen Turner. “Kevin learns from his mistakes. Under the dry sense of humor and the caustic repartee, he just wants to meet that one partner, and he hopes that’ll complete everything. I find that quite touching about him.”

It’s lunchtime on the Burbank set of Brothers & Sisters, and Rhys is enjoying some sea bass and salad at a nearby restaurant. His skin is a bit sun-kissed, thanks to a weekend trip to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, for the wedding of his old friend and former flatmate Ioan Gruffudd (Reed, the stretchy guy, from the Fantastic Four movies). “It was beautiful,” says Rhys, “but the bachelor party in Vegas two weeks ago—that was pretty wild. We dressed Ioan up as Buzz Lightyear and made him walk down the Strip. I still feel emotional from it.”

Rhys’s clothes -- aqua polo shirt, Paper denim jeans and brown half boots from Barneys -- aren’t actually his; they’re Kevin’s, but they look good on him nonetheless. Kevin is nothing if not tasteful. “When it comes to Kevin’s costumes, they didn’t want them to sort of shout gay!” explains Rhys. So, I ask, we won’t be seeing Kevin in anything from the International Male catalog?

“What’s that?” Rhys asks blankly. See, folks, he really is straight.

Reader Comments

These comments are reproduced as written by visitors to this Web site. They have not been edited for content, grammar, or spelling. The viewpoints appearing here are those of the writer, and do not necessarily reflect the opinion or views of advocate.com, The Advocate, or its affiliates.

Be the first to comment on this story.

Back to top

Submit a comment for this story:

*Type your comment here (Required, 1000 characters max.):

*Name (Required): 

*Hometown (Required): 

*E-mail address: (Required, but will not be displayed)

Is this comment for publication? 
Yes   No

Daytime phone number: (Required for print publication only and will not be displayed)

Please enter the words you see in the box, in order and separated by a space. Doing so helps prevent automated programs from abusing this service.

  

If you would like to submit a comment for posting, please fill out the form above. 

All comments submitted via this form are subject to posting or publication. (To send a private letter to an Advocate editor or writer, please use the e-mail button at the top of the page, or use snail mail.) If you would like your comment considered for publication in The Advocate magazine, please include your full name, your city of residence, and a phone number where you can be reached during business hours so that we can confirm your identity. Your e-mail address and telephone number are strictly confidential and will not be shared or used for any purpose other than to contact you about your comment.

Comments that do not concern specific articles in The Advocate or on Advocate.com will not be posted or published. See the Contact page for sending comments for reasons other than responding to Advocate editorial and news stories.

Please note that comments sent by fax or snail mail are unlikely to be posted, although they will be considered for publication along with all letters received via e-mail or via this Web page. Comments that chiefly concern Advocate.com content will be considered for posting only on the Web site. The Advocate reserves the right to edit submitted comments for grammar, spelling, obscenities, or libel; we will, however, do our best to preserve the original comment's style and intent. Comments considered for publication in The Advocate magazine may also be edited for length.