Queer as Folk

Background:

Robert Gant is an American actor and the recipient of the 2007 GLAAD Media Davidson/Valentini Award. He is probably best known for his roles of Professor Ben Bruckner on the American remake of “Queer as Folk,” which he played from 2002 to 2005, and Rock van Gelder on the British series “Personal Affairs” (2009). He also played recurring roles on “Caroline in the City” (9 episodes, 1997-1998) and (“Popular” (11 episodes, 2000-2001). His other TV credits include guest starring roles on the series “Ellen,” “Friends,” “V.I.P.,” “Nip/Tuck,” “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation,” “CSI: NY” and “CSI: Miami.” Gant has appeared in several films, including “Jane Street” (1996), “The Contract” (2002), “Save Me” (2007, marked his producing debut) and “Special Delivery” (2008, TV).

“A friend of mine says, ‘In God's world there are no mistakes, only lessons,’ so I'm coming out exactly when I'm supposed to.” Robert Gant

Gant came out as a gay actor in “The Advocate” magazine in August 2002. He is a supporter of organizations like SAGE- Senior Advocacy for GLBT Elders and GLEH-Gay & Lesbian Elder Housing. In March 2006, he was awarded the Nationality Equality Award, which was given to him by the Human Rights Campaign.

Lawyer

Childhood and Family:

Robert Gant was born Robert John Gonzalez on July 13, 1968, in Tampa, Florida. He is of Spanish, Irish, Cuban, Italian and English lineage. He began acing in television commercials at age 10 in Florida. The following year, he performed a soft-shoe routine with Bob Hope as part of Hope's USO tour. After high school, Robert went to the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia where he was an English literature major. He then moved to Washington, D.C. to study law at Georgetown University. Gant was a lawyer before deciding to focus on an acting career.

Personal Affairs

Career:

A graduate of Georgetown Law School, Robert Gant came to Los Angeles when he accepted a position with the international law firm Baker & McKenzie. However, the Los Angeles office was closed four months after his relocation and instead of continuing his career in law, he opted to pursue his lifelong passion of acting.

In 1994, Gant landed small parts in the film “Cityscrapes: Los Angeles” and the television film “Bitter Vengeance,” starring Virginia Madsen, Bruce Greenwood and Kristen Dalton. The same year, he also guest starred in the television shows “Ellen” (as Dr. Garber), “My So-Called Life” (as Guther) and “Melrose Place” (room service waiter). He later returned to “Melrose Place” to portray Deputy Tom on the 1996 episode “Moving Violations.”

More guest spots followed and Gant was seen in episodes of “My Wildest Dreams” (1995), “Step by Step” (1995), “High Tide” (1996), “Night Stand” (1997), “Life with Roger” (1997), “Friends” (1997), “Hangin' with Mr. Cooper” (1997), “Silk Stalkings” (1997), “Head Over Heels” (1997), “Style & Substance” (1998), “Fantasy Island” (1988), “Becker” (1999) and “Rude Awakening.” Gant also played the recurring role of Trevor, the boyfriend of Caroline (played by Lea Thompson), on the NBC sitcom “Caroline in the City” between 1997 and 1998. He returned to features portraying a handyman named Jay Lewis in the independent movie “Jane Street” (1996), opposite Linda Hoffman, D.K. Kelly and Carrie Stevens. He followed it up with a role on the Kevin Williamson film “Teaching Mrs. Tingle” (1999), which starred Helen Mirren, Marisa Coughlan and Katie Holmes.

In February 2000, Gant joined the cast of The WB's teen series “Popular,” in the role of Vice Principle/Principle Calvin Krupps of Kennedy High School. He made his last appearance on March 16, 2001. Gant also guest starred in the series “Linc's” (2000) and “Veronica's Closet” (2000) and appeared in the video “Uta Hagen's Acting Class” (2001). In 2002, he portrayed Ian in “Fist and Starts,” a romantic film written and directed by Kevin R. Kelley that starred Pat Skipper, Holland Taylor and Linden Ashby, and Gene Collins in the thriller “The Contact,” starring Camilla Overbye Roos, Jeff Fahey and Andrew Keegan.

After guest starring in “V.I.P” (2002), Gant landed the role of Ben Bruckner, a college professor living with HIV, on the second season of the Showtime drama “Queer as Folk,” which was an adaptation of the British series of the same name. He would stay with the show until it ended in August 2005. He stated, “People who are HIV positive certainly don't have much of a voice and so in playing Ben, I love getting to be the mouthpiece for a lot of people who are otherwise voiceless.”

During his stint on the show, Gant also made guest appearances in “Providence” (2002) and “The Closer” (2005). In 2004, he appeared as a bartender in the Tom Cairns directed comedy “Marie and Bruce,” starring Julianne Moore, Matthew Broderick and Bob Balaban, and starred in a short film written and directed by Jamie Donahue.

In 2006, Gant appeared in an episode of “Pepper Dennis” called “Celebrity Twin Could Hang: Film at Eleven.” The next year, he appeared in an episode of “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation” called “ Empty Eyes” and as a casing director on “Live,” a film directed and written by Bill Guttentag that starred Eva Mendes, David Krumholtz and Rob Brown. It was also in 2007 that Gant made his producing debut with “Save Me,” a producing partnership with Chad Allen, Judith Light and Christopher Racster. The film premiered at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival and was later picked up for distribution by independent studio First Run Features.

Gant next starred as Jacob Keane in the action film “Kiss Me Deadly” (2008), opposite Shannen Doherty, supported Casper Van Dien, Anthony Brandon Wong and Bellamy Young in the Spike TV action film “Mask of the Ninja” (2008), and played the role of Nate Spencer on the Lifetime film “Special Delivery” (2008), starring Lisa Edelstein, Brenda Song and Stan Egi. He also appeared in episodes of “Nip/Tuck” (12008), “Rick & Steve the Happiest Gay Couple in All the World” (2009), “CSI: NY” (2009), “State of the Union” (2009), “Castle” (2009) and “CSI: Miami” (2009).

In 2009, Gant starred in the British TV series “Personal Affairs” as Rock van Gelder. Costars of the show included Laura Aikman, Olivia Grant, Maimie McCoy, Ruth Negga and Annabel Scholey. 2010 saw him guest star in episodes of “Bones,” “Hot in Cleveland” and “90210” and act in the short “Walter,” which was directed by Jonathan Dillon and written by Paul Shoulberg. Recently, in 2011, he appeared as Kyle in the episode “First Valentine's Day” of “Mike & Molly.”

Gant is set to play a role in the upcoming film “Joshua Tree, 1951: A Portrait of James Dean” (2011), by director/writer Matthew Mishory. He will also portray Craig Rolle in the upcoming NBC television movie “My Life As an Experiment” (2011), opposite Donald Sutherland, Paget Brewster and Adam Campbell.

Awards:

• GLAAD Media: Davidson/Valentini Award, 2007

• Human Rights Campaign: Nationality Equality Award, March 2006