Ted of Queer as Folk

Background:

American actor of stage and screen Scott Lowell is best known for playing gay accountant Ted Schmidt on the Showtime drama “Queer as Folk” (2000-20005), following the lives of five gay men living in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He picked up three Prism nominations for his role. He has guest starred in a number of TV series, including “Frasier,” “Heroes,” “Bones” and “CSI: NY,” and acted in such films as “The Debtors” (1999), “Damned If You Do” (2000) and “To Live and Die in Dixie” (2008), to name a few. His stage credits include “The Chicago Conspiracy Trial,” “Laughter on The 23rd Floor,” “Picasso at the Lapin Agile” and “Assassins.” Lowell has appeared on commercials for Nike, Lexus, Budget Rent-a-Car and Payday candybars.

Since working in “Queer as Folk,” Lowell has kept busy traveling around making speeches for many civil right organizations, including the Human Rights Campaign, and political campaigns, in addition to appearing as a presenter and host of numerous GLAAD Awards shows.

Mr. Lowell plays the French horn.

From Denver to Chicago

Childhood and Family:

Scott Lowell was born on February 22, 1965, in Denver, Colorado, and was raised just outside New Haven, Connecticut. He studied theater at Connecticut College in New London, Connecticut, and also trained in acting at the National Theatre Institute. Shortly after, he moved to Chicago to become an actor.

The Chicago 8

Career:

After college, Scott Lowell spent over a decade working in local theater in Chicago. During this period, he performed at the noted Steppenwolf and The Goodman Theatre. In 1991, he was cast as defendant Rennie Davis in a production of “The Chicago Conspiracy Trial” at Chicago's Remains Theatre, directed by Frank Condon. The cast also included George Murdock as Judge Julius S. Hoffman, Bruce Jarchow and David Alan Novak as defense attorneys William Kunstler and Leonard Weinglass, respectively, Gary Houston and Larry Neumann Jr. as prosecutors Thomas A. Foran and Richard Schultz, respectively, David Pasquesi as Abbie Hoffman, Dale Calandra as Allen Ginsberg, and Del Close as David Dellinger. His stage credits also include productions of “Assassins,” “Laughter on The 23rd Floor,” Present Laughter,” “Twelve Night,” and the world premiere production of Steve Martin's “Picasso at the Lapin Agile.” Lowell also wrote a full length play about John Wilkes Booth.

Lowell made his screen debut in 1996 when he starred as Beethoven on the 13 minute short film “Opus 27,” written and helmed by Harper Philbin. The following year, he broke into the small screen with a guest starring role as Scott the Florist in an episode of “Early Edition” called “The Wedding.” Lowell resurfaced two years later in an episode of “Caroline in the City” called “Caroline and the Firing Squad ,” playing Carl. The same year, he also co-starred with Kevin Corrigan, Jennifer Bransford and Josh Hutchinson in “Love Bites,” a 13 minute comedy co-written and co-directed by Michael Horowitz and Colburn Tseng, and played the role of George in his first full length film, “The Debtors,” a comedy about a group of people with various addictions who meet up at the tables in Las Vegas. The film was directed by Randy Quaid's wife, Evi Quaid, written by Cash Bartlett, and starred Michael Caine, Randy Quaid and Catherine McCormack.

In the new millennium, Lowell appeared in “Something About Dr. Mary” (2000), an episode of the NBC hit comedy series “Frasier,” was cast as Laird Jones in his TV film debut, “ Alien Fury: Countdown to Invasion” (2000), which was directed and written by Rob Hedden, and starred Dale Midkiff, Dondre Whitfield and Stephen Tobolowsky, as well as starred in the award winning short films “Ladies Room L.A.” (2000), which won Viewer's Choice Award for Best Short Film at the 2000 Temecula Valley International Film Festival and Gold Award for Independent Short Subject-Films & Video - Comedy-Original at the 2000 WorldFest Houston, and “Damned If You Do” (2000), the winner of Cleveland International Film Festival's Best Ohio Short Film, Gold Award for Comedy at 2000's Crested Butte Reel Fest, the Hollywood Discovery Award for Best Short Film and Marco Island Film Festival's Audience Award for Best Short Comedy.

However, Lowell did not receive a big break until he landed the main role of Theodore 'Ted' Schmidt, an accountant with a low self-pride, in the television drama series “Queer as Folk,” an adaptation of the British series of the same name. The show enjoyed a strong ratings, and ran Showtime for five seasons from December 3, 2000 to August 7, 2005. Lowell was nominated for three Prism Awards in the categories of Performance in a Drama Series Storyline (2004, 2005) and Performance in a Drama Series Multi-Episode Storyline (2004). During his stint on the show, the actor also appeared in the 2001 TV movie “On the Edge,” “Wraparound” segments, playing Charlie.

After “Queer as Folk” came to an end, Lowell played Henry in the 2006 Horror film “Trapped Ashes” (story segments “Wraparound”), appeared in the Jessica Yu comedy film “Ping Pong Playa” (2007), opposite Jimmy Tsai, Andrew Vo, Khary Payton, Jim Lau, Roger Fan and Elizabeth Sung, co-starred with Heather Prete and Marcus Hendricks in the crime/drama film “To Live and Die in Dixie” (2008), had the title role in the short film “Scubaman” (2008) and portrayed Walter in Andy Fortenbacher's short, “Walter's Wife” (2009). From 2006 to 2009, he contributed his voices to various characters on the Fox animated series “American Dad!.” He also guest starred in television shows like “Criminal Minds” (2008, as Mike Hicks), “Leverage” (2008, as Andrew Grant) and “Heroes” (2009, as Professor).

2010 saw Lowell play Dr. Gregory M. Herek in the documentary series “Proposition 8 Trial Re-Enactment,” guest star in an episode of “The Defenders” named “Nevada v. Carter” and had a recurring role on “Donna's Revenge” (2 episodes, as Steve).

Recently, in 2011, Lowell played the role of Heywood Flannigan in “Dinner with Fred,” a 24 minute short written and directed by Ben Proudfoot. He landed guest spots in television series like “NCIS” (as Terry Thomas), “Bones” (as Dr. Filmore), “Supah Ninjas” (as Mr. Bradford) and “CSI: NY” (as Coach Dwight Gavin).

Lowell will play the noted supporting role of Richard Schultz in the independent drama film “The Chicago 8,” starring Philip Baker Hall, Gary Cole, Steven Culp and Mayim Bialik. The film, which is based on on actual court transcripts from the Chicago Seven trial, written and directed by Pinchas Perry. P, is set to be released theatrically in the Unites States on October 23, 2012.

Awards:
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