ART & DESIGN
to do things you wouldn’t normally
character. Back then it was pretty
want. “You don’t want the ones
do with a friend,” says Karras,
edgy,” says Brogren.
that are like, ‘Oh. I lost my home-
→ INSIDE T RU T H Playing gay characters on a series like Degrassi pushes actors Argiris Karras and Shannon Kook-Chun both professionally and emotionally.
whose only TV gig before Degrassi
The Degrassi alumnus has since
work.’ You want the stories that
was appearing on the cheesy show
reprised his role on the show,
force you to push yourself,” he says.
Look-A-Like
returning as the school’s principal.
Still, Karras admits he was at first
He also produces and directs the
cautious about playing Riley, even
by groups of kids calling me ching-
series which, in addition to Riley
if it meant getting his first big break
chong,” says Kook-Chun. “When I
he two characters mark a
and Zane’s plot, introduced its
on TV. “I was like, ‘What’s my fam-
was young, kids would say, ‘Hey
new generation of regularly-
first transgender character, Adam,
ily going to think?’” he says. “But
moffie! [an African slang for fag-
appearing queer Degrassi students
played by actress Jordan Todosey,
they were really cool about it. They
got].” Having a name like Shannon,
since Marco Del Rossi, played by
last year.
were like, ‘Go for it.’”
commonly a girl’s name, didn’t
as
a
cherub-faced
Justin Timberlake doppelganger.
T
actor Adamo Ruggiero, debuted
“I think we got scared with
On TV, Karras proves he’s a
on Degrassi: The Next Generation
Marco that we’d never be able to
pro at portraying the awkward-
Kook-Chun admits he is some-
ness associated with adolescence.
times still bullied — ironically,
“What’s important is my perfor-
for playing a gay character on TV.
mance and what message I’m giv-
“Some people make jokes. I’ll see
ing out. I try to help and influence
some guy I haven’t seen in a while
other young gay kids to deal with
and he’ll be like, ‘Hey! Fucking fag-
themselves,” he says.
got.’ And I’ll be like, ‘Whoa. I know
in 2002. Ruggiero’s character was the first on Degrassi to come out and grow on the show (Ruggiero himself would come out during the process). This was 14 years after the franchise introduced its first gay plotline. Back in 1988 on Degrassi Junior High, a responsible, red-headed teen named Snake
“On set, we’re in character. Off set, we’re able to say, ‘Hey man, you’re a good kisser!’”
had an older brother who was gay.
Kook-Chun’s character Zane is forced to deal with high school
help either, he says.
we’re friends and stuff, but I’m representing something here.’”
homophobia, from name calling to
Degrassi proves that art and life
being tossed into a dumpster. Like
are inescapably connected. “Like
“It was really hard back then to
tell another gay storyline,” says
his character, Kook-Chun, too, has
any story,” says Brogren, “there
tell a story about a young gay per-
Brogren. “Now we’re in this com-
experienced bullying first hand.
has to be truth from the inside.”
son,” says Stefan Brogren, who
fort zone. I don’t think we’re any-
Born and raised in Johannesburg
played Snake throughout the char-
where close to ending the stories
and Cape Town by a Chinese
acter’s time at Degrassi; Snake’s
about kids coming out, or being
father and South African mother,
older gay brother was not a reg-
transgender.”
the actor was often singled out
ular character. “It may have been
Gay roles, says Brogren, are the
for being a minority or being per-
too early to bring in a [regular] gay
types of roles young actors should
ceived as gay. “I’ve been picked on
Degrassi Airs weeknights on MuchMusic at 9pm. VIDEO INTERVIEW Check out Karras and KookChun at intorontomag.com. intorontomag.com
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