Celebrity Highlights: Actor Gale Harold from Queer as Folk

“The epitome` of sex,” was a phrase that became synonymous with actor Gale Harold, in relation to his portrayal of the arrogant and promiscuous gay ad exec, Brian Kinney, on Showtime’s “Queer as Folk.” It seemed this American actor came out of nowhere and grabbed the world by storm, captivating not only gay audiences, but a surprisingly large base of heterosexual women as well. But now that one of television’s most shocking and ground-breaking shows has come to an end, where does that leave its sexy star… and just who was that masked man behind Brian Kinney?

Born and raised in Decatur, just outside of Atlanta, Georgia, he came into this world on July 10th, 1969, and was named Gale Morgan Harold III. Gale’s parents were religious and, while it’s known that they were Southern Pentecostal, the American actor reveals little else about the people that raised him. Some interviews have suggested that Harold has alluded there was a great deal of conflict in his family, particularly in regards to religion and sports, but this is all speculation and Gale Harold has never directly come out and stated the bare-bones facts about his family. 

Aside from knowing that he is a middle child, with an older sister and younger brother, he seems to prefer to keep things hush and most respect those wishes. When asked, Gale usually declares David Bowie, Jack London, and Tolkien’s Gandalf as major influences during his adolescent years.

Graduating from the Southwest Dekalb High School, Gale was given the opportunity to attend the American University, in Washington D.C., where he began a liberal arts degree in Romance literature. Trouble with his coach, however, would convince Harold to leave the school after only one and a half years of schooling, citing ‘creative differences.’ From there, he would travel on to the San Francisco Art Institute, in California, with the plans to study fine arts (particularly photography, which Harold is very fond of). This would also end poorly, when Gale blew his academic scholarship, simply wasting it away.