ing time with M illegan’s partner of five
years, Charles, a coach and casting director
for voice-overs.
Millegan says he came out to his family
seven years ago and recounts the time he
ric Millegan is out and there’s no stop
adled home, finally determined to tell his
ping him. The baby-faced actor from
parents he was gay. W hen one of his younger
Springfield refuses to he closeted and is
brothers answered and informed him that
riding the wave of openness toward gays in the
Mom and Dad weren’t around, “1 told him
entertainment industry.
so I could tell somebody because I was fired
up for it. He was very accepting, and we
He is co-starring in O n_U ne, an indepen
became closer.”
dent film that explores the growing commu
nity of people who conduct most of their
Good thing because in O n_Line, his
social and sexual lives at their computers.
debut movie role, he plays a sexually
confused college student who htxiks
The film, which features two songs by Port
up via the Internet with an older
land hand Pink Martini, opens Sept. 26 at
man. Millegan says their scenes
Hollywtxxl Theatre.
together are especially moving
Eric Allen Millegan was horn in Hack-
because “it’s about a young boy
ettstown, N.J., about 60 miles west of New
with an older man, which is never
York City. W hen he was 5 the family moved
depicted in movies. It’s not two
to Springfield, where his father attended the
Chelsea hoys. These relationships are
Eric Allen Schixd of Journalism at nearby
out there and yet we never see them.”
University of Oregon. “W hen 1 was growing
up, it was a big joke that 1 was named after a
W hen 1 ask if anyone else associated
journalism schcxd," Millegan quips, “and my
with On_Lintj is gay, he tells me about
John Fleck, who plays the older man.
sister was named after Elvis’ daughter, Lisa
“IJohn’sl gay in the movie and he’s gay in
Marie.”
real life,” Millegan says, hut catches him
Millegan describes an idyllic childhixxJ in
self. “T h ere’s an answer you should never
which the worst thing that happened was
give in an interview.” Then he asks, “He is
“when the hall went over the fence, there
openly gay, isn’t he?” (Note: Fleck is openly
used to he a mean lady Inext door) who
wouldn’t give it hack.” He started perform
gay and gained national prominence as a
ing in local shows at around 7 and hasn’t
performance artist in 1990 when he was one
of four artists, now collec
stopped since. “1 was pretty
tively known as the NEA
ambitious once 1 started in
Four, whose grants were
theater,” he says.
Urged on by his parents,
rescinded by the National
Millegan and all five of his
Endowment for the Arts
on the grounds that their
siblings studied piano from
an early age. He auditioned
work was obscene.)
for the Oregon C hildren’s
For Millegan, being gay
Choir when it was first
is unashamedly a part of
forming and sang with the
who he is, although his
group for five or six years.
attitude reflects the com
plexities of what it means
“Everything I learned IthercJ
was really important to me
to he out as a public figure.
getting musical jobs now,"
“1 never have and never
he says.
will make an announce
As a child, he appeared in
ment that I’m gay because
— Eric M illegan
productions of Amahl & the
I just am,” he says. “Every
Night Visitors and Oliver! and
body knows.”
worked with the Mainstage Theater (now
W hen I first hear this, I am slightly con
called the Downtown Cabaret Theater) in
cerned, especially since Millegan has already
Eugene. “Even then it was always about putting
told me that among his role models and
more shows on my resume.”
heroes is Nathan Lane, who finally came out
Txlay, Millegan remains close to his fam
publicly in 1999 after years of being coy about
ily ( “1 love my family,” he says, “and C hrist
his sexuality. (“I would make a joke,” Lane
mas is about coming home and being with
told The Advocate in his coming-out article,
“not out of being closeted, hut out of finding
them ”) and they remain supportive o f his
career, flying to New York to watch him
it difficult to discuss my personal life with
perform in Jesus Christ Superstar and spend
total strangers.”)
Out-and-outgay:
E-tic Millegan,
“I never have
and never will
make an
announcement
that I’m gay
because I just
am.... It’s never
going to be more
of an issue than
my height.”
eery
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Up-and-coming actor Eric Millegan grew up in Springfield
hut now lises in New \ork C its as he pursues an acting
career. He’s still a hardcore supporter of the Portland Irail
Blazers, though, and since I1*1)*-) has authored a column
. called “The Fan” on OregonLive.com.
Millegan finally got to meet his hero in
July while taping an episode of FIRO’s Curh
Your Enthusiasm, which will he televised in
March. “I never considered him closeted,” he
says. “I always considered him gay. I consid
ered him closeted like 1 was closeted until I
did The Advocate article a couple of months
ago. He’s not denying it to the people he’s
having sex with.”
When I point out to him a myopia in the
entertainment industry whereby actors will
think, “If I’m gay and I’m open to my friends
and family, then I’m openly gay,” even when
they refuse to acknowledge it to the public, Mil
legan says, “I’m already on record as gay. Frior
to this movie, my life has been that I am gay.
When I went to Sundance [Film Festival) there
was a gay bninch and I went to that. When The
Advocate wanted to write the article [abxxit me)
c they never asked the question.. .hut the article
clearly implied it by saying that I have a
boyfriend. It’s never going to he more of an
| issue than my height because there’s noth-
■fck ing to announce. It’s just what is."
Wmt
Millegan continues: “I don’t
hold it against either Nathan or
Rosie (O’D m nelll because they
both got started at a time when
things were completely different.
They didn’t grow up with every-
FxxJy around, with Rixsie and
Nathan coming out before them.”
But clearly Millegan relishes his
celebrity and the pioneering status that
comes with it. “You do a disservice to gays if
you don’t come out,” he says. “Hopefully, now
I can go along and have a gixxJ career and the
next kid can see it and say, ‘1 can come out
[because] Eric Millegan did.’ ”
In fact, he says that being open is actually
helping his career. “T he only reason I’m get
ting any auditions,” he says, “is because of this
one film credit. My agent sends in a press
packet with the AdvtKate article in it every
tim e...and I’m getting auditions, even more.”
When I ask whether he had ever considered
closeting himself, Millegan’s answers once
again demonstrate the challenges facing an
actor on this issue. “Opportunities don’t
just open up and you become a big movie
h
star because you lie about your sexuality,"
he says. “My friends in the closet are not doing
any better because they’re in the closet. You
can be straight and not get jobs.”
Still, he is honest enough to admit: “If I
were a huge superstar, people would care
m ore.... It’s pretty easy for me now, but let’s see
me get tested.... I don’t know what 1 would do
if I were offered $2 million hut told I couldn’t
mention Charles."
On the other hand, Millegan says: “I don’t
mind being pigeonholed into getting a pay-
check. There are plenty of straight actors who
only play straight roles. Are they pigeonholed?
If I only played gay people for the rest of my
career, would that be terrible? There are plenty
of different kinds of gay characters. I could
work for years." JH
FLOYD S klaver is a Ptrrtlarul free-lance writer. He
can he reached at floydsklaver@comcast.net.
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