Zachary Quinto is making history as the first openly gay actor to play a lead gay doctor on primetime network TV. In NBC's Brilliant Minds, Quinto stars as Dr. Oliver Wolf, a neurologist inspired by the life and work of real-life gay neurologist Oliver Sacks. Quinto sat down with Gayety to talk about the significance of this groundbreaking role and why it’s more than just about queer representation—it’s about destigmatizing mental health, exploring relationships, and showing the complexities of human connection.
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00:00Hi, Zachary. It's so wonderful to see you. I really have enjoyed watching the show. So congratulations.
00:06Oh, thanks so much. I appreciate it.
00:09Yeah, absolutely. So just diving right in. I mean, Michael Grassi shared that he had this
00:15passion project inspired by Oliver Sacks, and he thought of you first for bringing it to life. So,
00:20I mean, what was it like being approached with that?
00:23I feel so grateful for that, especially now that I've had the experience of working with
00:27Michael Grassi, who is one of the most delightful and collaborative and positive
00:33bosses I've ever had. And so, yeah, it's a real honor. And then everything I've gotten
00:39to learn about Oliver Sacks and the depth of his contribution to the field of neurology
00:44and to the art form of literature and, you know, just his endless curiosity.
00:49I knew a little bit about him. I knew who he was and was a big fan of Awakenings,
00:52the movie with Robin Williams and Robert De Niro, directed by Penny Marshall,
00:56which is inspired by Oliver Sacks' life and work. But I didn't know a fraction of what I know now.
01:01So that opportunity has been such a gift as well. So, you know, I'm deeply grateful to
01:06Michael for thinking of me for the role. And I'm so glad to have been able to play him.
01:13Yeah. And I mean, I am a huge fan of medical dramas. They're definitely a soft spot for me.
01:18But this one, you know, is so important because it has this gay lead. It's inspired by, you know,
01:23a real person. So what does that kind of representation mean to you personally?
01:30I mean, it is interesting to be playing the first openly gay doctor on a primetime
01:35medical drama, you know, primetime network medical drama.
01:40But I think part of the reason that it's significant is because it's just one aspect
01:43of who this character is. And it really reflects the progress that we've made,
01:48certainly in the time since Oliver Sacks was at the height of his career.
01:51You know, he was celibate for 35 years of his life. And when I first found that out,
01:56I thought to myself, how is that even possible that someone would divest themselves of such
02:02an essential part of the human experience? And then the more I examined it and really
02:08leaned into what could have motivated a decision like that, I realized that perhaps and I
02:14unfortunately never had the chance to meet Oliver Sacks or to talk to him about this. But,
02:18you know, the idea of being a gay man in particular, at that time in the middle 20th
02:23century, was a singularly defining issue. And if you were a gay man, then then you were a gay,
02:29whatever it else it was that you did, you know, a gay doctor, in this case, you were a gay doctor.
02:35And also, it had the unfortunate impact of really diminishing people's opportunities and the
02:40contributions that they could make to a given field because of discrimination and rejection
02:44and alienation of people based on who they were. So it became more evident to me that it was
02:51possible, if not likely, that Oliver Sacks made that choice so that he could continue to make the
02:57contributions to the field of neurology and in the field of literature that he knew he was
03:01singularly designed to make. And so me being an openly gay actor, playing an openly gay doctor
03:07on a network primetime medical drama is a real hallmark for how we've evolved from that time
03:14to now. And you know, that it's only one aspect of who I am as a person and an actor. And it's
03:18only one aspect of the character I play is at odds with the truth of what Oliver Sacks experienced.
03:24And I think that's the the miracle of our human experience.
03:29Yeah, I love that you brought that up. I definitely wanted to talk about, you know,
03:32that we really round him out as a person and dive into, you know, so many different aspects of who
03:38he is. And the show also does a really great job of diving into neurological disorders and mental
03:44health, which is something that is still often stigmatized today. So I mean, what do you hope
03:49audiences will take away in terms of destigmatizing mental illness?
03:54Well, I think, you know, with neurological disorders and mental illness, oftentimes,
03:58there is no fix, there is no cure, there is no return to maybe the sense of normal that
04:05people grew accustomed to before they were confronted with these very difficult challenges
04:12in their lives. So I feel like that in and of itself is reflective of real life in a way that
04:21hopefully audiences will come to these stories and see themselves in them. And, you know, see
04:27their own experiences in the characters and in the cases and the patients. And maybe it could even
04:33generate conversations that might be difficult to have or might not be being had otherwise.
04:40I think obviously, any television should be entertaining, right? People want to come and
04:45laugh and cry and romance and drama and intrigue and all of that stuff. But you know, if it can
04:50also be somehow substantive or generate conversations, then, you know, I've always said,
04:55Michael Grassi, and I've always said that if people see themselves in the show, then that
05:00means we're doing our jobs. And, and so I think the complexity of it, you know, the brain, the mind,
05:07consciousness is the last frontier of the human experience, isn't it? So we can all relate,
05:12you know, everybody has their own experience with, with the mind and with the brain. And
05:20I think we've all been touched by neurological diseases and disorders and mental health issues
05:24in our own ways in our lives. And so I think it's ripe for storytelling. And part of the reason
05:30that it's ripe for storytelling is that it's right for identifiability. And, and people,
05:36I think, will hopefully see that when they watch it. Oh, yes, I definitely, definitely agree. And
05:41I know that because of the the subject matter of the show, you had to learn a lot about the human
05:47brain. So is there a like, favorite fact that you had during your studying and processing and
05:53throughout this whole project about the human brain? I mean, I can't tell you how many times
05:58I would read scripts early in the season, and it'd be like, well, this is made up, you know,
06:03and it's not ever made up. Everything that we explore in the show is real. For me, personally,
06:08I think the most interesting thing that I got to learn more about is a condition called prosopagnosia,
06:14which is face blindness. So Oliver Sacks in real life suffered from this condition, Oliver Wolfe,
06:20my character on the show suffers from this condition. And it's it's one of the portals of
06:26understanding different perspectives that we're able to utilize in the storytelling
06:33structure of the show. So the fact that Oliver Wolfe suffers from prosopagnosia
06:39necessitates him looking at things from different points of view, right? So someone with face
06:45blindness can't recognize someone by their facial facial features alone. So if you met me,
06:50for example, and then you saw me again, two days later, you wouldn't recognize this. Now,
06:56you might be able to say, I remember those glasses, or I remember that mustache,
06:59but the face itself, you would not recognize. So if I didn't have the glasses and the mustache,
07:03you know, so how how does somebody with this condition navigate their experience in the world
07:09without seeming rude or without seeming disconnected somehow. And there are many
07:15other ways that they can do that practically. But then it also unlocks other parts of people's
07:20brains and consciousness that someone without the condition wouldn't benefit from. So it's
07:25the idea of a brilliant mind being somebody that may be hindered in ways a lot of our patients
07:30deal with adversities that many people would consider insurmountable. But Oliver Sacks,
07:35and therefore Oliver Wolfe, they're doctors who are driven by the belief that it's possible to
07:42still find dignity, to still find joy and meaning and purpose in life, even in the face of great
07:50adversity. And I think that that's an uplifting message that especially in this day and age,
07:57people want to hear. Yeah, no, and I agree. And I love the passion that you're really bringing to
08:04this character, you can tell how much they they really mean to you. Is there a specific part of
08:09the show that you are most proud of and excited for audiences to see? Um, it's hard for me to
08:17kind of the interesting thing and the exciting thing about this moment that we're in right now,
08:21you know, we got to make the first season of the show in a vacuum, we got to tell these stories
08:25with each other for each other, and inspired by the creative collaboration that Michael Grassi
08:30really fosters on all of his projects. And now we get to invite the audience into that experience.
08:38So it's so difficult to anticipate what audiences are going to respond to,
08:43for me, the most enjoyable parts of the of the process have been getting to know my co stars,
08:51getting to work with all of these people and, you know, feel inspired by their personal
08:56connections to the characters and the stories. And I think that for me has been the most
09:01fulfilling and I anticipate when the audience comes to the table will continue to be,
09:05but hearing everybody's relationship to this realm of the human experience,
09:12the mind and consciousness and neurological diseases and disorders and mental health. And
09:17I think the more we can talk about all of that, the better off we'll all be. And, and that I
09:24think is a message worth amplifying. And I'm grateful to be a part of a project
09:30that is endeavoring to amplify it. And you did tease, you know, working with your co stars. So
09:37I did want to ask what kind of relationships can we expect to see Oliver Wolf go through
09:42throughout the season? Well, we explore a lot of different aspects of his life, his work
09:48relationships, his friendship with Carol Pierce, who is the head of psychiatry at Bronx General,
09:55and who recruits Oliver Wolf to come and work there. They have a long history as friends,
10:00and we get to explore that dynamic. We get to explore Oliver Wolf's relationship with his
10:05family of origin, his parents and the impact that they had on his life and who he has become
10:12and who he is becoming. There are definitely some romantic explorations on the show. And
10:18Oliver Wolf is required to explore and dismantle some of the walls that he's put up around himself
10:28and regarding intimacy and romantic connection. And then you get to experience all of the
10:35relationships between the other doctors. There are four young interns at the hospital.
10:41You know, we meet a wide ranging cast of characters and how they all impact one another's
10:48lives and what the ripples of those interactions are throughout all of these characters lives
10:55is really at the heart of Brilliant Minds. And I think it's also at the heart of life.
11:00And so that's really the parallel that we're looking to draw.
11:04And hopefully the parallel that audiences will pick up on when they watch the show.