Zachary Quinto and the "Brilliant Minds" of the NBC Show
In NBC’s new medical series “Brilliant Minds,” Zachary Quinto plays an idiosyncratic neurologist inspired by Dr. Oliver Sacks, best known for his writings on neurological disorders in the books “The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat,” “An Anthropologist on Mars” and “Awakenings” (which was made into a 1990 film starring Robin Williams and Robert De Niro.
Giving the series LGBTQ+ significance is that it marks the first time an out actor is playing a leading role of a gay doctor in a network medical series.
“I was a littler ambivalent coming back to a network environment,” said Quinto in an appearance I attended this fall at an event for LGBTQ+ journalists in Los Angeles.
“But I read the script and felt so drawn to the character.”
The handsome six-foot-one actor — now sporting a mustache instead of his character’s full beard — was dressed elegantly in a stylish dark suit and open white shirt, sock-less in loafers. He sat cross-legged in a canvas director’s chair to talk about the show, his deep mellifluous voice as soothing as the doctor of your dreams.
Quinto first became widely known in 2006 as the bisexual best friend of Tori Spelling on her VH1 series “So NoTORIous.” Major TV roles also included that of the villainous Sylar in the science-fiction drama series “Heroes,” as Charlie Manx in the AMC series “NOS4A2” and as Dr. Oliver Thredson in "American Horror Story: Asylum,” for which he received an Emmy nomination.
“It’s an honor for me to play a character like this in such a mainstream way at a time when LGBTQ+ issues are really at the forefront of our political and social discourse,” said Quinto. “It’s incredibly important that representation remain stronger than ever right now… and that was a huge part of what drew me to the character — but only one part of many.””
Quinto said he knew “somewhat” about the London-born Sacks who practiced medicine in the U.S., but once cast he read all the neurologists’ books and memoirs [“On the Move: A Life” and “Everything in Its Place: First Loves and Last Tales”], which allowed him to go deeper into the character of the series’ Dr. Oliver Wolf. (Wolf was Sacks’ middle name.)
“I love the idea of playing this character inspired by a real person but not rooted in all of the trappings of that person’s actual life,” he said.
Though Sacks practiced medicine and wrote from the ‘60s to his death in 2015 at the age of 82, the series is set in the present. “In a way,” says Quinto, “it’s sort of imagining the way his life could have been under different circumstances.”
Sacks was deeply influenced by the time in which he came of age and the social restrictions on people being able to live fully who they were, said Quinto. “He didn’t come out until very much later in life and for 35 years he was celibate. It wasn’t until very late in his life that he opened up to being gay and opened up to a loving relationship. B ring gay is an essential part odic who he is but it’;s a complicated part of who he is.”
An active supporter of gay rights and organizations, including The Trevor Project early in his career, Quinto, 47, publicly came out as gay in 2011.
Quinto’s career also included film roles in “Margin Call,” “I Am Michael,” “High Flying Bird,” and especially as Spock in 2009’s “Star Trek” and its sequels “Star Trek Into Darkness” and “Star Trek Beyond.” On Broadway he starred in ““The Glass Menagerie” and the 2020 revival of “The Boys in the Band,” which was also made into a film. His next Broadway role is in this season’s “The Cult of Love.”
What makes “Brilliant Minds” different from other medical series, he said, is the nature of its neurological and psychological cases, many inspired by Sacks’ own case studies which he detailed in his books.
“We are part of an incredible evolving history of medical shows that includes ‘St. Elsewhere, ‘E.R.,’ ‘House,’ and so many others,” he said. “But a lot of them deal with cases that are easily quantifiable: someone comes in with a gunshot wound or some other kind of injury or illness that a resolution will be ultimately healing. One of the fascinating aspects for me about our show is that we’re dealing with neurological disorders and mental health issues and often times these patients in the series are never going to return to the life that they lived before.
“My feeling is how can we still find integrity and joy in life even in the face of seemingly catastrophic adversities. I really think that ultimately there is a message of hope in our show and I hope that that’s what people take away.”
LGBTQ Representation on TV
Quinto is supported in these goals by the series creator, writer and executive producer, Michael Grassi whom I spoke with in a phone interview.
“One of the reasons I wanted to create this show and this character was to have the opportunity have a gay lead in the center of a big American network medical drama,” said Grassi, who began his career in 2010 with the series “Degrassi: The Next Generation.” He would later be a writer or producer in the series “Katy Keene,” “Supergirl,” “Schitt’s Creek,” “Pretty Little Liars: Originals; Sin” and “Riverdale.”
“But being gay happens is part of (Dr. Wolf’s) life,” said Grassi, “but it's not everything. He has so many things that define him: He’s a doctor, a mentor, a friend, and a son.”
Still, it was also important for Grassi to cast an out actor to play the leading character largely based on a man who was gay.
“We've had a lot of LGBTQ+ stories told by non-LGBTQ+ people or actors — and I think there's a place for that and that's 100 percent OK. But in creating ‘Brilliant Minds’ — and knowing this was going to be our gay doctor hero, it also felt important for us to have a gay actor at at the center. Zachary was the first version we thought of for the role. Zachary brings so much more to the role than I could have ever imagined; so much deepness, humor and emotional resonance.”
Being a gay man in part allows Dr. Wolfs to identify more closely with his patients, many of whom had been written off by other doctors, said Grassi.
“As a gay person, you can often feel like you are ‘other,’ like you are on the outside, like you are invisible. I think Dr. Wolfe growing up with person with prosopagnosia, [popularly known as "face blindness”] — and also being gay — I think he knows what it's like to be different and the outsider. While he can't see their faces, he can really see them as who they really are because he understands what it's like himself in some way. I think empathy is really his superpower in a lot of ways. It’s what Oliver Sacks brought to his patients and where we want our Dr. Wolf to follow in those footsteps.”
Because Grassi was producer of the sexy teen-centric series “Riverdale,” might there be those kind of heated scenes in “Brilliant Minds?”
“What I'll say is there's definitely sparks that fly this season but I don’t want to spoil anything,” he said. “But this series is more about relationships and love so I can't promise anything as steamy as ‘Riverdale.’”
Reflecting on his own life as a gay man, Grassi says the show has given him much to reflect on about his own life.
“I often think about when I was growing up and the only gay content that I had access to in my household was a laser-disc copy of the movie ‘Philadelphia.’ I would watch that movie and sort of projected, well, that is my fate, and that is going to be my life and it was sad for me.Then came ‘Will and Grace’ — a show that my parents watched and didn’t flinch — and I was so grateful because I could sort of see myself in that show and it made me feel that it was OK to be who I am. I don't think I'd be where I am today if 'Will and Grace’ didn't exist.” So to be making this big NBC medical show with a gay character at the center of it feels especially exciting and — fingers crossed — just as iconic.”