Peter Stickles

Peter Stickles (born October 8, 1976) is an American actor from New York. He is best known for his role as the voyeuristic Caleb in the John Cameron Mitchell film "Shortbus" and as Damian, leader of a gay vampire cult, in the here! original series "The Lair".

hortbus

Stickles was cast in "Shortbus" in 2003 from amongst some 400 actors who submitted audition tapes for the film, which was initially known as "Sex Film Project." No script had been written prior to casting and the story was built out of improvisational sessions once the cast was in place. The voyeuristic aspect of Caleb's character grew in part out of Stickles's own interests at the time. "I was exploring sex clubs at the time and not necessarily participating but watching from afar. I think John [Cameron Mitchell] was attracted to the idea of this whole voyeuristic aspect of the character. ... How far would you go to touch somebody from afar?" [cite news
last = Hartl
first = John
title = Willing to go along for a long, circuitous ride
work = The Seattle Times
date = 2006-10-20
url = http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/movies/2003312892_shortbusint20.html
accessdate = 2008-03-25]

Stickles, along with others in the cast, was nominated for a Gotham Award for Best Ensemble Cast.

The Lair

Stickles stars in "The Lair", which premiered on here! in June 2007. His character, Damian, is the leader of a gay vampire cult. The series, although not critically well-reviewed, [Citation
title =Vampires Everywhere
newspaper =Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
date =2007-06-01
url = http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07152/787843-352.stm] [cite web
last =Swindoll
first =Jeff
title =DVD Review: The Lair: Complete First Season
publisher =Monstersandcritics.com
date =2007-10-15
url =http://dvd.monstersandcritics.com/reviews/article_1365521.php/DVD_Review_The_Lair_Complete_First_Season
accessdate = 2007-11-24] [cite web
last =Oliver
first =David
title =DVD Review: Lair, The - Season 1
publisher =CHUD.com
date =2007-11-11
url =http://www.chud.com/index.php?type=dvd&id=12338
accessdate = 2007-11-24] was renewed for a second season which is slated to premiere later in 2008. [cite web
last =Nordyke
first =Kimberly
title =Here! comes a lot of originality
work =The Hollywood Reporter
date =2007-09-28
url=http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/television/news/e3i2cf471971798123f5948e625dc170c71
accessdate = 2007-10-21]

Other roles

Stickles has appeared in a number of low-budget and direct-to-video horror films, including such titles as "Meat Weed Madness" (2006) and its sequel "Meat Weed America" (2007), and has four films slated for release in 2008. He also appeared in the exercise video "The Bedroom Workout for Men: Better Sex Through Exercise". [cite web
title = The Bedroom Workout for Men credits
url = http://www.bedroomworkout.com/credits.html
accessdate = 2008-03-25]

Personal life

Stickles is openly gay, having come out during the publicity surrounding the release of "Shortbus". He has spoken at length about the impact of his decision to be openly gay from the beginning of his career.

"The producers of "The Lair" took me aside and we had a meeting about whether or not I was going to be an 'out' gay actor and whether they were going to be able to market me. But they wanted me to take it very seriously, because it's a very big decision and I had to stop and think about it. Because even though it sucks, and it shouldn't matter, it does matter. So yeah, I had to really think about it — not so much in terms of being a horror movie actor, because if I could do horror movies for the rest of my life I'd die a happy man. But being pigeonholed as a gay film actor is kind of weird for me."cite web |title=Interview With "The Lair"'s Lead Vamp, Peter Stickles |first=Brian |last=Juergens |date=2007-06-17 |accessdate=2007-07-05 |url=http://www.afterelton.com/people/2007/6/peterstickles]

References

External links

*
* [http://www.popentertainment.com/stickles.htm Peter Stickles interview on Pop Entertainment]
* [http://www.phillygaycalendar.com/pages/video.php?id=45 Peter Stickles interview in Philadelphia (video)]
* [http://www.WatchOutFilm.com Peter co-stars in Steve Balderson's WATCH OUT]