Gale Harold

Gale Morgan Harold III (born July 10, 1969) is an American actor, known for his leading and recurring roles on Queer as Folk, Deadwood, Desperate Housewives, Grey's Anatomy, The Secret Circle and Defiance. He also starred in the romantic comedy Falling for Grace.

Harold was born in Atlanta, Georgia. His father was an engineer and his mother a real estate agent. Because Harold's parents were devout Pentecostals, he had strict religious upbringing. At age 15, he left the church.

Following graduation from the Lovett School, Harold attended American University in Washington, D.C., on a soccer scholarship. He began a Liberal Arts degree in romance literature, departing after a few months and moved to San Francisco, California to study photography at the San Francisco Art Institute. He worked a variety of jobs including construction, bartender, waiter, and apprentice motorcycle mechanic.

In 1997, Susan Landau, daughter of actor Martin Landau, suggested Harold try acting. He dropped out of the San Francisco Art Institute and relocated to Los Angeles, where he began a three-year period of intensive drama study. He was accepted into the Actors Conservatory Program with the classical theater company A Noise Within. In his theatrical debut, Harold appeared as "Bunny" in Gillian Plowman's Me and My Friends.

Harold made his screen debut in 2000, starring in the role of Booker O'Brien in Paul T. Scheuring's action film 36K, alongside Kevin Hunt and Delilah Andre. Also n 2000, he was cast as Brian Kinney, a central character on Showtime's popular gay drama Queer as Folk.

During the summer-hiatus from Queer as Folk, Harold made his New York theatrical debut in Uncle Bob along with George Morfogen.

In 2003, Harold starred in Wake, produced by Susan Landau Finch and directed by her husband Henry LeRoy Finch.

Harold had the lead role of Special Agent Graham Kelton in the short-lived FOX series Vanished in 2006.

Harold also guest-starred as Wyatt Earp in two episodes of the HBO series Deadwood and appeared twice on the CBS series The Unit. Alongside David Bowie, Harold was an associate producer of the documentary Scott Walker: 30 Century Man.

Gale Harold returned to the New York stage in Tennessee Williams' play Suddenly Last Summer on November 15, 2006, in the role of Dr. Cukrowicz ("Dr. Sugar"). Harold's co-stars in the Roundabout Theatre repertory production, a limited Off-Broadway engagement running through January 20, 2007, were Blythe Danner and Carla Gugino.

Harold was the male lead in the indie romantic comedy Falling for Grace, which debuted favorably at the 2006 Tribeca Film Festival (under working title East Broadway). Harold played an eligible New York bachelor in an interracial relationship with an Asian-American woman.

Harold appeared in November 2007 in a guest role on ABC's Grey's Anatomy as Shane, a paramedic and white supremacist who is injured in an ambulance crash.

He appeared in the Desperate Housewives on the fourth season finale May 18, 2008 as Jackson Braddock, Susan Mayer's love interest. Six months after a serious motorcycle accident, Harold returned to play Jackson on the May 3, 2009 episode of the show.

In January and February 2010, Harold performed alongside Denise Crosby and ex-model Claudia Mason in Tennessee Williams' Orpheus Descending at Theater/Theatre in Los Angeles. The production and cast received mostly positive reviews, with the Los Angeles Times calling his performance "brilliant" and adding "Harold, ideally cast, beautifully ignites with Crosby, whose unconventional interpretation is an affecting revelation."

In July 2010, it was announced at the Television Critics Association Summer Tour that Harold had accepted a recurring role as a law professor in the upcoming series Hellcats. The series concluded its season with Harold's character involved in an affair with the show's lead character Marti (played by Aly Michalka). The series was cancelled after one season.

The CW picked up The Secret Circle for the fall of 2011. The series revolved around a coven of teenage witches in a small town in Washington, each a member of a different witch clan dating back to the 17th Century. Harold played a scheming and powerful male witch who is the father of one of the teenagers. On May 11, 2012, The CW announced the cancellation of the series.

In 2011, Harold was also featured in two movies, Low Fidelity and Rehab, as one of the main characters..

Harold appeared on three episodes of the first season of the show (1.06, 1.08 and 1.09). On May 10, 2013, Syfy renewed Defiance for a 13 episode second season to air in 2014. Harold returned for a guest appearance in the second season of the show in the episode "Put the Damage On".

In 2013, Harold appeared in a short film, The Spirit Game. The film had its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival and it was released online on September 2, 2014.

At the Rise 'n Shine Convention (June 9, 2013), Harold said that he was currently working on a project about Civil War, Field of Lost Shoes.

In 2014, Harold participated in different projects including the short film, Thirst, that was directed by Rachel McDonald and premiered at the Locarno Film Festival in Switzerland on August 7, 2014, and the film Echo Park that premiered in the LA Film Festival on June 14, 2014. He also appeared in the sci-fi/action movie Andron.

Most recently, in 2018, Harold was seen as Dr. Daryl Wright in "Broken Wing" episode of TV series Criminal Minds.

On October 14, 2008, Harold was hospitalized at USC Medical Center's intensive care unit after a serious motorcycle accident. He remained in critical condition after swelling of the brain was discovered as well as a fractured shoulder. Harold was subsequently released from intensive care and returned to complete his interrupted role on Desperate Housewives. The online motorcycle publication Clutch & Chrome, which had followed his recovery closely, celebrated his new Hellcats role with an article on August 3, 2010.

During the shootings of Vanished in 2006, Harold shot a short video for the Amber Watch Foundation showing his support about missing children. In the video he stated that "nationwide 1.3 million children go missing each year" and urged people to be champions for child safety.

Harols's sexual orientation was the subject of speculation from the public for many years, until Harold finally identified himself as a straight man. He is a supporter of the LGBT community. On July 16, 2012, at the first Annual Hot 100 Party hosted by the website AfterEllen, he recorded an It Gets Better video sending his message and advising gay teens to remember their heroes. In the one-minute video, he says:

Some of the most important people in my life lived through what a lot of you are going through right now. And they stayed true no matter how painful and they probably considered backing out many times, but I thank God that they didn't. For instance, someone like Tennessee Williams. If he hadn't done what he did, we wouldn't have that beautiful art to read and to watch on the stage...The truth will come out. It gets better.

In 2014, Harold filed a restraining order against his ex-girlfriend, actress Danielle Saklofsky.

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