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Love, Victor star Michael Cimino feels honoured to represent the LGBT community

Michele ManelisThe West Australian
Lake (Bebe Wood), Felix (Anthony Turpel), Victor (Michael Cimino), and Benji (George Sear), in Love Victor. (Photo by: Michael Desmond/Hulu)
Camera IconLake (Bebe Wood), Felix (Anthony Turpel), Victor (Michael Cimino), and Benji (George Sear), in Love Victor. (Photo by: Michael Desmond/Hulu) Credit: Michael Desmond/HULU

In recent times, actors taking on roles that could be offered to those in the marginalised communities they represent has led to fierce public debate.

While Love, Victor star Michael Cimino, who identifies as straight, plays a young gay man on screen, he agrees that actors taking on these jobs must do more than simply turn up to set.

“My biggest disconnect with a lot of people in Hollywood is that they’ll do roles like this and they will support the LGBT community when the show or film is happening, but then after that, they never advocate for the LGBT community ever again,” Cimino says.

“They’re just doing it for a cash grab or they’re doing it just to do it. But I think it’s important to represent the community in your day-to-day life.”

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The 21-year-old takes his responsibility seriously and says since filming the second season, he has realised the significance of the show and his role in it.

“I learned a lot about what it takes to represent the community accurately,” he says. “I love this show, I love my job and I love how much of an impact it makes; I love being able to see how much of a difference it’s made in others people’s lives.”

The first season of Love, Victor saw the evolution of gay teenager Victor Salazar (Cimino) as he struggled to come to terms with his sexuality. This time, he is an openly gay 17-year-old living his life loud and proud.

“Victor has an ownership now over being a gay man in modern times,” Cimino says.

“He’s definitely sticking up for who he is as a person now, and I love to see that kind of evolution. He’s a young man demanding respect for who he is, and I relate to that a lot.”

Based on the 2018 film, Love Simon, which starred Nick Robinson, the former lead also appears in the show regularly as Victor’s mentor during his coming-out trajectory.

Scene from Love, Victor, with Lake (Bebe Wood), Felix (Anthony Turpel), Benji (George Sear) and Victor (Michael Cimino). (Photo by: Patrick Wymore/Hulu)
Camera IconScene from Love, Victor, with Lake (Bebe Wood), Felix (Anthony Turpel), Benji (George Sear) and Victor (Michael Cimino). (Photo by: Patrick Wymore/Hulu) Credit: HULU

The 10-episode second season addresses darker subjects than its big-screen predecessor, such as underage drinking, driving under the influence, adultery (between Victor’s parents), and it presents sexually explicit scenes.

After the previously timid teenager struggled with his sexual orientation, his journey of self-discovery is still under way — complete with trying to deal with competing love interests.

“This season picks up when Benji and Victor are in their summer bubble, as I call it,” George Sear, who plays his boyfriend, says. “They’re in the honeymoon period in their relationship, which is a lovely place to be in, but still realistic because they still have their pesky moments.”

Unsurprisingly, Victor and Benji’s relationship has inadvertently made gay role models of Cimino and Sear.

While the actor identifies as straight, he has previously said he doesn’t want to limit himself either. “I don’t want to put myself in a box and put myself in a position where if I were to come out as bi or as gay 10 years from now, that I was defending an identity that was being true to myself,” he said.

But he didn’t have to look far to find his own gay role models to help give the character of Victor more authenticity.

“My queer role models are the people in my life,” he says.

“My cousin, John, is probably my biggest role model just in terms of who I am as a person and one of my really good friends since I was growing up, Jude, is trans and he has inspired me to be who I am authentically,” he explains.

“So I just want to represent him and my cousin on screen as accurately as I possibly can.”

Cimino, who was born in Las Vegas, appeared in the 2019 Annabelle Comes Home and on television he has been seen in Training Day (2017) and Walk the Prank (2019), but Love, Victor marks his first lead role.

“I’ve always wanted to inspire people to chase their dreams and chase becoming better people,” he says. “I love what this show does — offering perspective to what LGBT people might be going through.

“It’s great for parents to watch and understand what their kids might be going through. It’s also great for kids to watch because it gives them something to relate to, and shows them what they can expect when they’re in high school trying to navigate through this world of self-discovery, especially when it comes to sexual orientation. Ultimately, it’s about joy in being who you are.”

Cimino insists his life hasn’t changed all that much since being on a successful series.

“It really hasn’t changed,” he chuckles. “I’m still just a kid from Vegas. I still do normal people things.”

Love, Victor season two is streaming on Disney Plus.

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