i miss queer as folk

	Raunchy as... Brian Kinney "Brian is an archetypal character, a bit like Don Juan, which is how I play him. He's a blast to play. He believes unapologetically in his freedom. He holds nothing back. Something I'm learning is, you can't hate the character you play. If I think my character is an asshole, that's all that will come across. He is drawn in an extreme way, but that doesn't mean he's not a person." &nbsp- Gale Harold
	Outrageous as... Debbie Novotny "I was drawn to that character the moment I read it. I picked up the phone, I called Showtime, and said I wanted it. Fortunately, it had not been cast, and I felt like it was a role that I had been waiting to play. I just didn't know it yet! I don't think you have to have gay relatives or a gay son to play Debbie. I think you just have to understand love, and understand what it must feel like to love your child. And the thing that I thought I could bring - that I saw in her when I read it - was this ray of sunshine, this joy that she possesses when she walks in a room, with her tray or her outfits (or her excessive accessorizing). That's where she comes from - that place of joy - and I thought, 'I can bring something to the show that no one else can.' "  - Sharon Gless
	Cocky as... Emmett Honeycutt "There's a great openness in Emmett; this wonderful vibrance, this wonderful flamboyance and his lack of self-loathing. So many, in fact, almost all portrayals of effeminate gay men are just laden, dripping, with self-hatred; it's always a cover-up for some horrible pain, and it's always a big act, but not all effeminate gay men I know are like that. I know effeminate gay men who are happy and joyous and free, and that's what I saw in Emmett, and that's what I brought to the character and what I wanted to explore."  - Peter Paige
	Single as... Ted Schmidtt "As soon as I saw the script I immediately loved the character. I related to him so much, I understood him so much, and felt that he had a real universal appeal beyond the gay world. He lives in a world where he is not as young and beautiful as everyone else around him."  - Scott Lowell
	Hungry as... Justin Taylor "I think what Justin went through in the first year is such a universal experience. It's not even necessarily gay. Just being introduced to sexualizing yourself and becoming a sexual being and sort of the overwhelming aspect of that and beginning to claim your sexual power and losing yourself in a relationship."  - Randy Harrison
	Lipstick... Lindsay Peterson "When you're really doing your thing as an actor and you know you've done really well - you've just become that character - it's a wonderful feeling, there's nothing else like it. It's like being in the moment and flying." - Thea Gill
	Soft Butch... Melanie Marcus "When I arrived on set, the wardrobe designer escorted me to racks of cargo pants and tennis shoes. I'm used to wearing stilettos and push-up bras. Then the makeup artist explained that my character only wears Vaseline and blush. I'm addicted to lip liner. But after a season on the show, I've found that shedding my girly accoutrements has been liberating." &nbsp- Michelle Clunie
	Loveable as... Michael Novotny "That's the interesting thing about being involved in our project; it's kind of a runaway social instigator; it pushes things forward whether people want to go forward or not. I think the value of it, the de-mystification of this is how similar the world is. The gay club world is an anomaly, it's a very specific lifestyle, but it's still not that different from the hardcore straight clubbers, the club-scene ravers and the like; it's just got more of a sexual slant on it because that's men. But on the other hand, their relationships, and they're dealing with friends and parents, and all that stuff, it's identical, and I think the more people see that, the healthier it is."  - Hal Sparks