Gale Harold Bio
Gale Morgan Harold III, born July 10, 1969, in Atlanta, Georgia, is an American actor with a career spanning film, television and stage. He rose to prominence in queer-focused television with his portrayal of Brian Kinney on Queer as Folk, and later expanded his range with appearances in Deadwood, Desperate Housewives, and Grey’s Anatomy. Harold has also led in independent films such as Falling for Grace and contributed to genre series like The Secret Circle and Defiance.
Trained in theatre in Los Angeles after studying at Lovett School and American University, he has performed on New York stages and in regional productions, including roles in Suddenly Last Summer and other works. In 2020, he co-founded Filmmakers First Fund to support emerging filmmakers.
Early Life and Background
Gale Morgan Harold III was born in Atlanta, Georgia, on July 10, 1969. His father worked as an engineer and his mother worked as a real estate agent. Because Harold’s parents were devout Pentecostals, he had a strict religious upbringing. At age 15, he left the church.
Following graduation from the Lovett School in Atlanta, 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.
Path to Celebrity
Harold’s transition into professional acting began with intensive classical training at A Noise Within in Los Angeles, where he studied under the Actors Conservatory Program. His first stage appearance came in Me and My Friends, a play by Gillian Plowman, marking the beginning of a career that would soon shift from regional theatre to network television.
During the early 2000s, Harold built a strong theatrical resume with performances in productions such as Uncle Bob in New York alongside George Morfogen, and Orpheus Descending at Theater/Theatre in Los Angeles with Denise Crosby. These stage credits demonstrated his command of dramatic material and helped position him for television casting that would soon change his career.
In 2000, Harold was cast as Brian Kinney on Showtime’s groundbreaking gay drama Queer as Folk, a role that instantly established him as a recognizable television presence. The series became a critical and cultural touchstone, and his performance earned him a loyal following across the United States and beyond.
Gale Harold Career
Early Career (2000–2003)
In 2000, Harold landed the career-defining role of Brian Kinney on Showtime’s popular gay drama Queer as Folk, a central character whose storylines drove much of the series. The performance established Harold as a leading man on premium cable television and earned him recognition within both mainstream and queer-focused audiences.
During the summer hiatus from Queer as Folk, Harold made his New York theatrical debut in Uncle Bob alongside George Morfogen. In 2003, he starred in the independent film Wake, produced by Susan Landau Finch and directed by her husband Henry LeRoy Finch. These projects allowed Harold to balance television visibility with film and stage work.
Breakthrough (2004–2010)
In 2004, Harold took on a recurring guest role as Wyatt Earp in two episodes of HBO’s acclaimed western Deadwood. He also appeared on CBS’s military drama The Unit. He joined David Bowie as an associate producer of the documentary Scott Walker: 30 Century Man, expanding his creative reach into producing.
Harold returned to the New York stage in Tennessee Williams’ play Suddenly Last Summer on November 15, 2006, playing Dr. Cukrowicz. The Roundabout Theatre repertory production, a limited Off-Broadway engagement running through January 20, 2007, also starred Blythe Danner and Carla Gugino. That same year, he played the lead role of Special Agent Graham Kelton in the short-lived FOX series Vanished.
Harold was the male lead in the indie romantic comedy Falling for Grace, which debuted favorably at the 2006 Tribeca Film Festival under the working title East Broadway. He played an eligible New York bachelor in an interracial relationship with an Asian-American woman. He also appeared in November 2007 in a guest role on ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy as Shane, a paramedic and white supremacist injured in an ambulance crash, and later played Jackson Braddock on Desperate Housewives. In January and February 2010, Harold performed in Tennessee Williams’ Orpheus Descending at Theater/Theatre in Los Angeles.
Notable Works and Milestones
Harold’s signature role remains Brian Kinney on Queer as Folk, which defined his public profile and opened doors to a wide range of television and film projects. His work spans HBO westerns, network procedurals, CW genre dramas, and independent films that have premiered at Tribeca, Cannes, and Locarno.
Mid Career (2011–2014)
In 2011, Harold accepted a recurring role as a law professor in the CW’s Hellcats, where his character was involved in an affair with the show’s lead. He also starred in The Secret Circle, a CW series about a coven of teenage witches, playing a scheming and powerful male witch and father of one of the teenagers. He appeared in three episodes of Defiance during the show’s first season, returning for a guest appearance in season two.
In 2013, Harold appeared in the short film The Spirit Game, which had its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival. He participated in the short film Thirst, directed by Rachel McDonald, which premiered at the Locarno Film Festival in Switzerland in 2014, as well as the films Echo Park and Andron. At the Rise ‘n Shine Convention in June 2013, he discussed his work on the Civil War project Field of Lost Shoes.
Later Work (2020)
In 2020, Harold became a co-founder of Filmmakers First Fund, a Los Angeles-based film fund and studio space dedicated to artists with full-length narrative and documentary film projects in the early stages of development. The fund has supported emerging filmmakers whose projects address social and environmental themes.
Gale Harold Personal Life
On October 14, 2008, Harold was hospitalized at the LAC+USC Medical Center after a 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 role on Desperate Housewives.
Harold is a supporter of the LGBT community and recorded an It Gets Better video at the first Annual Hot 100 Party hosted by the website AfterEllen on July 16, 2012. In 2014, he filed a restraining order against his ex-girlfriend, actress Danielle Saklofsky. Harold was among the members of the Queer as Folk cast who refused to discuss their sexuality in the early years of the show’s release, and he later disclosed that he is heterosexual.