Luke Macfarlane photo via AfterElton

It's an episode the London, Ont.-born actor is looking forward to, on many levels: It's one of the few shows on network television to portray a gay marriage between two main characters -- a feat the 28-year-old actor is quite proud of, from a professional perspective.

But the episode also holds personal resonance for Macfarlane, who told Canada's Globe & Mail newspaper that wants to be married himself some day, and has finally decided to go public with his own sexual orientation.

"There is this desire in L.A. to wonder who you are and what's been blaring for me for the last three years is how can I be most authentic to myself - so this is the first time I am speaking about it in this way," he told the Globe & Mail's Pamela Chelin.

Though no secret to his family and close friends, Macfarlane has, until now, been guarded about his personal life as a gay man. Over lunch in Los Angeles, where he lives, he initially insists to Chelin he has no concerns about his public revelation -- but a few seconds later he is shifting nervously in his chair, she reports, and concedes that he is "terrified."

"I don't know what will happen professionally ... that is the fear, but I guess I can't really be concerned about what will happen, because it's my truth," he told the national paper in an exclusive interview.

The gay entertainment blog, AfterElton, notes that MacFarlane has been linked to out actor T.R. Knight and not-out actor Wentworth Miller by the tabloids in the past, but wouldn't go into details for the Globe & Mail interview about his romantic life, saying that there are parts of his life that he would still like to keep private. 

He was happy, however to talk about the TV series for which he says he has a long-term contract.

The wedding episode of Brothers & Sisters, which started shooting this week and will air on May 11 on ABC and Global, is a monumental step in television culture, he says.

"From a standing outside perspective, and also as someone who is gay, I think that it's a very exciting time. How exciting that we're saying, 'This can be part of the cultural fabric, now,' because it is two series regulars, two people that you invite into your home and you see every week."

Macfarlane's road to Hollywood was relatively smooth, and mostly free of bit parts and day jobs most struggling actors undergo, the Globe & Mail reports.

After high school, he was accepted into the presigious Juilliard School in New York.

"I was the only Canadian at Juilliard at the time," he says. "When you go somewhere different, you immediately have to determine yourself ... everyone made fun of me because I was like, 'I am Canadian' and it was a way to create my identity through separation, which I think a lot of Canadians do."

Macfarlane told Chelin, "Roles tend to pick me." They've clearly chosen well.

Barely out of Juilliard, he was cast in off-Broadway plays, the Robert Altman miniseries Tanner on Tanner, the 2004 film Kinsey and a starring role in the 2005 Steven Bochco television series Over There. It was his stint in theatre that landed him his current television role - Brothers & Sisters creator Jon Robin Baitz saw Macfarlane on stage in the show Where Do We Live, and asked him to play Scotty Wandell, originally a guest-starring role which grew into a regular part.

Though he will soon be seen in the CBC miniseries Iron Road alongside Peter O'Toole and Sam Neill, Macfarlane, has little free time to pursue other roles at the moment. "[ABC] bought and paid for me as a series regular," he says with a smile, "so I will be there for a long, long time."

AfterElton's Brian Juergens was excited to read that announcement: "This is the first mention we've seen of Scotty as a 'series regular', which is encouraging ... Although not half as encouraging as Macfarlane's decision to come out, on his own terms, at what is surely a career high point for him thus far."

Full article: A commitment to himself | Globe and Mail
Luke MacFarlane of "Brothers & Sisters" comes out publicly as gay | AfterElton