Born in Brooklyn, New York City, he is best known for his role as Rickie Vasquez on critically- acclaimed teen drama My So Called Life. In the show's most famous episode, he was kicked out of the house, an event he lived through in real life. Known also for his role as Victor on Party of Five.

Cruz first made his mark as gay friend Rickie Vasquez on the classic TV high school drama My So-Called Life. The difference in Cruz's career, though, was that he came out before he landed the role. And after his star turn was seen by millions of teenagers who made the show a hit in syndication, the job offers kept coming.

Cruz grew up in a Puerto Rican family in New York, proud of his dual heritage as gay man and Latino. But his father couldn't accept his son's sexuality and threw him out of the house. Cruz says his portrayal of Rickie, who was frequently conflicted and in trouble, grew out of his relationship with his father and his adolescent anger with the treatment of gay people in society.

His fervor has remained but his anger has cooled. He is still unhappy with everything from the Catholic Church (his attitude being "if they don't want me, why should I want them?") to what he sees as the current 'being gay is a party' trend (he thinks frequently of those still dying of AIDS) but he is using his feelings in a constructive way to be a voice in Hollywood for the gay and Latino/a communities.

He has appeared on TV on Ally McBeal and Party of Five, on Broadway in the highly acclaimed Rent, and on the big screen in Supernova and johns. He tries to choose roles which provide a range of acting challenges and stretch across the boundaries of sexual identity. He lives with his partner, Anthony, in New York.

Wilson Cruz has already accomplished much in his life. Perhaps best known for his portrayal of "Ricki Vasquez", one of the main starring characters on the television series "My So Called Life", Wilson's character was the first gay teenager to be featured in a regular series. As such, Wilson takes his responsibility seriously. He is a gay youth advocate and was a spokesperson for the Los Angeles Gay Community Center's teen program, where he worked regularly with homeless gay and lesbian teenagers. He knows this territory full well as he himself was thrown out of his own house for being a gay teenager.

Wilson is a strong voice for compassion and understanding. His presentation breaks down into three parts where he speaks about his professional life as one of the few Latino characters in television not to mention a gay Latino character. He also takes an in depth look at his personal life and the coming out issues he faced in a Latino culture. Finally, Wilson talks about his volunteer life where he devotes his time to working on homelessness and bringing to light the specific problems youth face today in America.