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ACTOR, DIRECTOR, WRITER

PATRICK SEAN SMITH, MAURICE JAMAL
& DAVID MARSHALL GRANT

Former Everwood and Supernatural writer Patrick Sean Smith (left) created the pilot of his breakout ABC Family hit Greek on spec, assuming that if it got picked up the network would have major tweaks. Not so much. Now in its second season—Smith is executive producer and writer—the dramedy is the network's flagship show, and with the character of Calvin it has one of the most fully formed gay characters on network television.

Dirty Laundry, Maurice Jamal's (center) second feature film, starred Rockmond Dunbar and scene-stealer Loretta Devine, and was unique in portraying a gay black man in a rural family milieu rather than the more familiar urban environment. His upcoming projects include a film adaptation of James Earl Hardy's novel B-Boy Blues, about a butch-fem romance.

David Marshall Grant (right) has tackled controversial roles from the outset, playing Richard Gere's boyfriend in Bent on Broadway in 1979, Russell on thirtysomething (his gay character's shirtless postcoital scene with Peter Frechette lost ABC $1 million in ads in 1989), and Joe Pitt in Angels in America, for which he was Tony-nominated. Now, as a writer and story editor for Brothers & Sisters, he's creating some of the richest gay story lines in U.S. TV network history.

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