Out Spotlight

Today’s Out Spotlight an actor, performer, comedian and writer. He was the first openly gay Asian American on network television series. Today’s Out Spotlight is Alec Mapa.

Alejandro "Alec" Mapa was born in San Francisco born July 10, 1965 into a conservative Catholic Filipino family as a first generation Asian American. He learned early on that any behavior outside the heteronorm was unacceptable in the strict household. “Growing up in San Francisco in the 70's was like watching the last 10 minutes of the Roman Empire,” he said. “I had a schizophrenic upbringing, coming from a conservative Filipino Catholic family, yet we’d go to the Castro Street Fair. I loved growing up there, because the diversity was so great in the seven by seven miles. It makes you less fearful of other people and cultures.”

At school he was taunted by other students and tried to win acceptance by being the comedian. To cope with the pain of the situation at school, he started taking drugs. In high school at George Washington High School Mapa found "a gay and lesbian support group" in the form of the drama club, which he "loved . . . because it was full of misfits."

One of his first performances was in School's production of Bye Bye Birdie where he starred as Randolph McAfee. His senior year productions were Cabaret and Harvey both in which he had the lead roles. Mapa was also a champion orator in the Humorous and Dramatic Interpretation categories of Speech.

Through drama, he also met a teacher who recognized his ability and potential for success. The teacher gave him an ultimatum that he stop "throwing it all away" through his drug use and poor academic performance. "Her words yanked me off a ledge,". After which he set his sights on college and, despite poor early grades in high school, he managed to get accepted to New York University to prepare for a career in acting. He attended NYU along with fellow comedians and class mates Adam Sandler and Molly Shannon.

Right after graduating he got his first job: he was among the cast of “M. Butterfly” on Broadway. In the cast with a minor role he also served as lead actor B.D. Wong’s understudy. He took over the role of Song Liling, and continued as the lead in a national tour of the play. After it closed Mapa found himself unemployed. “No one knew what to do with me,” he said. So, like his classmates, he ventured into comedy and created his own act and started on the stand-up circuit which led to his getting cast in numerous sitcoms.

Looking back on growing up Mapa recalled that the only Asian-American actors that he had seen on television were Victor Sen Yung, the ranch cook Hop Sing on Bonanza, and George Takei, Mr. Sulu on Star Trek, who himself would come out many years later and become a spokesperson for GLBT rights.

On TV, he made guest appearances on a wide range of show, including The Jamie Foxx Show, Roseanne, Seinfeld, NYPD Blue, Friends, Murder One and Dharma & Greg. He co-starred with Jason Bateman in the short-lived 2001 comedy Some of My Best Friends. What started out as a 3 episode guest part Mapa turned in 3 year season run as Adam Benet in the UPN comedy Half & Half.

He been was a featured performer on the Logo original stand-up comedy series Wisecrack and recently had roles on two ABC hit shows , as Vern, Gabrielle's gay best friend, on Desperate Housewives and as Suzuki St. Pierre, the gay on-screen host (and the alias of straight—and married—journalist Byron Wu) of the fashion-oriented television channel that covers the inside gossip from Mode and other fashion magazines, on Ugly Betty. Mappa also voices Rick's flamboyantly gay uncle Bakla for the animated series Rick & Steve: The Happiest Gay Couple in All the World, on Logo.

In 2008, he hosted Transamerican Love Story, a reality dating program starring transgender woman Calpernia Addams selecting from among eight potential suitors. That same year, he also hosted Dancing With Dogs on Animal Planet. In 2010, Mapa became one of the co-hosts of Logo's The Gossip Queens, a daily series where he helps present celebrity gossip.

His film credits include parts in Bright Lights, Big City, Playing by Heart, and Connie and Carla, among others. He was featured in the movies Super Sweet 16: The Movie and Tru Loved. He also was in his fellow classmate Adam Sandler’s You Don't Mess with the Zohan, and the movie "Marley and Me".

He often jokes that he is sometimes confused with Rex Lee who plays Lloyd on the HBO’s Entourage.

But he hasn’t forgotten performing live, he has gone to write and performed in several one-man shows including "I Remember Mapa", about his experiences growing up gay in San Francisco, and “America’s Gaysian Sweetheart.”, dishing the good and the gossip of working in show business. “Queens love gossip. They want to know who’s horrible and who’s a nightmare,” he says. The show also offered plenty of the social observations and cultural commentary that Mappa’s honed as a columnist for The Advocate where his “Minority Retort” has been a regular feature since 2003. In it he covers everything from personal antidotes to general cultural interest, both amusing and serious, one thing they all hold in common is that they consistently reflect both his wit and his deep commitment to the cause of GLBT rights.

In 2009 LOGO broadcast his comedy special, Alec Mapa: No Fats, Femmes or Asians, which revisits his experience growing up gay in a Catholic Filipino family as well as his life on the dating scene.

Mapa lends his support to various projects supporting the gay, lesbian, and Asian American communities. A tireless fundraiser he has toured the country on behalf of The Human Rights Campaign and The Matthew Shepard Foundation also serving on their board. He also devotes time to fundraising for worthy, Gay and Lesbian Adolescent Social Services, AIDS Project Los Angeles, the Trevor Project, and Lambda Legal. He also has entertained live audiences with Rosie O’Donnell aboard her “R Family Cruises and all over the world with Atlantis Cruises.

Mapa was awarded the prestigious Davidson Valentini GLAAD Award for promoting equal rights for the LGBT community.

Mapa and Jamison ("Jamie") Hebert have been a couple since 2002. They registered as domestic partners in California in 2005, and were married in 2008 before the passage of Prop 8. Last summer, Mapa announced that he and his husband had recently adopted a 5 year old boy through Southern California Foster Family & Adoption Agency, and urged others to do so. Describing his family on ‘The View,’ Mapa described them in the way only Mapa can: “We became foster adopt parents this year. My husband’s white, my son’s black, I’m Asian … we look like the last two minutes of It’s A Small World!”

The family happily live in Los Angeles, CA.

Here's a small clip of Alec on The View.


Interview with Alec


Alec at GLAAD award in 2008