Gale Harold

Gale Morgan Harold III (born July 10, 1969) is an American actor, known for his leading and recurring roles on Queer as Folk, Deadwood, Desperate Housewives, Grey's Anatomy, The Secret Circle and Defiance.

He also starred in the romantic comedy Falling for Grace.

Harold was born in Atlanta, Georgia.

His father was an engineer and his mother a real estate agent.

Because Harold's parents were devout Pentecostals, he had strict religious upbringing.

At age 15, he left the church.

Following graduation from the Lovett School, 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.

In 2000, Harold was cast as Brian Kinney, a central character on Showtime's popular gay drama Queer as Folk.

During the summer hiatus from Queer as Folk, Harold made his New York theatrical debut in Uncle Bob along with George Morfogen.

In 2003, Harold starred in Wake, produced by Susan Landau Finch and directed by her husband Henry LeRoy Finch.

Harold had the lead role of Special Agent Graham Kelton in the short-lived FOX series Vanished in 2006.

Harold also guest-starred as Wyatt Earp in two episodes of the HBO series Deadwood and appeared twice on the CBS series The Unit.

Alongside David Bowie, Harold was an associate producer of the documentary Scott Walker: 30 Century Man.

Gale Harold returned to the New York stage in Tennessee Williams' play Suddenly Last Summer on November 15, 2006, in the role of Dr. Cukrowicz ("Dr. Sugar").

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).

Harold played an eligible New York bachelor in an interracial relationship with an Asian-American woman.

Harold's co-stars in the Roundabout Theatre repertory production, a limited Off-Broadway engagement running through January 20, 2007, were Blythe Danner and Carla Gugino.

Harold appeared in November 2007 in a guest role on ABC's Grey's Anatomy as Shane, a paramedic and white supremacist who is injured in an ambulance crash.

He appeared in Desperate Housewives on the fourth season finale May 18, 2008 as Jackson Braddock, Susan Mayer's love interest.

Six months after a serious motorcycle accident, Harold returned to play Jackson on the May 3, 2009 episode of the show.

In January and February 2010, Harold performed alongside Denise Crosby and ex-model Claudia Mason in Tennessee Williams' Orpheus Descending at Theater/Theatre in Los Angeles.

The production and cast received mostly positive reviews, with the Los Angeles Times calling his performance "brilliant" and adding "Harold, ideally cast, beautifully ignites with Crosby, whose unconventional interpretation is an affecting revelation."

In July 2010, it was announced at the Television Critics Association Summer Tour that Harold had accepted a recurring role as a law professor in the upcoming series Hellcats.

The series concluded its season with Harold's character involved in an affair with the show's lead character Marti (played by Aly Michalka).

The series was cancelled after one season.

The CW picked up The Secret Circle for the fall of 2011.

In 2011, Harold was also featured in two movies, Low Fidelity and Rehab, as one of the main characters.

Harold appeared on three episodes of the first season of the show Defiance (1.06, 1.08 and 1.09).

On May 11, 2012, The CW announced the cancellation of the series.

On May 10, 2013, Syfy renewed Defiance for a 13 episode second season to air in 2014.

Harold returned for a guest appearance in the second season of the show in the episode "Put the Damage On".

In 2013, Harold appeared in a short film, The Spirit Game.

The series revolved around a coven of teenage witches in a small town in Washington, each a member of a different witch clan dating back to the 17th Century.

Harold played a scheming and powerful male witch who is the father of one of the teenagers.