He goes by many names: Gizmo, G-Money, Elmo, Memo, Guillermo_theDe$troyer92. But friends, fans, and lycanthropes know him as Guillermo, and over the last four seasons, he’s been the backbone of the hilarious What We Do In The Shadows, playing straight person to a family of vampires that find life in Staten Island infinitely stranger than sucking blood.
Bouncing between aloof vampires and boring energy sucks like Colin Robinson, Harvey Guillén manages to keep his calls for sanity and reason light, energetic, and from a place of love. It’s the hardest role on the show, and one Guillén fills beautifully. Plus, he does all those fight scenes.
It’s no wonder he’s become a fan favorite. But like all television characters, Guillermo is a fictional person played by Harvey Guillén, who brings a lot of himself to the role. More than most know. In a new essay that Guillén penned for Esquire, the actor explains how questions about the character’s sexuality reflected his own coming out journey, search for acceptance, and hard-fought love for himself. It’s an all-too-common story of alienation, violence, and perseverance that, in the end, encourages others to find beauty in themselves. Guillén writes:
I can speak from personal experience that I always felt like I wasn’t mature enough or informed enough to make the big coming out announcement. There’s no guidebook for something like this. The truth is, the moment it happened—when it happened and how it happened—was the right time. If the truth of who you are was a home, you are allowed to live in it before having to invite everyone in. People are only allowed in this home you’ve built on your own terms, and only when you’re ready to host them. There is no ticking time bomb you should fear; whether you are 12, 25, or 75, the time is right when it’s right for you.
Read the entire essay at Esquire and fill your heart with love for our little Gizmo, who is good and pure, and we wish nothing but the best for.