TickTickBoom star Robin De Jesus recalls the first time he saw the cover of the Rent cast album: “I saw a bunch of Black and brown faces integrated with white folks on the cover and thought, ‘Oh, wow, I didn’t know there was space for me here’”
De Jesús plays Michael, Larson’s best friend who has given up the starving-artist life to become a corner-office advertising executive. Though he often is the voice of reason, Michael understands Jonathan, and his artistic desires, on a deeply intimate level.In the Heights
Oh, yeah — the monologue about waking up early and going to Equity, that life of scarcity and living in that place of despair all the time. … There’s a hierarchy to our business, and when you’re not further up, there are a lot of things you’re forced to do in order to just be seen. Sometimes you can’t help but showcase how desperate you are. That’s such a lonely, negative energy space to be in. It really takes fortitude to stay in this business; you really have to have a strong sense of self.
I also hope that people can see the love between the characters. The fact that you’re seeing me, an out gay man, playing a gay character. … Real talk: That is a rarity in a movie of this size, that an out gay man of color gets to play an out gay man of color. And that my character has a real, intimate friendship with a straight man.