Zachary Quinto has always relished the opportunity to play villains, having starred as a brain-eating serial killer in “Heroes,” a deranged doctor
in “American Horror Story: Asylum” and a child kidnapper in “NOS4A2.”
But in the new NBC medical drama “Brilliant Minds,” which premieres Monday, the Emmy-nominated actor, who broke out as Spock in “Star Trek,” gets to play a different kind of brooding brainiac — a modern-day character inspired by the life and books of Dr. Oliver Sacks, the late British neurologist and author whom The New York Times once described as the “poet laureate of medicine.”
Created by Michael Grassi (“Riverdale,” “Supergirl”), the new series stars Quinto as Dr. Oliver Wolf: an iconoclastic, larger-than-life neurologist who, after being fired from another institution for his unorthodox way of treating patients, agrees to take a job at Bronx General Hospital. While exploring the wonders of the human mind, Dr. Wolf and his team of young interns must grapple with their own mental health. Like Sacks, Quinto’s protagonist rides motorcycles; loves ferns and swimming in the rivers of New York City; and has prosopagnosia, or face blindness. (Sacks’ middle name was also Wolf.)
“I’m playing a character essentially based on a real-life person, but I don’t have to adhere to any of the constraints of period, or mannerisms, or behavior of the person,” Quinto told NBC News. “I get to dive into all of the source material and rich history of all of Oliver Sacks’ life and then use it to inspire a fictionalized character that we’ve created for the purposes of our show, and to make it more relatable and accessible to audiences.”
Sacks’ 1973 book, “Awakenings,” about his experience of treating patients whose encephalitis left them in a statue-like condition, was adapted into a 1990 movie in which Robin Williams played Sacks. But after being approached by executive producer Greg Berlanti about adapting Sacks’ books “The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat” and “An Anthropologist on Mars,” Grassi was keen to create a prime-time medical drama with an openly gay character — and actor — at the forefront.
Grassi wrote the role specifically with Quinto in mind. “It’s nice to see Zach tackle something that he’s never really done before — to play this hero, this doctor who leads with empathy, feels really new and exciting for him,” said Grassi, who is also gay.
Quinto had just come off making his West End debut in a play about the political debates between Gore Vidal and William F. Buckley Jr. While he didn’t know much about Sacks, who was known for finding dignity in patients with largely incurable ailments, Quinto felt drawn to “the deep spirit of the man” in the character Grassi had created.
But unlike Sacks — who lived in self-imposed celibacy for 35 years before finding a life partner and coming out later in life — the creative team was not interested in having a similarly emotionally closed-off lead, Grassi said.
“Dr. Wolf on the show is so committed to making sure that his patients live a full life that he’s completely neglecting living his own,” Grassi said. “A big part of this season’s story is Dr. Wolf starting to live his life, and what that might look like romantically is an interesting question as well.”
“Brilliant Minds” also reunites Quinto with Teddy Sears, who played his husband during the first season of Ryan Murphy’s “American Horror Story.” Sears plays Dr. Josh Nichols, an ex-military, gay neurosurgeon whose clinical and exacting nature is often at odds with Dr. Wolf’s more empathetic approach to treating patients.
“Oliver Wolf and Josh Nichols don’t necessarily get off on the best foot right away, but there’s something intriguing for both of them in the other,” Quinto said, teasing that the initial antagonism between the characters could underlie feelings of a different kind.
Playing an openly gay lead on network television is a particularly meaningful milestone for Quinto, who, after coming out publicly in 2011, has become one of the most prominent out actors in Hollywood. In retrospect, Quinto admitted, he doesn’t know how differently his career would have panned out if he hadn’t chosen to come out, but he said he doesn’t believe that declaration has hindered or held him back in any way. He also would rather not spend any time thinking about it.
“I don’t know what possessed me to be so self-assured about it, especially at that time, in 2011,” Quinto admitted, reflecting on his decision to come out on his own terms — without anyone else knowing — in a New York magazine profile. “I think part of it was that it took me so many years of internal conflict to get there. Once I accepted the truth for myself, the kind of precarious navigation of how to maintain a relationship to my career and my authentic self … I think all of that cumulatively led me to a place where I was just ready.”
The experience of starring in a New York revival of “Angels in America,” in 2010, had forced Quinto, who was already out to his closest family and friends, to wrestle with the decision to talk about his sexuality publicly. (He didn’t.) During the media tour for his film “Margin Call” a year later, Quinto heard about the suicide of Jamey Rodemeyer — an LGBTQ teenager who, like Quinto, had recently made a video for the It Gets Better Project. Quinto was staggered to learn of Rodemeyer’s death and said he was forced to confront his own hypocrisy.
“I felt like I couldn’t any longer shoulder the burden of disparity between living this privileged and charmed life at the time, and these young people who were killing themselves,” Quinto explained. He knew how much the act of seeing an openly gay actor would have meant to his younger self. “If I could make a difference in anybody’s life, then I had to move in that direction. It wasn’t about trying to obfuscate the truth or hide myself in order to advance my career. So if it was going to have a negative impact on my career at that point, so be it. That wasn’t really a consideration that I was willing to allow to hold me back anymore at that point.”
In the decade since he came out publicly, Quinto has marveled at the evolution of LGBTQ representation, while acknowledging that there is still more work to be done. “I think the broadening of the spectrum of stories that we’re telling now, and the people who have had opportunities in the last five to 10 years that never would’ve had them previous to that, is really exceptional,” he said.
But with the impending presidential election, Quinto said he believes the LGBTQ community is in “a fight for our lives.” After recently attending this cycle’s Democratic National Convention, the actor wants to encourage all people — but especially members of the queer community — to get politically active.
Quinto, who canvassed for President Barack Obama in both of his presidential elections, said he will vote for Vice President Kamala Harris in November.
“When you consider the options before us and how those options each relate to our community in particular, there’s only one way that we can go to preserve the hard-won and essential progress that we’ve made within our community politically in the last 10 years,” he said.
Since the release of “Star Trek Beyond” in 2016, Quinto and his castmates have expressed a desire to return to the Enterprise, but any future sequels have yet to come to fruition. Quinto said he would still be “more than happy” to reprise his version of Spock, adding that his time in the franchise played an instrumental role in his personal and professional development, but he also feels “absolutely no attachment” to the character anymore.
During the making of his “Star Trek” films, Quinto developed a close relationship with Leonard Nimoy — the actor who originated the role of Spock and handpicked Quinto to play his younger self — whom Quinto considered a preeminent father figure. Following Nimoy’s death in 2015, Quinto maintained his friendship with Nimoy’s widow, Susan Bay Nimoy, and even cast her as an 80-year-old nymphomaniac patient in the upcoming eighth episode of “Brilliant Minds.”
“I feel so grateful that the legacy of storytelling continues with Leonard’s loved ones,” Quinto said with a fond smile. “The legacy of storytelling with him, my connection to him, and the fact that he’s a part of this show is really, really moving and meaningful to me.”
For more from NBC Out, sign up for our weekly newsletter.
