Daniel Franzese never expected Mean Girls to become a cultural phenomenon with an unofficial holiday (it’s Oct. 3, after all), let alone change the course of his life. Two decades later, he still feels the film’s impact.
“I knew it might be someone’s favorite movie, but I never imagined it would be everybody’s favorite movie,” said Franzese, who, at 26, landed the role of Damian, the “almost too gay to function” teenager who became one of the most beloved characters in the high school comedy.
The 2004 film was a box office success, but as Franzese told Yahoo Entertainment, “Everything is a two-sided coin.”
At the time, he was quietly navigating his own identity in an era when being openly gay in Hollywood could end a career. As Damian became a beacon of hope for generations of LGBTQ youth — a rare, unapologetic role model in mainstream media — Franzese found himself in the position of embodying the character’s boldness while still grappling with his own truth behind the scenes.
“Damian in the movie was between ‘I think I’m gay’ and ‘my first kiss,’ which is pretty much where I was at [in my personal life] too,” Franzese explained. But while his co-stars rode the wave of the film’s success, he struggled to find his next roles. It was a bittersweet moment when he realized the very character that empowered so many seemed to be holding him back.
“Everyone [else] in Mean Girls got rich, and I just couldn’t afford to hang out with them anymore,” Franzese recalled. “They were like, ‘We’re all going to Hawaii,’ and I’m over here like, ‘OK, bye! I gotta figure out my rent.’”
For years, Franzese found himself “absolutely broke,” even as Mean Girls became a modern pop culture classic.
“We were everywhere, but I didn’t have any money after Mean Girls,” said Franzese. “All of my auditions pretty much dried up because I was a gay character, and I was only getting gay roles, that’s it, and there weren’t a lot. So I stopped working.”
At one of his lowest points, he reached out for help.
“I actually wrote a letter to [director] Mark Waters and [screenwriter] Tina Fey. I was like, ‘Please, I need a job. I’m about to work security at Target,’” he said. “They were like, ‘We’ll keep an eye out!’”
Franzese kept himself busy by attending improv school and working in art galleries. The few roles he did land were a disheartening reminder of how fame can cheapen the craft he loves.
“I did this movie once — I won’t name the actor because that’d be mean — but on the first day on set, I went up to the lead, who I really admired, and said, ‘I’m so excited about this movie,’” to which the actor sarcastically replied, “‘Yeah, like this one’s gonna be good.’”
Franzese continued, “I thought, ‘You’re the lead of the movie and that’s your attitude?’ I was so defeated that people were just there for checks and for fame, not for the characters and creating art. Hollywood trips me out.”
As the years passed, Franzese realized that the love he received from fans was its own kind of reward — the countless stories from closeted teens who found their voice through Damian’s confidence, some of whom, he said, became the “cool” kid in school thanks to Mean Girls.
Franzese has received letters from fans “as far away as Africa, Paris and Tokyo,” sharing how Damian had impacted their lives. “It’s amazing how far a voice can reach and what a human being is capable of,” he said.
Their stories gave Franzese the courage to come out publicly in 2014. He wasn’t the only cast member from the film to do so. His co-stars Jonathan Bennett, who played heartthrob Aaron Samuels, and Rajiv Surendra, who played Kevin “G” Gnapoor, also came out publicly in 2017 and 2018, respectively.
Franzese remembers the day he and Bennett came out to each other while filming Mean Girls, though both still felt pressure to stay closeted.
“I remember us being like, ‘You’re gay, right?’ and the other saying, ‘Yeah, I figured,’” he recalled of their conversation on set. There were moments of humor too. “It’s funny — Jonathan and I were with some friends, both pretending to be straight, and we ended up going to a strip club together. It was hilarious.”
Bennett told Today in January that playing gay roles “repairs” parts of himself he felt were broken early in his career.
The same can be said for Franzese. Just as Damian became a lifeline for those who saw themselves in him, he eventually learned to see himself in Damian.
“It’s what drives everything I do,” he said, referring to projects like his role in HBO’s Looking, where he played an HIV-positive character thriving despite his status, as well as his stand-up comedy and his podcast,Yass, Jesus!
The blessing and curse of being Damian hasn’t gone away, said Franzese. He just sees it differently now.
“It was all worth it for me,” he said. “I’ve realized it’s OK to be frustrated in life sometimes, but now I want to show the world what I’m actually capable of — not just as Damian, but as Daniel.”
