Michelle Clunie: actress of 'Queer as Folk' and 'Teen Wolf' INTERVIEWED BY Markos Papadatos

Photography: Alan Weissman

Michelle Clunie on 'Teen Wolf', 'Queer as Folk', and the Digital Age

On being a part of “Teen Wolf,” she exclaimed, “It was a great experience. I loved working with all those kids; it’s a great group and they are very talented. I also loved playing a teacher in ‘Teen Wolf’ because prior to that, I had never been old enough to play a teacher.”

“Jeff Davis, the showrunner, is lovely and he threw this great scene at me, which was very emotional, and I just ran with it. I had just given birth right before that, so all my emotions were alive. Overall, ‘Teen Wolf’ was a great experience,” she elaborated.

“I feel that I’ve been very lucky to be able to work with great people. I’ve worked with some many people that I love and cherish, and that’s a nice thing to be able to say in Hollywood,” she expanded.

Clunie described “Queer as Folk,” where she played Melanie Marcus, as a “life-changing experience.”

“To this day, we all get letters from young people discovering themselves, and they tell us that the show has saved their lives, and that means so much to me,” she explained.

“I loved my character, Melanie. I had so much fun playing her, and it was just thrilling,” she noted. “Doing it was revolutionary. Melanie was the first full-time series regular lesbian on television. She was also this woman who didn’t care what men thought about her and that was revolutionary in and of itself for that time.”

“So, I cherish not only the show but the community that was built around the show,” she said. “We were a show that had to come out strong because it was the first of its kind. Who knew if Showtime was going to go all the way with it?”

“We were very adamant as a cast and with the producers that we were going to go just as far, if not further than the English version, and we did. The fact that I made people feel less alone means everything to me,” she acknowledged.

“The fans showed up and they kept us on the air, and without them, we wouldn’t have lasted past the first season. We were a very quirky show that was risky. I think of it as the ‘people’s show,’ and they kept us on the air for five years, and that was incredible.”

“Thanks to that show, the L word (lesbian) was greenlit. I got to play the first out-of-the-closet full-time lesbian character. I met my cast, and we are all soulmates; we will be together until the end. ‘Queer as Folk’ was just amazing, and the show truly is the gift that keeps on giving,” she added.

On being a part of the digital age, Clunie shared, “I think it’s interesting. I don’t think I’ve mastered the digital age, but I enjoy it. My mother is 92 years old, and she has an email address, and she texts me. She is very tech savvy for someone who is 92.”

“I take my cues from her,” Clunie admitted. “I think social media can be used in a lot of great ways, and I try to do that.”

On the title of the current chapter of her life, Clunie said with a sweet laugh, “To Be Continued…”

Clunie defined success as “loving what you do, and you doing it with a passion.”

“This way, you just keep going because you love the work, and I feel that’s a great motto to live by,” she said.

For fans and viewers, she expressed, “I want the audience to experience human connection, and I want them to walk out of there filled with the beauty of human connection. That is what the play is about, and I think that is what life is about.”

“Especially now with AI (artificial intelligence) and technology, we need that human connection more than ever,” she concluded.

To learn more about Michelle Clunie, follow her on Instagram and visit her official website, IMDB