Justin Suarez
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| Justin Suarez | |
|---|---|
| First appearance | Pilot (aka I Am Not Going To Sell Herbalux) |
| Created by | Silvio Horta |
| Portrayed by | Mark Indelicato |
| Information | |
| Gender | Male |
| Age | 13 |
| Date of birth | 1995 |
| Family | Hilda Suarez (mother) Santos (father, deceased) |
| Relatives |
|
Justin Suarez is a fictional character on the American comedy-drama series Ugly Betty. He is portrayed by actor Mark Indelicato.
Contents |
[edit] Background
Justin lives with his mother Hilda, Aunt Betty, and his grandfather, Ignacio. While Hilda tries to convince Betty to try a line of work other than the fashion industry, Justin supports Betty and convinces her to continue and pursue her dreams.
Justin Ariel Suarez is quite fashion conscious and exhibits model-like behavior, such as commenting on his own body image and being food conscious. This behavior concerns Hilda, who would rather see Justin act more like a "normal" boy; however, in the episode "Lose the Boss" his mother says to Justin's father Santos, "He's comfortable with who he is and so am I."
Justin is a straight-A student with an interest in performing arts and home economics. He is a fan of Fashion TV and idolizes Martha Stewart and Gene Kelly. His knowledge about the fashion industry, from reading MODE and watching Fashion TV, is one of the reasons his aunt influences him.
On the subway as he, Hilda, and Santos are to see Hairspray, Justin sings the opening number "Good Morning Baltimore" to the audience of the subway, meant towards Santos to tell him all about the show. One passenger calls him a fairy, much to the anger of Santos.
In the Season 1 finale, Justin plays Tony in his school's production of West Side Story; he won the role after putting walnuts in his sandwich that he gave to the actual lead after Justin learned that he had an allergy to products that contain nuts. As he is on stage, Justin sings the interludes while everyone's story temporarily concludes the season. As he dies on stage, Santos, his father, is shot and killed during a hold-up at a convenience store.
Three weeks after his father's death, Justin is bored with summer camp so he sneaks into the Meade Publications building to spy on Mode. After he is caught, Betty arranges for him to become an intern for a few weeks before school as an alternative to summer camp. However, his enthusiasm of being an intern has already caused a unusual ripple effect for the Suarezes, as he told Marc, who was training him, everything about their family, resulting in Betty giving in to Wilhelmina in exchange for getting Ignacio back to the United States, while the thoughts of his late father has begun to settle in after he visits the store where he was shot. After the clerk told him that Santos was a hero and that he must be just like him, Justin told him that he wasn't like his father. When Justin returned home, he chose his father's basketball for the one keepsake he would retain, and made a change in personality. He had affected a contempt for his old interests, stopped getting good grades, skipping school, hanging out with thugs, and has been shown drinking beer and making out with a slutty girl in efforts to adopt a more "macho" image. This all comes to a head after Justin is arrested for stealing and crashing Hilda's car. Hilda decides that its time to confront him and Justin finally realizes that he was spiraling out of control and if he didn’t stop that he could end up being no different than the thug who killed his father.
[edit] Personal life
The character of Justin has been the subject of much media speculation concerning his sexuality[1], although there has been no definitive statement on the subject either on the show or from the show runners. If he is gay, Justin would be one of the youngest gay characters ever presented on a prime time television program in the US. A February 7, 2007, piece in USA Today said on the subject,
Horta later commented more definitively on Justin's sexuality, saying, "[Justin]'s twelve and we want to let things proceed as they would normally. There's so much to explore with this kid as he comes into adolescence and what it would be like if he were gay...which he probably is." [2] However, the possibility remains that Justin is merely 'metrosexual'. Indelicato has said about Justin, "My fan mail is mostly kids, especially kids that don't really fit in and people don't really understand them. They go, 'Thank you, because you're helping me to be understood by my peers,' and anybody else who doesn't understand them."[3] But he also avoids websites, forums and blogs because of the negative feedback and remarks made towards his character on the show.[4]
Ana Ortiz, who plays Hilda, said "One of my absolute favorite character traits of Hilda is that she feels that as long as he's happy, I'm happy. I'm not going to change him, I'm not going to judge him. He's happy. How many people can say they have a happy, well-adjusted kid? Not many. So she's like, 'If it's not broke.'"[5]
[edit] Connections
- Santos - Justin's father; Ignacio, Justin's maternal grandfather, would rather see Santos stay away from the family because of his gambling problems and not having been there for Hilda and Justin throughout Justin's life. He was shot and killed after trying to save a clerk at a convenience store. His appearance in the season 2 premiere episode was a fantasy induced by Hilda's grief. In the end of the episode Hilda finally admits Santos is gone and begins to mourn his loss rather than live in denial.
- Marc St. James - Betty's co-worker at MODE; Marc has taken a liking to Justin as he knows what he is going through. The two often discuss fashion and Marc usually gives Justin advice on how to deal with the kids who bully him at school ("Learn to run really fast").
- Christina McKinney - Betty's co-worker at MODE; she thinks Justin is adorable.
- Daniel Meade - Betty's boss at MODE; Justin is a fan.
- Wilhelmina Slater - Justin idolizes her glamour and style. Justin escorted her around Fashion Week while subbing for Marc, telling her who she was talking to, their outfit and what was wrong with it. Wilhelmina thanked him and mistakenly called him Jason to which Justin replied, "Actually, it's Justin but you can call me whatever you want, I love you!"
[edit] Critical response
Slate magazine named the character as one of the reasons they were looking forward to the return of the show in fall 2007.[6]
[edit] References
- ^ [1][2][3][4][5]
- ^ Out in Hollywood
- ^ [6]
- ^ Indelicato gives bite to 'Betty' - USATODAY.com
- ^ From Insidesocal.com
- ^ Thomas, June (21). Oh, How We've Missed You!. Slate magazine. Retrieved on 2007-09-23.
