The United States of Keir Gilchrist

There is no denying that Toni Collette has the juiciest role (or roles) on Showtime’s new dramedy United States of Tara. But sixteen-year-old Keir Gilchrist has generated a fair bit of buzz for his turn as Marshall Gregson, Tara’s fourteen-year-old son, who just happens to be out and proud.

In your typical gay teen storyline, the fact that Marshall is out at such a young age would likely involve a great deal of internal angst, a coming out arc with the parents struggling to come to terms with and accept their gay son, and problems at school.

But when your mother suffers from dissociative identity disorder, meaning your nuclear family includes not only mom, dad and an older sister, but your mom’s alters – including an out-of-control sixteen-year-old girl named T, a Leave it to Beaver mom named Alice, and the sexist, macho, and very male Buck – being gay just isn’t that big a deal in the overall scheme of things.

Marshall at dinner with the "Alice" alter

AfterElton.com had the chance to talk with Gilchrist last January in Los Angeles while he was there to promote USoT at the Television Critics Association winter tour. In person, Gilchrist is soft-spoken and thoughtful, two characteristics he shares with the teen he plays, but he also enthuses about video games and sports.

Starring in a show where an actor as well known as Collette gets to play four such eclectic, scene-stealing parts might not leave room for many actors to shine, but that hasn’t been a problem for Gilchrist, who has been singled out by some television critics as giving the show’s breakout performance.

One reason for that might be due to the fact Gilchrist gets to play scenes with Collette not just as his very accepting mother, but with each of her alters as well.

Marshall confronts the alter "T"

In last Sunday’s episode, Marshall vented his frustration at T for having yet again taken his mother away from him when she was supposed to be attending one of his school functions. Marshall’s anger and hurt were palpable but not over-the-top, thanks to Gilchrist’s deft handling of the material.

So what made the Canadian actor (born in England) want to play the part? Says Gilchrist, “One, it’s a combination of a great show and then just a really fun part, so it was something else I hadn’t done before. I never really get to play a cool, suave character. I usually play nerds, so it was cool to do that.”

Marshall is out to his friends and family from the very start of the show, something that was in the initial breakdown for the character. When Gilchrist auditioned, a process he described as grueling, he was told the character was “gay, but not like stereotypical whatever, just like a normal guy.”

Gilchrist appreciated the fact that Marshall was out and free of angst without any explanation as to why. “It is kind of like you’re dropped right in. All the characters are already formed when it starts. It was kind of like, out, gay, just kind of set up the character for you. I talked with Diablo Cody [USoT’s executive producer] about it a little bit. I talked with Craig Gillespie [the director] a lot and we just formed the character.”