Comedian and actor Hal Sparks was born on September 25, 1969 in Cincinnati, Ohio. After attending New Trier High School in Illinois, he pursued a career as a TV personality. He was also a game show host and the lead singer and guitarist for the rock band Zero 1. Hal Sparks has regularly hosted and appeared on television in shows and specials such as E!’s Talk Soup, VH1’s I Love… series, CSI, Extreme Dodgeball, Frasier, Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman, and Video Game Vixens. Hal Sparks has also acted in the films Signs and Wonders, Lost & Found, Dude, Where’s My Car?, and Spider-Man 2.

Michael Novotny is played by Hal Sparks in the Showtime gay drama series Queer As Folk. Though he grew up with the belief that his father was a soldier and Vietnam war hero, he’s actually the son of a man named Danny Devore, who became a drag queen entertainer named Divina Devore. Michael’s best friend is Brian Kinney, though their lives have gone on to considerably different paths from when they kids. Michael settles down and becomes a responsible figure with his partner, university professor Ben Bruckner, while Brian continues to lead a wild life filled with drugs and sex.



(Image courtesy of Showtime)