James Duke Mason is an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 actor

Actor

An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...

 and LGBT advocate. He is the son of singer Belinda Carlisle

Belinda Carlisle

Belinda Jo Carlisle is an American singer who gained worldwide fame as the lead vocalist of the Go-Go's, one of the most successful all-female bands and the first such group whose members wrote their own songs and played their own instruments...

 and Morgan Mason

Morgan Mason

Alexander Morgan Mason is a politician, film producer and actor. He was born in Beverly Hills, California, and is the son of the late Academy award-nominated British actor James Mason and his wife Pamela Mason, actress and commentator. He is a former Acting Chief of Protocol of the United States,...

, and the grandson of the late British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 actor James Mason

James Mason

James Neville Mason was an English actor who attained stardom in both British and American films. Mason remained a powerful figure in the industry throughout his career and was nominated for three Academy Awards as well as three Golden Globes .- Early life :Mason was born in Huddersfield, in the...

. In April 2010, The Advocate

The Advocate

The Advocate is an American LGBT-interest magazine, printed monthly and available by subscription. The Advocate brand also includes a web site. Both magazine and web site have an editorial focus on news, politics, opinion, and arts and entertainment of interest to LGBT people...

 listed Mason as one of the most influential young LGBT Americans in their "Forty Under 40" issue, and in March 2011 he was voted into AfterElton.com's list of the top 50 gay/bisexual male celebrities in the world. He also, in May 2011, was included on AfterElton.com's Hot 100 list.

Mason was named in OUT

Out (magazine)

Out is a popular gay and lesbian fashion, entertainment, and lifestyle magazine, with the highest circulation of any gay monthly publication in the United States. It carries itself in a similar editorial manner to Details, Esquire, and GQ. Out was published by PlanetOut Inc...

magazine's "Out 100" issue as one of the 100 most influential LGBT people in the world in 2011.

Personal life

Born in Los Angeles, California, Mason moved to Europe with his parents as a toddler. He nevertheless maintained a strong affinity with the United States, and was appointed to serve as a page in the U.S. House of Representatives during the summer of 2008. He also worked as a volunteer for Hillary Clinton during the 2008 Democratic primaries. After graduating from Mougins School

Mougins School

Mougins School is an international school situated in Mougins, France. It was established in 1964 and moved to its present site on the high technology park of Sophia Antipolis in 1987...

, an international school

International school

An International school is loosely defined as a school that promotes international education, in an international environment, either by adopting an international curriculum such as that of the International Baccalaureate or Cambridge International Examinations, or by following a national...

 in the south of France in July 2010, Mason moved back to Los Angeles to pursue a career in acting. He also spent a year studying at California Lutheran University

California Lutheran University

California Lutheran University is a university of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America located in Thousand Oaks, California.-Mission statement:The University's mission statement is as follows:...

 pursuing a Bachelor's Degree

Bachelor's degree

A bachelor's degree is usually an academic degree awarded for an undergraduate course or major that generally lasts for three or four years, but can range anywhere from two to six years depending on the region of the world...

 in Political Science

Political science

Political Science is a social science discipline concerned with the study of the state, government and politics. Aristotle defined it as the study of the state. It deals extensively with the theory and practice of politics, and the analysis of political systems and political behavior...

, which he plans to complete in the future.

In an Attitude Magazine interview, Mason stated that he is openly gay and that he came out to his family and friends at the age of 14 in 2006. He participated in a roundtable discussion of LGBT

LGBT

LGBT is an initialism that collectively refers to "lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender" people. In use since the 1990s, the term "LGBT" is an adaptation of the initialism "LGB", which itself started replacing the phrase "gay community" beginning in the mid-to-late 1980s, which many within the...

 youth on Dr. Phil

Dr. Phil (TV series)

Dr. Phil is a reality/talk television show hosted by Phil McGraw. After McGraw's success with his segments on The Oprah Winfrey Show, Dr. Phil debuted on September 16, 2002...

, has written articles regarding his experience as a young gay person for publications such as Frontiers IN L.A. Magazine, and did a YouTube video to back the It Gets Better campaign. He also did a YouTube video in October 2010 opposing Proposition 19

California Proposition 19 (2010)

California Proposition 19 was a ballot initiative on the November 2, 2010 statewide ballot...

, which proposed to legalize marijuana in California. In April 2011 he founded the Trailblazer Campaign, a YouTube project designed to encourage LGBT entertainers to come out of the closet.

Career

Mason made his acting debut in What Happens Next (formerly You Can't Have It All), which was screened as part of the "festival favorites" on the closing night of the QFest Film Festival

Philadelphia International Gay & Lesbian Film Festival

The Philadelphia International Gay & Lesbian Film Festival was founded in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania by TLA Entertainment Group in 1995. The event is the third largest of its kind in the US, and the largest on the East Coast....

, featured as the centerpiece film at the Miami Gay & Lesbian Film Festival, and was recently also screened at the Hollywood Film Festival

Hollywood Film Festival

The Hollywood Film Festival is an annual Film festival which is located in Los Angeles, California, USA. The Festival was established in 1997 by Carlos de Abreu and his wife, model Janice Pennington....

. The film co-stars Wendie Malick

Wendie Malick

Wendie Malick is an American actress and former fashion model, known for her roles as Judith Tupper Stone on the HBO series Dream On , Nina Van Horn on the NBC sitcom Just Shoot Me! , Ronee Lawrence on the NBC sitcom Frasier and Victoria Chase on the TV Land sitcom Hot in Cleveland .-Early...

, Jon Lindstrom

Jon Lindstrom

Jon Lindstrom is an American actor, writer, director, producer, and musician. He is well-known for his longtime role of Kevin Collins on the soap opera General Hospital from 1993–1997, 2003–2004 and then moved the character to Port Charles from 1997-2003.-Early life:Lindstrom was born and raised in...

, Chris Murrah and Natalia Cigliuti.

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2011	What Happens Next	Zack

External links

• James Duke Mason's channel at YouTube (Official)