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Justin Suarez

Justin Suarez is a fictional character on the American comedy-drama series Ugly Betty. He is portrayed by actor Mark Indelicato.

Background

Justin lives with his mother Hilda, Aunt Betty, and his grandfather. 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 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.

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 a 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'll be like him, Justin told him that he won't be like his father.

When Justin returned home, he kept the only thing that remind him of Santos, a basketball, which is also a indication that Justin's life could be headed in a different direction, and already there are hints that he will start hanging out with the wrong crowd, as well as dating a girl to cover his feelings over his father's death

Personal Life

The character of Justin has been the subject of much media speculation concerning his sexuality[2], 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,

"Justin's sexuality has never been addressed on the show, but Betty creator Silvio Horta, who is gay and came out to his Cuban-American family at age 19, says the character will experience "the journey" as he matures. "I see myself in him," Horta says. "Growing up, I certainly felt like an outsider at times. But there's this sweet innocence in Justin that sees the positive."

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 the comes into adolescence and what it would be like if he were gay...which he probably is."

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." But he also avoids websites, forums and blogs because of the negative feedback and remarks made towards his character on the show.

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.'"