Kyan Douglas

Infobox Actor
name = Kyan Douglas


imagesize = 200px
caption = Kyan Douglas in May 2006
birthdate = Birth date and age|1970|5|5|mf=y
location = Miami, Florida, U.S.
deathdate =
deathplace =
birthname = Hugh Edward Douglas, Jr.
homepage = http://www.kyandouglas.com

Kyan Douglas (born Hugh Edward Douglas on May 5, 1970) was the grooming expert on the American television program "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy".

Biography

Douglas was born in Miami, Florida but was raised in Tampa and Tallahassee. He has an older sister, Kelli (who first taught him about styling hair) and is very close to his family. After high school he moved first to Dallas, where he studied philosophy at Brookhaven College and first became interested in religion and the healing arts. He then moved to Austin, where he had initially planned to pursue his interest in acting by studying drama at the University of Texas at Austin, though he was precluded by his extreme shyness. In his mid-twenties he moved to New Orleans, where he earned a degree in TV production and theater studies at Loyola University. In 1996 three of Douglas' close friends were murdered in a restaurant robberycite web | title=a&u | work=Inner Beauty | url=http://www.aumag.org/coverstory/April04cover.html | accessdate=April|accessyear=2004] where both they and Douglas worked. The tragedy motivated him to leave New Orleans to start a new life.

Douglas was in a serious relationship with publicist and gay rights activist Gregory Durham from March 2004 - August 2006. In July 2006, they became briefly engaged.cite web | title=The Philippine Star | work=Crush ng bayan Kyan Douglas on his first crush, girl crushes, and upcoming marriage | url=http://www.tszuj-it.com/articles/kyan/manila3.html | accessdate=23 July |accessyear=2006] He was previously linked (in fall 2003) with "Queer as Folk" actor Robert Gant. Gant confirmed to "TV Guide" that the pair had dated briefly, but were just friends.cite web | title=TV Guide | work=Queer Hunks in Love? | url=http://www.tszuj-it.com/articles/kyan/shorts2004.html | accessdate=July|accessyear=2004]

Kyan Douglas moved from New York to Los Angeles, California in 2007.cite web | title=TV.com | work=Kyan Douglas Trivia | url=http://www.tv.com/kyan-douglas/person/207576/trivia.html | accessdate=July|accessyear=2007] He told the now defunct TV show "Out in Dallas" that he wanted to pursue acting, and was taking acting classes. In November 2007, he told radio station OutQ that he was in the process of purchasing land in Mexico, and was considering opening up a yoga retreat there.

Career

Douglas moved to New York City in 1999 and started work in sales for Aveda, then helped them set up thecite web | title=The Loyola Phoenix | work="Fab" Kyan Douglas opens up to LU | url=http://www.loyolaphoenix.com/media/storage/paper673/news/2004/03/17/News/fab-Kyan.Douglas.Opens.Up.To.Lu-634832.shtml?norewrite200608142013&sourcedomain=www.loyolaphoenix.com | accessmonthday=March 17 |accessyear=2004] Aveda Institute, a school for hairstyling and grooming. He then enrolled in its Cosmetology program, and after graduating at the top of his class, he joined the New York-based hair salon Arrojo Studio as a colorist. He also began working on the makeover tv shows "What Not to Wear" and "While You Were Out", and for [http://www.child.com Child Magazine] as well. In 2002, a client at Arrojo told him about a makeover show that was being cast. Kyan sent a photo of himself and a short bio he'd written to the producers. They called him for an audition and quickly hired him as the show's "Grooming Guru".

As part of "Queer Eye"'s "Fab Five" Douglas has co-authored a book and appeared on a soundtrack CD and accompanying DVD based on the show, as well as appeared on many magazine covers and TV talk shows. In 2004 he published "Beautified", his own book on grooming for women, and became a spokesman and product advisor for L'Oreal. He was also invited back to speak at his alma mater Loyola University New Orleans in 2004.

His interest in healing and spirituality continues, and in 2005 he began training to become a qualified teacher of Kundalini yoga.

Awards

"Queer Eye" won an Emmy in 2004 for Outstanding Reality Program, and received a nomination again in the same category in 2005. In 2006, Douglas was awarded the HRC's Humanitarian Award for his work with a number of charities, including HRC, DIFFA, and AmFAR.

References

External links

* [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1390233/ Internet Movie Database: Kyan Douglas]