Actor Ryan Phillippe says that he's proud of his groundbreaking gay role on One Life To Live.

Phillippe's first acting job was playing gay teenager Billy Douglas on the ABC daytime soap opera.

Twenty-five years later, Phillippe says he's proud of the role.

“There had never been a gay teenager portrayed on television at that point,” Phillippe, 42, told TooFab. “It was before Will & Grace, before Ellen [DeGeneres] came out. It's before any of that stuff.”

“I remember the fan mail that we would get, my mother and I would get, from gay teenagers or from parents of gay teenagers who found a way in to relate to or talk to their child through the show.”

“Entertainment media can do those things, it can make people think differently or see a different side of something and I do remember and appreciating that – even back then when I was only a teenager myself.”

“But in terms of like the larger view, I didn't have a full understanding of how important it could have been,” Phillippe added, “but I'm proud to have done it, I'm proud that that's something I can say was a part of my career.”