Out actor Murray Bartlett said in a
recent interview that he was “surprised” by his breakout success
in the HBO series The White Lotus.
While the Australian-born actor was a
series regular on All My Children and Guiding Light
in the 2000s, it is his more recent gay roles that have attracted the
most attention.
Bartlett
played Dom Basaluzzo in HBO's Looking
and Michael “Mouse” Tolliver in Netflix's Tales of the
City.
In The
White Lotus, Bartlett plays
Armond, the manager of the White Lotus resort and a recovering drug
addict who has been five years sober. The show's shocking finale
generated headlines for Bartlett.
Speaking
with The Guardian,
Bartlett, 50, said that the attention was a surprise.
“It's definitely
a surprise,” he said. “It's not like I expected it to happen, for
sure. But now that it has happened, it feels like it's really good
timing … I'm a bit wiser. I'm anchored in myself.”
“I mean, I get a
few more aches than I used to,” he added, referring to his age.
“I'm
in a wonderful relationship. I had this amazing opportunity to do
this job. Reflecting back, I just felt incredibly lucky and happy to
be where I am,” he
said.