Justin Suarez

Justin Suarez
Justin Suarez portrayed by Mark Indelicato
First appearance	Pilot (aka I Am Not Going To Sell Herbalux)
Created by	Silvio Horta
Portrayed by	Mark Indelicato
In-universe information
Gender	Male
Family	Hilda Suarez (mother) Santos Reynoso (father; deceased)
Relatives	Betty Suarez (maternal aunt) Ignacio Suarez (maternal grandfather) Rosa Suarez (maternal grandmother, deceased) Yolanda Sálazar (maternal great-grandmother) Mirta (maternal great aunt) Clara (maternal first cousin-in-law once removed) Randy (schoolmates)

Justin Suarez (Reynoso) is a fictional character on the American comedy-drama series Ugly Betty. He is portrayed by actor Mark Indelicato. Justin lives with his mother Hilda, his aunt Betty, and his grandfather Ignacio. His biological father is Santos who is murdered in the second season.

Justin is quite fashion conscious and exhibits model-like behavior, such as commenting on his own body image and being food conscious. His knowledge about the fashion industry, from reading MODE, where Betty works, and watching Fashion TV, is among the reasons his aunt influences him. Justin exhibits stereotypical gay behavior which propels some of the storylines including his involvement in performing arts. The show's creator, Silvio Horta, says Justin is probably gay which would make him one of the youngest gay characters ever presented on a prime time television program in the US. As he is still a young teenager, his adolescent sexuality is still being developed in storylines.. However, in the fourth season, after being named the homecoming queen at his high school as part of a joke meant to humiliate him, he fought back by accepting and joking about it at the microphone, gave the crown to his mother, and later after arriving home and his mother saying she loves him no matter who he is, he interrupts her to say "I'm not gay".

Slate magazine named the character as one of the reasons they were looking forward to the return of the show in fall 2007.

History

Season One

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 shows an interest in the 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.

On the subway as he, Hilda, and Santos are to see Hairspray, Justin sings the opening number "Good Morning Baltimore" to the audience of the subway, meant towards Santos to tell him all about the show. One passenger calls him a fairy, much to the anger of Santos. 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 he gave to the actual lead after Justin learned he had an allergy to products containing nuts. As he is on stage, Justin sings the interludes while everyone's story temporarily concludes the season. As his character in the musical is shot and dies on stage, his father Santos is shot and killed during a hold-up at a convenience store.

Season Two

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 magazine. 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 an intern has already caused an unusual ripple effect for the Suarezes, as he told Marc, who was training him, everything about their family including Ignatio's illegal status, resulting in Betty giving in to Wilhelmina in exchange for getting Ignacio back into the United States. His thoughts of his late father has begun to settle in after he visits the store where he was shot after the clerk told him Santos was a hero and he must be just like him, Justin told him that he wasn't like his father. When Justin returned home, he chose his father's basketball for the one keepsake he would retain, and made a change in personality. He had affected a contempt for his old interests, stopped getting good grades, skipping school, hanging out with thugs, and has been shown drinking beer and making out with a girl in efforts to adopt a more "macho" image. This all comes to a head after Justin is arrested for stealing and crashing Hilda's car. Hilda decides it's time to confront him and Justin finally realizes he was spiraling out of control and if he didn’t stop he could end up being no different than the thug who killed his father.

Season Three

Early on in the third season, Justin clashes with a bully at school. When Justin tries out for a Broadway musical, he is shocked to find that the bully, Randy, is also trying out. They are still hostile and competitive with one another at first; but when they fail to get the role they start to bond. Shortly afterwards Randy stops being friends with him due to peer pressure about Justin's effeminacy. Later on, Justin applies for a performing arts school, only to be rejected.

Season Four

After being rejected from a performing arts school Justin attends a public high school where he was bullied on the very first day. He ends up relying on Marc for emotional support. Things turn around when his Mom rounds up enough money to send him to a private performing arts school. The question of his sexual orientation would come up during the homecoming at the school, when Marc saw Justin being bullied and did not do anything. So Marc encouraged Justin to befriend one of the cheerleaders and help them learn a new routine. When the cheerleader ran into Betty and Marc to warn them about what the jocks did on the day of the homecoming event, they learned that Justin was named the school's homecoming queen. Ironically, Justin accepted the tiara and roses but gave them to Hilda to make up for not her receiving them during her homecoming when she was pregnant with Justin. When the family and Marc returned home after the homecoming, Justin told them that was actually straight and that his flamboyant behavoir was all a joke.

Sexual orientation

The character of Justin has been the subject of much media speculation concerning his sexuality, 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 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 he comes into adolescence and what it would be like if he were gay...which he probably is." In season four episode "Backseat Betty" Justin addresses his sexuality directly for the first time. At the end of that episode he declares to his mother that he is not gay.

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." he also stated 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.'"

Connections

• Santos - Justin's father; Ignacio, Justin's maternal grandfather, would rather see Santos stay away from the family because of his gambling problems and not having been there for Hilda and Justin throughout Justin's life. He was shot and killed after trying to save a clerk at a convenience store. His appearance in the season 2 premiere episode was a fantasy induced by Hilda's grief. In the end of the episode Hilda finally admits Santos is gone and begins to mourn his loss rather than live in denial.
• Marc St. James - Betty's co-worker at MODE; Marc has taken a liking to Justin as he knows what he is going through. The two often discuss fashion and Marc usually gives Justin advice on how to deal with the kids who bully him at school ("Learn to run really fast").
• Christina McKinney - Betty's co-worker at MODE; she thinks Justin is adorable.
• Daniel Meade - Betty's boss at MODE; Justin is a fan.
• Wilhelmina Slater - Justin idolizes her glamour and style. Justin escorted her around Fashion Week while subbing for Marc, telling her who she was talking to, their outfit and what was wrong with it. Wilhelmina thanked him and mistakenly called him Jason to which Justin replied, "Actually, it's Justin but you can call me whatever you want, I love you!"

See also

• E.O. Green School shooting