Daniel DeSanto: The gay kid in the Midnight Society, a Mean Girl, a Sicilian assassin, a short guy with a big dick. Who cares if he's straight?

 

Submitted for your approval: Nickelodeon's Are You Afraid of the Dark (1992-1996), an anthology of ghost and horror stories told by -- and evaluated by -- a group of teenagers called the Midnight Society.  

It aired at 5:30 pm on weeknights and 9:30 pm on Saturday night, so I didn't watch often, but I recall a few episodes. 

"The Tale of the Water Demon": Tony Sampson steals a gold watch, which draws the wrath of the water demon and threatens his gay-subtext buddy, Charlie Hofheimer

"The Tale of the Zombie Dice":  Jay Baruchel (top photo) fights a video arcade owner who is shrinking teens and selling them as pets.

"The Tale of the Phantom Cab": While lost in the woods, Jacob Tremblay (no relation to Jason Tremblay) and his brother stumble upon a monstrous being who keeps teenagers captive unless they can solve a riddle.

And I recall three of the teen actors who appeared in the frame sections, squabbling, flirting, forming alliances:

Bookish intellectual Gary (Ross Hull, left), the leader.

Frank (Jason Alisharan) the leather-jacket bad boy

Prank-loving, irreverent Tucker (Daniel DeSanto, right), Frank's younger brother, who joins the Midnight Society in Season 3, and stays through the series finale.  He becomes the leader of the Midnight Society in the revival series (1999-2000).

You're probably expecting a profile of Ross Hull, who is gay in real life, and rather built; but Gary turned me off by crushing on Sam (a girl) and eventually dating her.  

Frank competed for Sam's affections, too. 

But Tucker never expressed any heterosexual interest; indeed, he seemed to have a "he's arrogant!" love-hate attraction to Frank. 

He pushes to get his friend Stig (Codie Wilbie) to be admitted to the group in Season 6.  In the revival series, he and his friend Quinn (Kareem Blackwell) found the new Midnight Society together.    

Plus his stories are about friendships that are threatened, or grow stronger, through paranormal peril.  A lot of gay coding for Nickelodeon in the 1990s.

I didn't follow any of Daniel's post-Dark works. Somehow I had the impression that he played Elaine's boyfriend Jake on Seinfeld (a recovering alcohol, he goes off the wagon due to Jerry's negligence, and seeks revenge,)  But the episode aired in 1991, when Daniel was 11 years old.  Jake was actually played by David Naughton. 

When I was reviewing an episode of 100 Things to Do Before High School for my profile of Max Ehrich, I thought I saw him playing Mr. Roberts, the guidance counselor, but that's Jack De Sena

Our Daniel, a Toronto native, was a busy child and teen actor, specializing in horror for obvious reasons:

Gabe, who visits Egypt with his uncle and uncovers a mummy's curse in two episodes of Goosebumps (1995).

Theo in two episodes of The New Ghostwriter Mysteries (1997): he helps the gang and the ghost foil a corrupt cop, and later, thieves who target seemingly worthless items.

Zeke, a teenage theater employee who helps Taylor Handley foil The Phantom of the Megaplex (2000).  

More after the break.  Caution: Explicit.

Meanwhile, he graduated from the Martingrove Collegiate Institute in 1999 and Ryerson University (B.F.A. in Film Studies, 2003).  This is (probably) the college-age Daniel showing his stuff.

Daniel's biggest movie role is probably in Mean Girls (2004): he plays Jason, a "skeez jock" who gets with Gretchen.

But his favorite post-Dark role is in Boondock Saints II (2009): The Boondock Saints (Sean Patrick Flanner, Norman Reedus) are living in exile in Ireland, but return to investigate the murder of their beloved family priest. They join forces with a Mexican fighter (Clifton Collins Jr.), and don't fall in love with anyone.  

Daniel plays the murderer, a hitman named Little Man Ottimo Panza.  He is half-naked in several scenes, so he had to prep with a vigorous muscle-building routine.

And learn to speak Sicilian, a language distinct from Italian:

English: A big penis

Italian: Un cazzo grosso

Sicilian: Na minchia 

The "big" isn't necessary, since there are no small ones in Sicily, as you can see.

This looks like our Daniel, but where did the necklace come from?  

Daniel has done some modeling, some narration, and a lot of voice work: 13 episodes of Braceface, 129 episodes of Beyblade (2001-05), 7 of Totally Spies (2007-08),  9 of Total Drama Island, 11 of Paw Patrol.  

Plus guest spots in some  Canadian movies and tv series: Rookie Blue, Murdoch Mysteries, Man Seeking Woman, Little Italy.

Sampling a few, I didn't see many potential gay characters.  He played the buddy of The Indian Detective (2017), so there may be a gay subtext.

Daniel has no social media presence, and no relationship is mentioned in his interviews.  This usually indicates that an actor is gay, but he says that a female co-star is "unbelievably sexy," which strikes me as a hetero comment.

And he produced and stars in Wholesome Foods, I Love You...Is That Ok? (2014): A neurotic yoga teacher finds love at an organic food store -- with Marko (Daniel).

In the absence of other evidence, I'm going to conclude that Daniel is straight.

But he's 5'5", a member of the Short Guy Brigade, and he's got a big one.  So who cares?

See also: Jacob Tremblay: Gay sea monster, gay-subtext Miracle, heterosexist Good Boy, Boyfriend. With Brady Noon and n*de dudes

Max Ehrich: Disney Channel dancer, Dome hacker, gay soap opera teen -- wait, is that a different actor? At least the d*ck is really his

David Naughton: The cutest guy of the Disco Era tells us to "Be a Pepper" and shows us his d*ck

"Ghost Island": Submitted for Your Approval: Surly Boy, Swishy Boy, Hunkoid, Two Girls, and the Haunted Hotel Room