Before landing his grooming-expert gig on Bravo's Queer Eye for the Straight Girl (Wednesdays at 10 pm/ET), Robbie Laughlin was just another struggling actor. Sharp-eyed TV aficionados may recall the 33-year-old pretty boy — who appeared last year in AMC's Gay Hollywood documentary — from his many guest-star gigs. In fact, Robbie almost scored his big break way back in 1994, when he did an episode of Family Matters that went terribly wrong. We'll just let him tell it...
"I was Steve Urkel's school nemesis, Dexter Thornhill," Laughlin tells TV Guide Online. "It was supposed to be a recurring role and I was really happy. It was really funny and I had such a great time doing it. Rumor has it Jaleel White, who played Urkel, was a little jealous of the attention I got and I never recurred again.
"The writer who wrote my part was fired as well, from what I understand," he goes on, chuckling. "That's what folklore says. Jaleel and I have never talked since."
Laughlin's illustrious pre-Queer career also includes other smaller but memorable roles. "On Cybill, I played a vapid, vacant, stupid model," he recalls, "and on Caroline in the City, I played a drag-queen prostitute, which was fun — and not far from life!"
As he toiled away on various projects, Laughlin eventually came to the attention of Straight Girl producer David Collins, who cast him as "The Look," which comprises a combo of Carson and Kyan's jobs on the original Queer Eye. "David Collins saw me on the cover of [gay consumer mag] Instinct," the looker grins. "He said he'd had my centerfold on his office wall for a year."
