The seemingly single gay heartthrob Zachary Quinto gets to play gay on the small screen. He is starring in Brilliant Minds a new series on NBC TV where Zachery gets to play openly gay Dr. Oliver Wolf who  also suffers from a condition known as prosopagnosia,which impairs his ability to recognize familiar faces.

Its actually based on a very real person,  Dr. Oliver Sacks, whose work and research had a huge impact on how the medical world understands and treats neurological disorders.  Although the good doctor  was renowned for his honest and open writing about his work, he remained pretty private for most of his life. In fact, he was celibate for about 35 years, and only came forward about his sexuality in his 2015 autobiography On The Move: A Life, published just a few months prior to his passing.

That’s where he and Zachery differ as he has had a few high profile romances in the past with Jonathan Groff, Miles McMillan. and (allegedly) Jesse Tyler Ferguson. 

Speaking with NBC Insider, Quinto opens up about what an honor it is to honor Sacks in this way:

“I’m deeply grateful for this experience to tell these stories and to use Oliver Sacks’ life as the origin point for those stories. Oliver Sacks was somebody who was deeply influenced by the time in which he came of age and the social restrictions on people being able to live fully who they were. So he didn’t come out until very much later in life. He ended up meeting a partner and having a really happy relationship until the end of his life. So, to play a character who is embracing that aspect of himself in the modern world, and in a way that is vital and contemporary and forward-looking, is really special.”

The series premieres on September 23rd and also stars the cast also includes Tamberla Perry, Ashleigh LaThrop, Alex MacNicoll, Aury Krebs, Spence Moore II, Teddy Sears and Donna Murphy