He had them at mango salsa

When Luke MacFarlane's endearing character of Scotty sat down to dinner for the first time with the Walker clan on "Brothers & Sisters," it was a big outdoor party scene where Sally Field's Nora had just humiliated her late husband's mistress Holly (Patricia Wettig). The tension was incredibly high until Scotty piped up and asked, "Is this salsa mango?

Scotty Wandell and Kevin Walker (Matthew Rhys) had instant chemistry from the minute the financially struggling waiter-turned-chef walked into his law office on a legal matter. He cut through Kevin's veneer with quirky humor and charm and you knew he had Kevin's heart when he bit into a red velvet cupcake and smiled at the end of one of their early episodes.

"My whole experience on the show started off as just a few episodes and it's just become more and more and more and I'm so grateful for that," Luke told me Monday night when we chatted before the start of the "A Conversation With Brothers & Sisters" event at the Television Academy in North Hollywood. Luke, 28, was among the 12 cast members who participated as he was recently promoted from recurring character to full-fledged series regular: "They are making a regular for season three. It's very, very nice. We all know in television it's hard to get a gig that lasts for a long time so when the agent calls up and says, 'You're guaranteed these number of episodes you feel very, very lucky."

Luke, who studied drama at Julliard, was previously best-known for his role as Pvt. Frank "Dim" Dumphy in the series "Over There." The Canadian actor had never given any interviews about his personal life until discussing his sexuality for the first time in an interview with the Canadian newspaper The Globe and Mail a few weeks ago 2008. He decided to share that not only is he playing a gay man on TV, but he is a gay man in life.

"It's been relatively simple for me," he said of the increased spotlight. "I'll say that I decided to do that interview, I decided to answer those questions in an effort to make my life simpler and that's going to contunue to be my motto. So, I'll have to say, it hasn't been that hot a light on me at all."

Even though through much of show's first season the writers had Kevin struggling with commitment issues and go on to have relationships with a closeted soap actor (Jason Lewis) and a minister (Eric Winter), Scotty had been a fan favorite from his first scene and audiences wanted to see he and Kevin together.

Said Luke: "Well, I do know that the fans had a lot to do with Scotty staying around as long as he has so I'm grateful for them."

I mention to him that now that Scotty is getting more airtime, the fans now want to get to know Luke himself a little better. He laughed a bit nervously and said, "In time."

We look forward to it.

Next month, in the season finale of his hit television series Brothers & Sisters, Canadian actor Luke Macfarlane [sic] will dress his best and say his vows as his character, Scotty Wandell, marries his partner, Kevin Walker.

It's an episode the London, Ont.-born actor is looking forward to, on may levels: It's one of the few shows on network television to portray a gay marriage between two main characters - a feat the 28-year-old actor is quite proud of, from a professional perspective. But the episode also holds personal resonance for Macfarlane, who wants to be married himself some day, and has finally decided to go public with his own sexual orientation.

Though no secret to his family and close friends, Macfarlane has, until now, been guarded about his personal life as a gay man. Over lunch in Los Angeles, where he lives, he initially insists that he has no concerns about his public revelation - but a few seconds later he is shifting nervously in his chair, and concedes that he is "terrified."

"I don't know what will happen professionally ... that is the fear, but I guess I can't really be concerned about what will happen, because it's my truth.

"There is this desire in L.A. to wonder who you are and what's been blaring for me for the last three years is how can I be most authentic to myself - so this is the first time I am speaking about it in this way."

The episode, which started shooting yesterday and will air on May 11 on ABC and Global, is a monumental step in television culture, he says.

"From a standing outside perspective, and also as someone who is gay, I think that it's a very exciting time. How exciting that we're saying, 'This can be part of the cultural fabric, now,' because it is two series regulars, two people that you invite into your home and you see every week. It's telling of the beginning of more waves and I'm very proud of that. "He does, however, note that a certain irony still exists: While a show featuring a gay marriage may be an important step toward building tolerance, it's still an attention-grabber in today's television world.

"Most importantly, in portraying gay people, the more we realize it's just like portraying anybody else and, gay marriage, it's not about two people being gay, it's about two people who love each other and who have decided to commit to each other for the exact same reasons any other couple would get married. Hopefully, the more that becomes part of the cultural awareness it won't be," he pauses and says, employing a mock, exaggerated voice of a television announcer, "a spectacular Sunday episode."

Sitting on the patio of an exclusive Hollywood hotel, wearing a grey T-shirt and red jacket, Macfarlane says he does intend to keep a certain amount of his life private. Asked if he is currently in a relationship, his answer is quick: "That is my personal life. That is where I draw the difference." He does allow though, that he would like to be married some day.

Macfarlane's road to Hollywood was relatively smooth, and mostly free of bit parts and day jobs most struggling actors undergo. Growing up with two sisters (one of which is his fraternal twin), he attended London Central Secondary School, where he was interested in maths and sciences, briefly toiling with the thought of following in his father's footsteps and becoming a doctor. He spent his summers in Cedar Springs, Ont., exploring the wilderness with friends. At Lester B. Pearson School For The Arts, Macfarlane decided to change his course.

"I was in a band when I was in high school and I was bitten by the performance bug, if anything else. I had this notion that maybe I wanted to be an actor. ... I thought it might be a neat career. I thought if I was going to try that, I should shoot for the best and I auditioned for Julliard.

"I was the only Canadian at Juilliard at the time," he says. "When you go somewhere different, you immediately have to determine yourself ... everyone made fun of me because I was like, 'I am Canadian' and it was a way to create my identity through separation, which I think a lot of Canadians do. There's a kind of integrity to being an observer of a culture. I think Canadians have that privilege innately. We are like the observers of the American culture."

Barely out of Juilliard, he was cast in off-Broadway plays, the Robert Altman miniseries Tanner on Tanner, the 2004 film Kinsey and a starring role in the 2005 Steven Bochco television series Over There. It was his stint in theatre that landed him his current television role - Brothers & Sisters creator Jon Robin Baitz saw Macfarlane on stage in the show Where Do We Live, and asked him to play Scotty Wandell, originally a guest-starring role which grew into a regular part.

"Roles tend to pick me. That's sort of where I am in my career. I've always been very lucky, especially in TV, which is something that really interests me. ... I don't turn my nose up at it like a lot of people do. There are very few things that 13 million people tune in to witness, so television is a really relevant and powerful thing."

Though he will soon be seen in the CBC miniseries Iron Road alongside Peter O'Toole and Sam Neill, Macfarlane, has little free time to pursue other roles at the moment. "[ABC] bought and paid for me as a series regular," he says with a smile, "so I will be there for a long, long time."

Actor Luke Macfarlane [sic] is the first to admit he's been lucky.

"Of course, you need talent and hard work -- and I work damned hard -- but it's naive to think that good fortune doesn't play a pretty big part in this business," says the 25-year-old London native, who has a major role in Over There.

The new FX series, which begins its Canadian debut run on History Television on Tuesday night, focuses on a group of American soldiers on their first tour of duty in Iraq.

Over There producer Steven Bochco, whose list of TV hits includes Hill Street Blues, L.A. Law and NYPD Blue, auditioned hundreds of young actors before choosing Macfarlane to play soldier Frank (Dim) Dumphy.

"My character's a smart, intellectual, compassionate guy who finds himself stuck in this war," explains Macfarlane. "I figure I got the role because I wanted and needed the job so darned desperately. Being broke makes you real determined."

Macfarlane, a 2003 graduate of Juilliard Drama Division, attended the elite New York City theatre school's four-year program on a scholarship.

"The most important thing I learned at Julliard is how important theatre can be," he recalls. "I was surrounded by people, both students and teachers, who have devoted their whole lives and careers to the art of acting.

After appearing in several off-Broadway productions, Macfarlane's career was jump-started last year when he won his first feature film assignment in Kinsey. He was cast as Bruce, the son of sex researcher Alfred Kinsey (Liam Neeson) and his wife, Clara, played by Laura Linney, another Julliard drama grad.

"Working with them and a fantastic director like Bill Condon was an invaluable learning experience for me," he says.

Macfarlane got his first stage assignment while attending Lester B. Pearson School for the Performing Arts. He and his Grade 8 classmates Graeme Cornies and Nate Kreiswirth formed the rock band Slipnaught, which became Fellow Nameless, and is now called van A. Primer.

"We were a progressive, alternative rock group with a pop element added," says Macfarlane. "I was just the guy acting like the band's lead singer. Graeme and Nate were the real musical talents."

"That's definitely not true," counters Kreiswirth. "Luke's got an extremely beautiful, emotionally strong and honest singing voice and a very good ear for music. He was also an animated guy onstage and I wasn't surprised when he decided to go to Julliard and become an actor."

Nor was the actor's father, Dr. Tom Macfarlane, the director of student health services at the University of Western Ontario.

"Luke was always a creative, entertaining kid and kept telling us he was going to be either a scientist or an actor," says the senior Macfarlane, adding that his son refused to allow a learning disability to keep him from being a good student.

"He's dyslexic and it blew me away to see him staying up into the wee hours of the morning, struggling to read and learn things." his father recalls. "He was also a pretty adventuresome character, doing things on the edge, which didn't endear him to us, like going mountainbiking on the side of a cliff or swimming in the Colorado River."

While attending Central secondary school, Macfarlane encountered Ann MacMillan, the drama teacher who became his mentor.

"That's when I fell in love with theatre. Ann treated her students like professionals and got me thinking about an acting career. She really encouraged me to go to New York and audition for Julliard."

At Central, Macfarlane co-starred in several school shows with his twin sister and best friend, Ruth.

"We both loved performing, but Luke had much more ambition than me and the passion, drive and inner strength it takes to succeed in show business," says Ruth Macfarlane, manager of the Waltzing Weasel, a London bar and restaurant. "I always knew Luke would be famous some day."

His mother, Penny Macfarlane, a mental health nurse at a London hospital, realized her son's acting potential the first time she saw him perform in a high school show.

"He just had this charisma about him and just lit up the stage. Luke has got 'the gift' and knows how to use it," she says.

The pursuit of his dream has taken Macfarlane from his hometown London to New York and now to Los Angeles.

"I've got one of the best jobs in the world," says the young actor, but he's also aware of the challenges success creates.

"The hardest thing about this business is that the more you have, or achieve, the more fear there is of losing it. There's this huge pressure to keep improving and going to that next step.

"For instance, being in Over There is a wonderful thing, but, at the same time, I don't want it to be the highlight of my career."