Buffy The Vampire Slayer 's Tom Lenk has said it's "an honour" and "a privilege" to be regarded as an LGBTQ+ role model following his time in the show.
Buffy was ground-breaking in its portrayal of LGBTQ+ characters.
In the late 90s, when main character Willow's ( Alyson Hannigan ) sexuality was first explored, LGBTQ+ representation in the media was practically non-existent.
The show's writers received a lot of pushback from the networks for showing a lesbian relationship, but continued with Tara and Willow's love story.
Joss Whedon, the show's creator, later revealed that Tom's character, Andrew Wells, was also gay.
In an exclusive interview with Mirror Online, Tom, 46, said: "If someone can look back, and if the LGBTQ community was projecting onto me in any way, then what an honour!
"What a privilege to get to be a role model, to see somebody like you on screen."
To this day, the show continues to gain a legion of fans, despite first hitting our screens 25 years ago.
Tom said: "The show took a group of people who felt other, who felt like outcasts and, I think that still resonates.
"It’s not like we’ve moved on and in high school everyone is just okay, everyone’s popular and everything’s fine.
"There’s still people who feel different and want to be accepted, but also want to find other people like them to latch onto and make them their chosen family."
Tom has appeared in a range of TV shows and stage productions, most recently finding a loyal audience on Instagram where he posts short comedy clips of himself dressed up in various characters.
One of his most famous videos saw him imitate celebrity red carpet looks, which has now been recreated by many of his fans.
Tom said he created this to try and highlight the absurdities of "curated Instagram feeds and filters.
"It's all about trying to make yourself as perfect as possible but, what if we stopped trying to be perfect all the time? Overthinking kills the magic sometimes."
He added: "I eventually stopped making the outfits because I got kind of bored of it and a little over celebrity culture."
The award-winning actor is getting ready to perform at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival with a new show, Lottie Plachett Took a Hatchet.
The performance focuses on the infamous murder case of Lizzie Borden, who became something of an iconic figure after she was accused of murdering her parents in the 1800s.
Tom, who plays Lottie's brother, described the play as a "queer parody of the famous tale."
"It's like if The Muppets were doing a production of The Crucible. It's out there, it's crazy," he added.
"It’s satirical in the way that it points out how women were treated at the time and it draws a lot of parallels as to what’s happening in America right now.
" It’s using that oldy-timey vibe to really point out what’s still messed up about modern times."
Tom Lenk will be appearing in Lottie Plachett Took A Hatchet at Assembly Roxy (Upstairs), 8.35pm, 4-27 August (not 17)
