TV Surfing

Justin Suarez (Mark Indelicato)

Age: 14 years old
Gender: Male
Occupation: Elementary Student
Relationships:
	Father: Family Santos (possibly deceased) Mother: Hilda Suarez Maternal Aunt: Betty Suarez Maternal Grandfather: Ignacio Suarez Maternal Grandmother: Rosa Suarez Maternal Great-Grandmother: Yolanda Sálazar Maternal Great Aunt: Mirta Maternal First Cousin-in-Law: Clara (once removed)
* First appeared on September 28, 2006 in the episode Pilot.

Background

Justin lives with his mother Hilda, Aunt Betty, and his grandfather. While Hilda tries to convince Betty to try a line of work other than the fashion industry, Justin supports Betty and convinces her to continue and pursue her dreams.

Justin is quite fashion conscious and exhibits model-like behavior, such as commenting on his own body image and being food conscious. This behavior concerns Hilda, who would rather see Justin act more like a "normal" boy, however, in the episode "Lose the Boss" his mother says to Justin's homophobic father Santos, "He's comfortable with who he is and so am I."

Justin is a straight-A student with an interest in performing arts and home economics. He is a fan of Fashion TV and idolizes Martha Stewart and Gene Kelly. His knowledge about the fashion industry, from reading MODE and watching Fashion TV, is one of the reasons his aunt influences him.

In the season 1 finale, Justin plays Tony in his school's production of West Side Story; he won the role after putting walnuts in his sandwich that he gave to the actual lead after Justin learned that he had an allergy to products that contain nuts. As he is on stage, Justin sings the interludes while everyone's story temporarily concludes the season. As he dies on stage, Santos, his father, is shot, and possible killed, during a hold-up in a convenience store, and Betty tells Hilda about the sad news. Justin was still unaware of Santos' shooting as the season ended.

Personal Life

The character of Justin is certainly different from most boys his age, and he has been the subject of much media speculation concerning his sexuality, although there has been no definitive statement on the subject either on the show or from the show runners. If he is gay, Justin would be one of the youngest gay characters ever presented on a prime time television program in the US. A February 7, 2007, piece in USA Today said on the subject,

Justin's sexuality has never been addressed on the show, but Betty creator Silvio Horta, who is gay and came out to his Cuban-American family at age 19, says the character will experience "the journey" as he matures. "I see myself in him," Horta says. "Growing up, I certainly felt like an outsider at times. But there's this sweet innocence in Justin that sees the positive.

Indelicato also states in the same USA Today article that he avoids websites, forums and blogs because of the negative feedback and remarks made towards his character on the show.

Indelicato himself has said about Justin, "My fan mail is mostly kids, especially kids that don't really fit in and people don't really understand them. They go, 'Thank you, because you're helping me to be understood by my peers,' and anybody else who doesn't understand them."

Connections

Santos - Justin's father; Ignacio, Justin's maternal grandfather, would rather see Santos stay away from the family because of his gambling problems and not having been there for Hilda and Justin throughout Justin's life. He was shot, and possibly killed, after trying to save a clerk at a convenience store. (We won't know until the second season if he has died.)
Marc St. James - Betty's co-worker at MODE; Marc has taken a liking to Justin as he knows what he is going through. The two often discuss fashion and Marc usually gives Justin advice on how to deal with the kids who bully him at school "Learn to run really fast."
Christina McKinney - Betty's co-worker at MODE; She thinks Justin is adorable.
Daniel Meade - Betty's boss at MODE; Justin is a fan.
Wilhelmina Slater - Justin idolizes her glamor and style. Justin escorted her around Fashion Week while subbing for Marc, telling her who she was talking to, their outfit and what was wrong with it. Wilhelmina thanked him and mistakenly called him Jason to which Justin replied, "Actually, it's Justin but you can call me whatever you want, I love you!"