As Wilmette-born actor Nico Tortorella and his partner were trying to have their first baby, he was getting ready to make a queer indie film with fatherhood at its center.
“The Mattachine Family,” available for sale or rent Tuesday on streaming platforms, shares the story of a gay couple dealing with loss after their foster child is returned to his birth mother.
Thomas and Oscar — played by Tortorella and Juan Pablo Di Pace — adjust in different ways, with Oscar diving into his career and moving to Michigan to film a new show while Tortorella’s character struggles to figure out what’s next.
Tortorella said working on the film was a healing experience that taught him about parenthood. Tortorella’s first child was born in 2023, and the couple recently announced they’re expecting another.
“There was some divine timing in action here,” Tortorella said. “ And I am forever grateful. Thomas prepared me in so many ways to be a father.”
Throughout the film, Thomas finds himself surrounded by people building families of their own while he’s still unsure if he wants to give parenthood another go. Thomas’ college best friend, played by Emily Hampshire (“Schitt’s Creek”), is on an in vitro fertilization journey. He also befriends two parents — a single woman and her gay best friend — who used IVF to have a child that they’re co-parenting.
Tortorella was drawn to the script because it showed the many forms family can take for queer people, he said.
“There’s no one correct version of the dream or the desire,” Tortorella said. “And I really think this is a story about queer people, yes, but it’s a story for everyone.”
Much like Thomas’ outlook on life is changed by becoming a father in “the Mattachine Family,” Tortorella says parenthood has been “transformational,” both in his personal life and artistic career.
In April, Tortorella released his debut album and first children’s book, both written in anticipation of his first child, he said.
The nine-track album, “Born.” started as what Tortorella imagined would be the soundtrack to his partner’s at-home birth experience, but the music took on a greater life as he used it to explore his transition into fatherhood, he said.
Tortorella got the idea to create an album after recording some music while playing a musician in “City on Fire,” an Apple TV show adapted from the New York Times bestseller by Garth Risk Hallberg.
Tortorella’s children’s book, “Olivette is You,” was inspired by his desire to instill in his children that they can be anything they want to be, he said.
“How special it is to create life but also create a body of work that is musical and visual all at the same time,” Tortorella said. “It’s in all of my work [and] I bring a different energy to every single script that I read and every audition I do.
“I didn’t know it would be this transformational,” Tortorella said. “I no longer am putting myself first; it’s just impossible. And to be able to live and create for someone else is just remarkable.”
Tortorella grew up north of Chicago and attended New Trier High School, later moving to the city and attending Columbia College in 2006. That’s where he met his partner, Bethany Meyers. He moved to Los Angeles a year later to briefly study business at Loyola Marymount University before his entertainment career took off.
Tortorella’s first show was “The Beautiful Life: TBL,” a 13-episode series about a group of models in New York City. That led to a series of acting gigs leading to 2014, when he was cast in Darren Star’s comedy-drama “Younger” as Sutton Foster’s character’s love interest.
While living in Chicago, Tortorella did a lot of on-camera and theater work, including starring in a 2003 production of “Over the Tavern” at the Mercury Theater. So it was a “homecoming” moment for Tortorella when “the Mattachine Family” opened Reeling: the Chicago LGBTQ+ International Film Festival in September at the Music Box Theatre, just a few doors down from the Mercury, he said.
“[Chicago] is the first city that I ever know and will always hold such a special place in my heart,” Tortorella said.
“The Mattachine Family” had been on the festival circuit for the last few years, so Tortorella said he’s looking forward to its release.
“I don’t know that I’ve ever been more proud of my work as an actor than I am of this,” Tortorella said. “It was like an emotional Olympics ... and for it to come out in this way now feels really important and special.”
