Meet Erich Bergen, Madam's Helper

As the saying goes, behind every great woman is a gay man. Case in point: CBS's Madam Secretary. In the addictive political drama, Tea Leoni plays a steely, Hillary Clinton-esque secretary of state, who, jetting between world capitals, manages to avert one international catastrophe after another. But it's her assistant Blake Moran, played by Erich Bergen, who really holds things together.

"He's the sort of person that runs to get coffee but also communicates between her and the president. She trusts him implicitly, even with her family," explains the 30-year-old New Yorker, best known for playing Bob Gaudio in both the stage and screen versions of Jersey Boys. "But what makes him interesting is what he hides. We don't know a lot about him. He keeps his private life private." Not that Blake is closeted -- it's more that he subscribes to a certain workplace propriety. "He's the type who was taught not to discuss politics at the dinner table -- remember that?" says Bergen.

Still, it's 2016, and when it comes to queer rights, Blake can only hold his tongue for so long. In one particularly poignant storyline, a gay man named Izad Ahmadi is about to be stoned to death, and the ensuing HRC protest threatens to derail a long-sought peace treaty with Iran. "The optics won't be good," one of the secretary's advisers callously observes. Blake, who's been standing by silently, can't help but blurt out, "Especially for Mr. Ahmadi." He quickly apologizes, but the room has already been stunned into silence. "Once in a while, he interjects something related to his sexuality," says Bergen, "because it's morally important."