Biography
In keeping with the film's aura of all-too-gritty authenticity, Leo Fitzpatrick had no professional acting experience when he was cast as one of the leads in
Larry Clark's controversial first feature
Kids (1995). One of the New York teens who hung out in the same downtown "skater" milieu as
Kids screenwriter
Harmony Korine, Fitzpatrick was recruited to play Telly, the self-professed "Virgin Surgeon" and unknowing AIDS carrier. With his callow looks, foul mouth, and hardened self-confidence, Fitzpatrick's Telly was the ultimate adolescent nightmare; or, in Clark and Korine's view, simply a sign of the 1990s times. Critics split over whether the unrated
Kids was a fiction-verité classic or vile exploitation, but all agreed that the untrained Fitzpatrick had created a memorable brute. Fitzpatrick disappeared from the acting radar until he played a bit part in Clark's next feature
Another Day in Paradise (1998); he subsequently guest starred on
The Practice in 2000.
By 2001, Fitzpatrick landed roles in more mainstream films as well as art house fare. While he played supporting roles in
Rebecca Miller's Sundance Film Festival prizewinner
Personal Velocity (2001) and Clark's second troubled teen story
Bully (2001),
Fitzpatrick also appeared in the short-lived summer comedy
Bubble Boy (2001) and the fluffy
John Cusack-
Kate Beckinsale romance
Serendipity (2001). Unlike several other cast members, Fitzpatrick's role survived the editing process for Solondz's
Storytelling (2002), which made the festival rounds in 2001 before its early 2002 release. Appearing in the caustic "Fiction" portion, Fitzpatrick made the most of his screen time as a cerebral palsy-afflicted college student whose girlfriend discovers the depths of their writing professor's sadism. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide