If Lalo Salamanca from Better Call Saul is the most fascinating character on television, NoHo Hank from Barry might be a close second. He’s a Chechen mobster, an LGBTQIA icon, a good friend, and a surprisingly nimble dancer — he’s something for everyone. But the world was nearly deprived of Anthony Carrigan’s terrific performance after some schmucks said he wasn’t handsome enough to be an actor.
Carrigan was diagnosed with alopecia areata, which causes hair loss, when he was three years old. “There was a moment [in my early 20s] where my alopecia had progressed so much so that I had lost pretty much half [of] my scalp, both my eyebrows, [and] all my eyelashes,” he explained to People. “It really threw everyone that I was working with, and no one knew what to do with me.”
Carrigan was told by a number of people that “you’re not going to be able to do this. You’re not attractive anymore. You will fail if you try to do this.” Luckily, the 39-year-old is “one of those people that if you told me that I can’t do something, I will.”
And he did, giving us this indelible moment in TV history.
Thank you, Anthony Carrigan. Thank you, NoHo Hank. Thank you, Barry.
(Via People)