Aidan Moreno: the only gay in Heartland

05 Feb 2023

For the past two years, the Canadian television drama Heartland has featured a gay character, played by British actor Aidan Moreno. Although he is ‘the only gay in the village’, which is a familiar trope with television dramas, the role allows Moreno to reach fans all across the world. On Feb 5, the show aired the final episode of its 16th season. “It’s definitely bittersweet,” Moreno told me on Zoom. “It took a lot of the year to make it so to get to share it with the fan base is great.” 

Moreno originally arrived here on a two-year work visa. “When I came to Canada, I met a man and the rest is history. Now he too is history.” But rather than flee, Moreno “fell into extra work, but I wanted to do more.” He ended up on CTV’s Jann, starring Jann Arden. “Initially I played a ‘creep in the corner’ character, and I had never done comedy before, but a lightbulb went on. Just seeing people laugh was satisfying. I would now class myself as more of a comedic actor.” 

Moreno’s charm and comedic skills led to his new job. “The character of Rick on Heartland was written with me in mind. The original show runner had seen me in Jann and just saw something in that character, so she took that and made it more family-friendly for Heartland. I’m the only and first openly gay character in the show’s sixteen-year history, and this was the fifth most-viewed show in the world in 2021.”

The success of Heartland led to other things, like a recording career. He has released two albums in the past few years. “I tried my best at pop/country and the fans responded really well. The first album got a half million streams, which is substantial, and the title track was called Heartland so it reeled the audience in.”

Though Heartland is shot out west, Moreno maintains a residence in Toronto. “I have five Pomeranians, a cat, two bunnies and a lovebird, so I am basically Doctor Doolittle.” Though he is currently not in a relationship, “for the eleven years I’ve been in this country I was married for nine of them. So, I never really got a chance to experience the gay life and culture in Toronto.” Let’s hope that changes. Moreno would be a lot of fun to hang out with at Woody’s.