Mark Patton

Mark Patton (born September 22, 1959) is an American interior designer and actor. Beginning his professional acting career in 1982, Patton is perhaps best known for his feature film roles as Joe Qualley in the dramatic film Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean and as Jesse Walsh in the 1985 horror film A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge, a role for which he is touted as the first male scream queen in modern cinema. Patton grew up in Riverside, Missouri, and, after graduating high school, moved to New York City to pursue an acting career. Within a few years, he landed the role of Joe Qualley in the 1982 Broadway production of Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean. Patton reprised the role in the 1982 film of the same name. His character in the play and film was a pre-transition teen transgender woman. However, Patton was not allowed[by whom?] to do an interview with the LGBT-interest magazine The Advocate. Patton identified this as an early indicator of the homophobia in Hollywood at that time. In 1985, Patton landed the lead role in the horror film A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge, portraying Jesse Walsh, a teen whose body becomes possessed by Freddy Krueger. Critics and audiences noted the gay subtext of the film, something screenwriter David Chaskin initially attributed to Patton's portrayal of Jesse. However, in the 2010 documentary Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy, Chaskin acknowledged that he, himself, was responsible for the film's deliberate gay subtext.