Still Going Strong: Wannabe actor Rudy Galindo believes he has some ice time left

Rudy Galindo joins his fellow skaters during the Champions on Ice Summer Tour.

      Rudy Galindo, the first openly gay figure skater and the oldest to win the United States Nationals championship, would like to make a career in acting.
      The only trouble is Galindo's gay orientation and skills as an ice skater have typecast him in front of the camera.
      Earlier this year, Galindo appeared in an episode of the sitcom "Will & Grace" as -- guess what? -- a gay ice skater.
      And a recent bit he did for HBO's series "Arli$$" has Galindo playing a skater who coaches young skaters at the Olympic level.
      Still, Galindo, who will be skating Sunday during the Champions on Ice show at the MGM Grand Garden, got his Screen Actors Guild card two months ago and has his agent looking for parts.
      One of them fittingly would be playing the part of a gay figure skater who encounters hardships and yet triumphs. Call it "The Rudy Galindo Story."
      Born Val Joe in San Jose, Calif., in 1969, Galindo got the nickname Rudy from his father. He caught the skating bug at age 8 when he would follow his older sister Laura, who had dreams of being a figure skater, to the local ice arena.
      Laura quit skating when Rudy showed talent on the ice and the family could not support two skaters.
      Today, she is his coach.
      "She works on my jumps," says Galindo, who maintains that there's no sibling rivalry on Laura's part when it comes to his career. "She'll always be there for me."
      When he was 13, Galindo teamed with Kristi Yamaguchi, who was 11 at the time, and they became the first American pair to win the junior world gold medal.
      Rudy also was the U.S. pairs champion with Yamaguchi in 1989 and 1990, as well as the world junior pairs champion in 1988. He is one of only five men ever to hold national titles in both singles and pairs.
      There were hardships ahead, however. Yamaguchi abandoned Galindo in 1990, when they were a hot act on the ice and looking toward to Olympic competition, to go solo.
      Not long after Yamaguchi dropped him, Galindo's coaches, Jim Hulick and Richard Inglesi, died of AIDS. In 1993, his father died of a heart attack, and his brother George died of AIDS in 1994.
      Galindo's life, which he detailed in the 1996 book "Icebreaker," went into a tailspin and he almost gave it all up. But his sister encouraged him to get back on the ice and compete again.
      In 1996, Galindo finished his amateur career in high fashion winning a gold medal before the hometown crowd at the 1996 U.S. National Championships. He was 26, and held the distinction of being the oldest gold medalist in 70 years.
      He went on to the world championships in 1997 where he won the bronze medal. He has been skating with Champions on Ice ever since.
      His routine Sunday promises to be flamboyant. Clad in a sailor suit, Galindo will "gyrate and strip down to a tank top" to three Village People tunes -- "Macho Man," "In the Navy" and "YMCA."
      Now almost 30, Galindo believes he has a little skating left in those aging legs. "If I keep providing great routines and my body holds up, I'll keep doing this for a while longer," Galindo says.
      Skaters scheduled to perform in Champions on Ice include Michelle Kwan, Oksana Baiul, Elizabeth Manley, Surya Bonaly, Maria Butyrskaya, Nicole Bobek, Naomi Nari Nam, Brian Boitano, Viktor Petrenko, Todd Eldredge, Philippe Candeloro, Michael Weiss, Laurent Tobel, Alexei Yagudin, Evgeni Plushenko and Alexei Urmanov.
      Dance teams include Marina Klimova and Sergei Ponomarenko, Elizabeth Punsalan and Jerod Swallow, Anjelika Krylova and Oleg Ovsiannikov, Marina Anissina and Gwendal Peizerat, Shae-Lynn Bourne and Victor Kraatz and Maya Usova and Evgeny Platov.
      Pairs skaters include Oksana Kazakova and Artur Dmitriev, Elena Bereznaya and Anton Sikharulidze and Mandy Woetzel and Ingo Steuer.
      The cast of skaters is subject to change because of injury or other circumstances.
     
      Preview
     
      What: Champions on Ice Summer Tour
      When: 7:30 p.m. Sunday
      Where: MGM Grand Garden, 3799 Las Vegas Blvd. South
      Tickets: $35-$65