Leo Fitzpatrick is an artist and actor who first caught public attention as Telly in Larry Clark’s controversial 1995 film Kids.
Kids is a 1995 American independent coming-of-age drama film directed by Larry Clark and written by Harmony Korine in their directorial and screenwriting debuts, respectively. It stars Leo Fitzpatrick, Justin Pierce and Chloë Sevigny in their film debuts. Fitzpatrick, Pierce, Sevigny, and other newcomers including Rosario Dawson portray a group of teenagers in New York City.
They are characterized as libertines, who engage in sexual acts and recreational substance abuse, over the course of a single day. Ben Detrick of the New York Times has described the film as “Lord of the Flies with skateboards, nitrous oxide and hip-hop. There is no thunderous moral reckoning, only observational detachment.” The film caused controversy upon its release in 1995 over its treatment of the subject matter. It received an NC-17 rating from the MPAA, but was released without a rating. Critical response was mixed, and the film grossed $20.4 million on a $1.5 million budget. It is now considered a cult classic.
Leo Fitzpatrick’s performance earned him both acclaim and harassment, as some viewers confused him with his character and even blamed him for the film’s fictional misdeeds. Aside from acting, Fitzpatrick co‐founded the experimental New York gallery Home Alone Gallery in 2012, later becoming a co-director at the Marlborough Chelsea gallery in Manhattan. His gallery Public Access provided an accessible approach to art to both the viewers and artists that was less common within the New York gallery space.