Probably best known for playing Dawn Wiener in Welcome to the Dollhouse, Heather has come of age and recently became engaged to musician Carolyn Murphy. Chalk it up to love, progress and same-sex marriage in California! She takes some time to talk money, matrimony and this business of acting with Queercents. Enjoy!

1. What did growing up in Italian Catholic family teach you about money?
Growing up in an Italian Catholic family didn’t necessarily teach me about money. My mom always instilled in me that it was wiser to save then to spend, but it was great to treat myself to something once in a while.

2. Do you think being out has any impact on what you’re able to earn as an actor?
I don’t think my being out has had any financial implications positive or negative.

3. Describe one money lesson Crutch has learned from her 30-something lesbian friends on Exes and Oh’s.
Truthfully, I don’t think Crutch was open enough to learn anything.

4. You started working at a really young age. How did money play into this?
The only advantage that I had was being able to save larger amounts of money for much longer periods of time.

5. Do you plan on having one of those outrageously expensive Hollywood weddings?
There is definitely not a plan to have an outrageously expensive Hollywood wedding.

6. What is your most significant memory about money?
My most vivid memory of money is that I spent a lot of it on needless things when I was younger, but the biggest gift that I learned was that I am always going to be taken care of regardless, and to not fear success of any kind, financial or otherwise.

7. Have you ever done anything besides acting to earn money?
I worked at McDonald’s for 2 months when I was 15 to get the experience of having a “normal job” which proved to be invaluable because it made me that much more grateful for the gift I was given of being self-supporting and self-employed.

8. Is there a price attached to activism?
I do not think that I could put a price tag on the gift of being an activist. The truth is, it’s easy to reach into one’s wallet and dole out some cash, but it’s another thing entirely to take the time out and lend your voice, your experience, your hope to any given cause. There is a price we pay for being apathetic and afraid.

9. Have you ever had to take any financial risks?
Only when playing blackjack and poker.

10. How do you like to spend your money? How would Carolyn answer this question?
On Caroline, and Caroline would say the same.

More about Heather Matarazzo
Heather Matarazzo, a successful actress since her feature film debut in Welcome to the Dollhouse, which also earned her an Independent Spirit Award at the age of 12, has been captivating movie-going audiences for the past ten years. Most recently, she appeared on Showtime’s The ‘L’ Word and starred as a lead in the sequel to HOSTEL, the 2006 box office hit for Sony Screen Gems. Currently, she can be seen on Logo’s Exes and Oh’s, which premiered in October 2007.

Heather quickly followed up Dollhouse with a breakout performance in the Al Pacino thriller The Devil’s Advocate. In the following years, Heather worked on such films as 54, Getting to Know You, Scream 3, Sorority Boys, and Freshman Orientation as well as the critically acclaimed television movie, Our Guys: Outrage at Glen Ridge, in which Heather plays a mentally challenged teen who is gang raped by a group of high school students.

In 1997, Heather joined the cast of Roseanne for the final season of the smash hit show and in 1999 she began production on Now and Again, the largely successful Sci-Fi television show.

In 2001, Heather starred in Disney’s box office hit, The Princess Diaries, directed by Garry Marshall. In 2004, Heather reprised her role of Lilly in The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement. 2004 also brought the sleeper hit, Saved! where Heather joined co-stars Jena Malone, Mandy Moore and Macaulay Culkin in this comedic look at Christian subculture.

Heather currently resides in New York City.

1. What are three ways to have good style on budget?

H&M – I think it’s the most stylish place. For girls, Bitten (Sarah Jessica Parker’s line) at Steve & Barry’s. I love everything she does.

Stay away from sales. It’s all the leftover stuff. If no one wants it, stay away. You can sometimes find good stuff in a sale, but a cheap price doesn’t mean it’ll be hot.

2. What is your most significant memory about money?
One of my friends gave me a dollar when I was 16, and I wrote William on it, and I still have it.

3. What is your worst habit around finances?
My disposable income. If I want it, I’ll buy it. I don’t think twice.

4. Does fame automatically equate to fortune?
No. It gets better, but not unless you’re at the Oprah level. It’s all right, but we’re not traveling on private planes. We’re hoping, but not yet.

5. What did your parents teach you about money?
They taught me nothing about money.

6. When it comes to clothes, should people have less but love what they have more? How does it mesh with our consumerism culture?
I think people should be smart about what they buy. Definitely invest in good basics because you can build your wardrobe around it. People should be more cautious about trendy items. It’s good to be cost-conscious when it comes to trendy items because you can work them into your basics. The bottom line is to spend more money on good basics and less on trendy items you won’t wear that long.

7. How does money play a role in your life? Is debt a factor?
Money is quintessential to my living. I spent outrageous amounts on clothing and entertainment. I have a very disposable income. I still don’t have bills to pay. I spend money on expensive items that I love and cherish.

8. Do you still work at the GAP?
I do. I made $80 these last 2 weeks.

9. I read somewhere that your passion is dressing women. What are some typical fashion blunders made by lesbians? What are your suggestions for improvement?
Oversized boy jeans, oversized pants and flannel shirts. Those are the most common blunders. The lipstick lesbian usually does pretty well on her own; it’s the butch girls who have issues. Buying boys clothes alone scares me. Don’t buy boys clothes. Buy things that aren’t baggy and that fit you appropriately and have a feminine touch. They don’t have to throw on lipstick and heels, but they don’t have to look like me.

10. Money can buy a lot of clothes and accessories, but can it buy happiness?
I do believe money can buy happiness. Who’s not happy when you’re loaded? More money, more problems, true, but you have a much better time.

More about William Sledd
William Sledd is host of the “Ask a Gay Man” webisodes on Bravo’s OUTzoneTV.com. The series centers on fashion where he explains the latest trends and occasionally goes on location to point out fashion “don’ts” as part of his Fashion Victim editions.

Nina Smith blogs at Queercents, where this article originated.

Of course, when we talk work, the topic of money naturally comes up. Transgender people face challenges in coming out and living openly. This often applies to the workplace. Donna explains how this can impact earning potential and employability. Read her money talk below…

1. Why is under-employment such a significant issue facing transgender people?
It’s actually a very simple answer. Discrimination. Transgender people often make others uncomfortable so they’re not given opportunities to do jobs they’re well qualified to do.

Our society has expectations for men and women – how they look, act, and are supposed to “be” – and it doesn’t treat ambiguity in that regard kindly. Often, transgender people necessarily challenge that binary and have difficulty fitting into these neat little molds. This often manifests itself in unfortunate decisions that are made when it comes to hiring or retaining qualified talent.

I have many friends who held significant corporate roles prior to announcing their transition who ended up unemployed for many months to several years afterwards.

Look at the case of Susan Stanton, the 18-year city manager of Largo, Fla., who was fired after it became public knowledge that she was transgender. That was 18 months ago, and she has been unable to find a similar position anywhere in the country since then.

In order to make ends meet many of us find ourselves forced to take jobs (if we can get them) that are significantly below our skill level, at a significant reduction in pay. The impact that this has, not only on our ability to pay our bills but on our overall psyche, is often devastating.

What can be done to change this? Education. Gradual cultural acceptance. Continued visibility. Persistence. All are important to spotlight what is happening and to lower the barriers of discomfort that prevent many of us from realizing our career potential as transgender individuals.

2. How do you define work these days?
I am still an IT consultant. Specifically, I manage large information technology projects for Fortune 500 companies. Although I’m hopeful to find new challenges, I’m stuck right now for a couple of significant reasons.

First, I continue to pay my a significant amount of money on spousal support each month, so moving into something I’d find more fulfilling and interesting but might also involve a pay cut isn’t really an option right now.

Second, being a consultant allows more flexibility to travel and do the things I do as an advocate. That said, however, I’m actively looking for something that would align my passions as an advocate, my Diversity experience, my people skills, and my corporate background.

3. RuPaul and Mara Keisling both declined my request for an interview. Why do you think money is a taboo subject for so many people?
That may be the first time Mara and RuPaul have ever been used in the same sentence! That’s funny.

I can’t give reasons why others would deny a request for an interview – that’s their business. However, money is one of those touchy subjects like religion and politics that seems to best remain unspoken, especially if you don’t have much of it.

4. How often do you hear of trans elders having issues accessing Social Security benefits?
That’s an area I haven’t come across yet. That’s not to say it doesn’t happen, as I’m sure it does.

One of the significant concerns in our community is aging, as that opens a whole new set of concerns. What happens when we find ourselves in senior citizen housing or other situations where we may not quite fit? What about Social Security, or Medicare? What are the long-term health implications of being transgender? There are a number of concerns around aging that are just now getting visibility and need serious study.

5. What is your most significant memory about money?
I was an entrepreneur from a very young age. My father was an academic and I learned that from a young age I could color pictures and sell them to my dad’s colleagues for a nickel or a dime.

Money has always been a means to an end for me, rather than a destination. As I approached 40 years old, I was riding a very successful career and my wife and I had more money than we could imagine. We owned two homes. We bought cars with cash. We rarely worried about money. These days I, like millions of others, live paycheck to paycheck with very little savings.

This journey has taught me quite a bit about letting go of things, and certainly letting go of some of the notions I had about money and security are two particular areas I’ve had to come to peace with.

6. How does money play a role in activism and are financial resources the best way to create change?
Finances play a huge role in activism. In fact, I could argue that activism is as much about money as it is about creating change. The sad fact of the world is that things “cost,” so to be able to travel, to be able to make the proper connections, to be able to hire staff, publish materials, pay for the day-to-day expenses of doing business – it all takes money.

I am typically on boards and often organizations look to their board members as their most significant source of funding. Sometimes that involves a specific give/get financial obligation (for the Human Rights Campaign it is $50 thousand annually) which often sets the bar impossibly high for all but the most creative or affluent. There are expenses with attending board meetings and other events. All in all, I sometimes question whether I can actually afford to be on boards anymore. I just don’t have the money to make all the ends meet.

There are, of course, other roles for people to get involved in activism that don’t involve quite so much money. But fund-raising is a constant challenge for organizations so raising money is often very much part of the day-to-day workings.

7. What is the most common workplace challenge for transgender employees?
That’s a very broad question and I don’t know that there’s any one right answer. Some would say getting a job in the first place is the most common challenge. For those who are transsexual and who transition on the job things like which bathroom to use and general acceptance can be substantial challenges. I’d say that the workplace is actually full of significant challenges for transgender people that each of us will most likely experience to one degree or another.

The good news is that there are efforts to educate and tools to help overcome some of these challenges. I like to believe that we’ve come a long way in that regard. But we’ve still got a long way to go.

8. How did you teach your son the value of a dollar?
From an early age, my son learned that things cost, and that to get them involves saving. My son is 22 years old now, and is very frugal. I think that one of the main jobs of being a parent is teaching your kids how to handle money. Thankfully, my son seems to be doing that pretty well.

Of course, he always complains that he doesn’t have enough of it but that’s a complaint that I think most of us can make.

9. Can you name three companies that have made the workplace better for their transgender employees?
Actually, I can name dozens of them. Corporate America is far ahead of other areas of our culture when it comes to recognizing the unique challenges faced by transgender people.

Companies like American Express, IBM, Microsoft, and others go so far as to cover Gender Reassignment Surgery for employees under their health insurance plans. These are significant expenses many of us traditionally pay for out of pocket, putting it out of reach for most. Workplaces are doing education, they are creating guidelines to support workplace gender transitions, they are removing exclusions in their insurance packages to allow transgender people to take advantage of them, they are explicitly adding ‘gender identity and expression’ to their EEO policies to prevent discrimination.

Corporate America is leading the way in this regard.

All is not as rosy as it might seem, however. Transgender people are still not getting hired for jobs that they’re qualified to do. These policies are wonderful for transgender employees who already work there, but if a company isn’t hiring transgender people or if there are none there in the first place these policies are more window dressing than they are substance.

Also, bad things still happen even in supportive companies. There is often a disconnect between the policies that are established by senior management and those who need to enforce them. As a result transgender people still lose their jobs, they still find themselves facing subtle and not-so-subtle harassment, they still find themselves passed by for promotion.

10. If cost didn’t matter, what’s something you would buy right now?
That’s a good question. Actually, there’s not much in the way of material stuff that I need to “own” right now. The thing I’m more excited about these days are life experiences that I hope to have.

For example, I’ve never been to Europe. I’ve never even been out of North America, and Lord knows that I could use a vacation. My 50th birthday is coming up and I’m hoping to be able to do some kind of a European vacation that involves a cruise through the Greek Isles, so if I had a big chunk of money I think I’d set that up.

More about Donna Rose
Donna Rose is a nationally recognized author, speaker, and advocate for transgender and transsexual issues.

Donna’s leadership role in GLBT advocacy is extensive. She serves on the boards of several national non-profit organizations (HRC, GLAAD, NGLCC). She has an active media presence, including features in The Advocate, USA Today, Marie Claire magazine, and in CNN Money. Most recently, she participated in a 3-part series on Transgender on Entertainment Tonight.

Donna is invited to speak around the country at schools, businesses, conferences. Her website, www.donnarose.com, is a popular source of information and support for and about the transgender community.

Nina Smith blogs at Queercents.com, where this article first appeared.

1. What was your first big financial break in comedy?
I once heard David Bowie give an interview in which he said he spent years never clearing any real money: the debts he had racked up and the people he needed to work with ate up all the profits. If I remember it right, he said “Let’s Dance” was the first album from which he really made a nice chunk of change– and that was his seventeenth album… I love Bowie, and he said all that in such a casual, un-self-pitying way; I think I always knew from then on that you had to be absolutely huge to live the way most people think rock stars and tv people live all the time.

Anyway, I guess I’m saying that my first big break came the first time I was paid to do comedy, because that was the beginning of the path most artists follow, which is trying to make enough money at their craft to keep working at something they enjoy. I guess the next big break was my half-hour special from Comedy Central, which let me pay off some debts. I haven’t had my “Let’s Dance” break yet, but I do make a living doing what I enjoy, and that’s pretty great.

2. Are there economic advantages to being butch?
If there are, I hope someone will let me in on the secret.

3. What is your most significant childhood memory about money?
Having two old Volkswagen buses and riding around in the one that was working best until we could afford to fix the other, when that one would become the one that was working best… Or maybe selling our house because we couldn’t afford the taxes.

4. As an Aries, is it true your sign has you preferring fame to money?
I have no idea, I don’t know much about astrology, and I don’t crave fame or a lot of money. I want to be happy and do more good than harm, particularly environmentally.

5. How come there’s a “heap of letters from the IRS” on your desk?
Umm, it’s a joke.

6. What did your mother teach you about money?
That we didn’t have any.

7. Did you make any money from that Laughing Matters…More documentary?
Not much.

8. I understand that you just sold your home. How did you close the deal in this housing market?
I didn’t listen to anyone who said I couldn’t or shouldn’t.

9. Who should pay on the first date?
Whoever can offer without copping a resentment if the other person doesn’t have the manners to say thank you. Or go dutch.

10. Have you ever had a big fight about money?
No, but I know I’ve argued over decisions that had to be made or things that had to be missed out on because of lack of money. I don’t think most Americans actually fight over money: I think we fight because of the tensions caused by not having enough to do the things we want or even need. I also think this country has a dangerous mentality around consumerism. I think so many people here are unhappy and just chasing happiness– or unhappy BECAUSE they are chasing happiness– and we have constant input telling us a burger will make us happy, or a car, or a pair of jeans. Then you get that thing and you don’t become happy: you enjoy it, but soon you realize you’re not happy– but by then you’ve seen something else shiny that you think WILL make you happy… That mentality gives money an incredible amount of power in our society.

I believe that I have to find joy where I am– of course every moment isn’t a bowl of cherries, but if I can notice that I am healthy, or that I have a big comfy chair, or how much I love to go to the beach and swim with my dog– just try to be aware of all the little bits of joy that are there all the time. Then I can relax about money going where it needs to go and be calmer about what I can afford to do recreationally. And be sure that it is going to add to the ways I already know happiness.

So maybe that was my big financial break; realizing that I couldn’t let my happiness or idea of success depend on whether I have a big financial break…

More about Sabrina Matthews
Sabrina Matthews is an openly lesbian comic who relates the absurd in everyday life in a witty anecdotal style. “Sabrina’s brand of comedy is infectious,” says AfterEllen.com, and she “regularly draws out big laughs from both gay and straight audiences.”

Her credits include her hilarious half-hour comedy special, Comedy Central Presents Sabrina Matthews, a starring role in 2006’s hit documentary, Laughing Matters…More!, and semi-finalist in this year’s Last Comic Standing on NBC. After her television acting debut in America’s Most Wanted (yes, really), she has moved on to appear with Laura Kightlinger in IFC’s The Minor Accomplishments of Jackie Woodman, and in Margaret Cho’s 2007 film release, Bam Bam and Celeste.

Sabrina began her comedy career in the San Francisco Bay Area, and now appears regularly at clubs, colleges, cruises, and festivals around the world. On the rare days that she is home amidst the doughnut shops and dude-speak of Los Angeles, Sabrina spends her days scuba diving, teaching her dog not to eat furniture, engaging in her favorite game (Point and Laugh), and generally doing anything else to avoid rifling through the heap of letters from the IRS teetering on her desk in search of tiny, hastily scribbled comedy notes. All in comfortable shoes.

Nina Smith blogs about money at Queercents.com where this interview originally appeared. 10 money questions runs weekly on 365gay.com. 

1. You turned sixty not too long ago. How will you define retirement?
It will be synonymous with either senility or cremation, both of which I hope to avoid.

2. If you had to boil down how to build a “vast fortune” into a few simple tips, what would they be?
Start with the tongue-in-cheek quotation marks around “vast fortune,” so it’s actually within grasp, and then: (a) always live beneath your means, saving/investing as much as you can; (b) keep your transaction costs low; (c) read my book. (To save money, get it at the library.)

3. What money lessons did you learn from your parents, both directly and indirectly?
Waste not, want not. Give to those less fortunate than you. Putting kids through college is very, very expensive.

4. How did being gay play into your career pursuits?
Out of business school in 1972, I was offered a job with “the” consulting firm at the time, but I couldn’t imagine how I would ever fit in or be able to keep up the ruse. How would I socialize with the clients and their wives?

What would I say when people tried to fix me up? All those horrible things that used to so debilitate us in those days. I felt somewhat the same way about an offer to write for FORTUNE Magazine, although obviously that would have been less stressful. But in the end I decided to write for NEW YORK Magazine, which had already been very good to me, and when — quaking — I told my boss before accepting that I was gay and might want to write occasional stories related to that (albeit, presumably under a pen name). Best choice I ever made — and unbelievably fortunate to have had it to make.

5. What is your most significant memory about money?
Failing to buy 10 shares of Berkshire Hathaway at $300 a share after writing a glowing story about Warren Buffett for FORTUNE, but concluding it had “gotten a little ahead of itself” and I’d wait til it fell back. (Last I checked, it was $127,000 a share.)

6. How often do you give your partner, Charles Nolan, financial advice?
Hah. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha.

7. As DNC Treasurer, do you see money doing anything good when it comes to the political process?
Sure. Politics is tacky and all the awful things it is — but you can’t have democracy without politics, and politics requires money. That said, it’s wonderful how the balance of power is shifting away from the $500,000 and $5 million contributions (now illegal) — and even the $28,500 contributions (the current annual max to a federal political party like the DNC) — to the potential for millions of $10 and 25 and $100 and $250 contributions over the Internet.

8. Why do you think Suze Orman waited until her fifties to come out?
She did it when she was ready — and she and her partner, Kathy, have both maxed out to the DNC to be among the co-chairs of our June 26 DNC Gay & Lesbian Leadership Council dinner in New York.

So better late than never, and bully for her.

9. In an interview about ten years ago, you encouraged readers to live light on the land. How has your footstep lightened up over the last decade?
I used to have at least 1,000 watts burning most of the time. Now, with CFL’s and generally having the lights on only in the room I’m in, it’s more like 40 watts. I still have a shamelessly large footprint compared to most inhabitants of the planet; but quite modest for someone with even a tongue-in-cheek “vast fortune.”

10. What major mistake do you see young people most often making with money?
Not doing the basics: setting a goal and making a budget to reach the goal. In other words, letting life “happen” to them instead of taking control of their finances. Young people really should rush to the library and read THE ONLY INVESTMENT GUIDE YOU’LL EVER NEED. The leverage to be had from getting this perspective and starting when you’re young is *enormous.* It’s a huge mistake not to learn the basics, which are really very, very simple.

More about Andrew Tobias
Andrew Tobias, treasurer of the Democratic National Committee since 1999, is the author of THE ONLY INVESTMENT GUIDE YOU’LL EVER NEED and THE BEST LITTLE BOY IN THE WORLD, among several other books.

Over the years he has been a frequent contributor to NEW YORK, ESQUIRE, WORTH, TIME and PARADE, among others. His computer software, MANAGING YOUR MONEY, helped thousands of people take control of their finances in the early days of personal computing. In the past decade, he has posted 2,961 daily comments at andrewtobias.com. (“About fifty of them are really good,” he says, “but I forgot to flag them, so they’re hard to find.”)

Tobias is a graduate of Harvard College, where he ran the student business enterprise, and Harvard Business School. He lives in Miami and New York with his partner Charles Nolan, the designer.