James Conrad "Jim" Verraros (born February 8, 1983) is an American singer/actor and native of Crystal Lake, Illinois who is most notable for being one of the top 10 finalists in the first season of American Idol. Because he was raised by deaf parents, he is fluent in American Sign Language.

On September 6, 2009, Verraros married his boyfriend Bill Brennan in a small ceremony in Illinois.

Biography

Verraros was born on February 8, 1983 and grew up in Crystal Lake, Illinois. His father is Greek and both of his parents are deaf. Verraros is fluent in American Sign Language. The added responsibility of having to interpret for his parents led Verraros to relating more with people older than him, than those his own age. He discovered that he is gay when he was around twelve or thirteen years old, and his sexuality led to him being bullied during middle school. High school marked an improvement for him - he became active in theater and went on to attend Monmouth College on a theater scholarship. Upon later transferring to Columbia College, he struggled to find acting opportunities. He has attributed this struggle to the "political" nature of theater. Insecure about his image, he began working on his weight and became a vegetarian. Over the course of two and a half months, he lost eighty pounds. Some people thought that he developed an eating disorder, and in retrospect, Verraros has said that he probably did.

Prior to competing on American Idol, Verraros kept an online journal, in which he was open about being gay. The Advocate, an American LGBT-interest magazine, discovered this journal and contacted Fox with a request to interview Verraros. One day later, the journal was deleted. Verraros publicly came out to the magazine in a January 2003 interview. He commented that the website was removed because Fox did not want him to gain an unfair advantage over the other contestants - the network had feared that people might vote for him on the basis of his sexual orientation. Verraros was open about his sexuality with the other American Idol finalists, whom he described as being very supportive. He came out to his mother and sister before auditioning for the show. However, he did not come out to his father until the time of the American Idol tour.

Another LGBT-interest magazine, Out, listed Verraros as one of 2002's Most Intriguing People. Verraros participated in the 2005 Los Angeles and Chicago Gay Pride parades. He also participated in a Kansas City pride parade with American Idol season two third place finalist Kimberley Locke.

In 2005, Verraros met Bill Brennan through Myspace. After learning that they only lived twenty minutes away from each other, the two of them decided to meet in person. Four years later, on September 6, 2009, they married each other in their home state of Illinois - despite gay marriage being illegal there.