Cameron Monaghan premiered his street smart gay teen character Ian Gallagher Sunday on Showtime's Shameless. In a new interview, Monaghan suggested that his character isn't so different from Chris Colfer's Kurt Hummel on the Fox musical-comedy Glee.

Shameless is based on the award-winning British series of the same name broadcast on Channel 4 and stars Emmy-winning William H. Macy as the single father of six children living in Chicago. Macy's Frank Gallagher spends his days drunk, leaving his kids to fend for themselves.

Monaghan's character has been described in the media as the “anti-Kurt Hummel.”

“He's the anti-stereotype,” Monaghan told Vanity Fair of his character. “He never does anything that's stereotypically perceived as 'gay.' He's tough, he's street smart, and he's pretty much unlike any teenager on television right now.”

The 17-year-old actor, however, isn't prepared to say that the two characters don't share similarities.

“I think they're leading pretty different lives,” Monaghan told gay website AfterElton.com. “Kurt being much more open about his sexuality than Ian, while Ian is trying to hide it because he's in a neighborhood that's completely unaccepting of something like that.”

“But I think they'd definitely be able to talk about some of the struggles they've had, and they'd relate certainly on some level,” he added.