10 Straight Actors Whose Gay Rol We Actually Loved

Contents:

• SHOULD STRAIGHT ACTORS STILL PLAY GAY CHARACTERS? 'IT'S PLITED'
• THE BATE ABOUT STRAIGHT ACTORS PLAYG GAY CHARACTERS MISS THE POT
• WHY STRAIGHT MEN ARE EXCLIVELY CAST GAY ROL
• LET’S SETTLE THIS: CAN STRAIGHT ACTORS PLAY GAY ROL?
• SHOULD STRAIGHT ACTORS PLAY GAY ROL? A STAR TV WRER SAYS NO
• ‘CALL ME BY YOUR NAME’ DIRECTOR DEFENDS CASTG STRAIGHT ACTORS GAY ROL
• STANLEY TUCCI SAYS HE THKS STRAIGHT ACTORS SHOULD BE ABLE TO PLAY GAY CHARACTERS
• RSELL T DAVI FENDS NOT STG STRAIGHT ACTORS GAY ROL
• STANLEY TUCCI SAYS HE HAS 'DIFFICULTY' WH ARGUMENT THAT GAY CHARACTERS SHOULD ONLY BE PLAYED BY LGBTQ ACTORS

SHOULD STRAIGHT ACTORS STILL PLAY GAY CHARACTERS? 'IT'S PLITED'

In early December, Netflix dropped s highly anticipated mil edy “The Prom, ” starrg Meryl Streep, Nile Kidman, Andrew Rannells and Jam Corn as fadg Broadway stars who set out to help a lbian teen take her girliend to the film, helmed by out director Ryan Murphy, got mixed reviews, but some lambasted as “homophobic” and “offensive” bee of the stg of Corn, a straight actor, what they saw as an “aggrsively flamboyant” riture of a gay character, Barry Glickman, is a narcissistic theater actor who dons sparklg tuxedo jackets, talks wh a stereotypil gay lisp while flailg his hands around and scrib himself as “gay as a bucket of wigs. "Melda Sue Gordon / NetflixErik Anrson, who ns the film se Awards Watch, lled “The Prom” a “geo and vibrant productn” but tweeted that Corn’s “performance is gross and offensive, the worst gayface a long, long time. ” It was the first time an openly gay actor played a gay character a leadg role a TV part “helped fluence a whole generatn of people who beme wrers and actors and ntent creators, who wanted to see more people like Ricky, more LGBTQ people of lor, and I thk we're seeg the benef of that today, ” said Cz, who served as executive producer of Apple TV’s "Visible: Out on Televisn, ” a 2020 doceri about the history of the LGBTQ movement through the lens of Amerin Cz ma his but “My So Called Life, ” televisn has been creasgly hirg LGBTQ actors to play LGBTQ characters.

In 2020 alone, queer actor Kristen Stewart played a lbian Hulu’s Christmas rom- “Happit Season, ” out actors Sarah Plson and Cynthia Nixon played love terts Ryan Murphy’s Netflix seri “Ratched, ” gay actor Dan Levy played a queer character the Emmy-wng Canadian show “Scht’s Creek"and several openly gay actors starred the Netflix adaptn of the Tony Award-wng queer play “The Boys the Band. He said the movie bs is “a very heterosexual bs” that’s “n mostly by heterosexual men” and lamented that straight actors takg gay rol has a stiflg effect on gay actors who, like him, are no longer nsired for heterosexual parts.

Most notably, perhaps, Tom Hanks, who won an Amy Award for his portrayal of a gay man dyg of AIDS the 1993 film “Philalphia, ” and Hilary Swank, who won the Osr for her performance as transgenr man Brandon Teena the 1999 film “Boys Don’t Cry. ” The amy also nomated actors Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal for their rol the 2005 gay wboy film “Brokeback Mounta, ” Jared Leto for his portrayal of a trans woman the 2013 film “Dallas Buyers Club, ” actor Cate Blanchett for her role the 2015 lbian romantic drama “Carol” and Eddie Redmayne for his portrayal of a trans woman the 2015 film “The Danish Girl. Kane said she has worked wh some patients who felt nfed bee they intified as gay but didn't act like the gay characters they saw on problem here, she said, is that some of the actors lean to stereotyp, perpetuatg them.

THE BATE ABOUT STRAIGHT ACTORS PLAYG GAY CHARACTERS MISS THE POT

She remembers when Matt Bomer – a cisgenr man who intifi as gay — was st the small budget film "Anythg" as a transgenr woman 2017, replacg a trans actrs who was origally st the role before the stud wanted a bigger name. "It's almost rctive to say straight actors n't play gay characters bee that impli an 'otherg' of gay people, or that gay people are so fundamentally different than straight people that one uld never play the other. However, there needs to be a distctn between actors who put effort to takg the LGBTQ rol serly, and the actors — like Corn "The Prom" — who perhaps jt relied heavily on stereotyp to portray a gay character.

This go to show that the issue is nuanced and plex: Jt bee a project do st some queer actors queer rol and has a queer person at the helm (Murphy is openly gay), that don’t mean ’s exempt om cricism or there to be staed and staable change, ’s sential to have LGBTQ+ people cisn-makg posns. Bee of that, she utns speakg absolut about straight people not playg queer rol, which might give journalists license to ask actors if they’re gay and put prsure on someone to e out before they’re ready. "All of those issu are important to me at once, and I thk that we n advote for all of them at once bee ultimately we want our media to be an accurate reflectn of the world which we live, " they Billy Eichner, who is gay, told Deadle earlier this year that Hollywood was "so hypocril"  how treats LGBTQ actors, that many attend fundraisers for the muny but fail to tell LGBTQ stori wh LGBTQ actors.

WHY STRAIGHT MEN ARE EXCLIVELY CAST GAY ROL

"I don't thk that a cis person uld ever tly unrstand the trans experience, or what means to be trans and the amount of opprsn that we go through on a daily basis, " Cassata qutn of thenticy appli to lbian, gay and bisexual people, too, though the letters of LGBTQ are more accepted inti, Cassata says. In the se of gay actor Wentworth Miller of "Prison Break, " he said  an Instagram post earlier this month that he isn't terted playg straight characters anymore and has ntued to discs the need for better reprentatn.

To be clear, I’m not sayg that a straight actor n never play gay – although I agree wh Natasha Lyonne and thk that, all-too-often, the discsn around volv to how shockg and darg is for a straight man to have to kiss another du for a role, and how difficult that mt have been. ”“In the 22 years we’ve worked together, we’ve always brought gay and straight actors for straight and gay rol, ” says Emmy-nomated Sharon Bialy of Bialy/Thomas & Associat, speakg of herself, bs partner Sherry Thomas and associate Rsell Stt.

"Roger Ebert wrote: "He plays the role not as a man pretendg to be a woman, and not as a woman trapped a man's body, and not as a parody of a woman, and not as a gay man, but as a drag queen, perd: Lola, a tall, athletic performer thigh-high red boots who l the stage of a drag club as if she were born there, and is a pretty good sger, too. Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal, both straight, were both Osr-nomated for their performanc (Ledger lead, Gyllenhaal supportg) this film about two men fallg love and ntug their affair for film sred 87% on Rotten Tomato, wh the se's cril nsens readg: "A betifully epic Wtern, 'Brokeback Mounta''s gay love story is imbued wh heartbreakg universaly, helped by the movg performanc of Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal.

LET’S SETTLE THIS: CAN STRAIGHT ACTORS PLAY GAY ROL?

So, let’s stead turn to an area where the exploatn and excln of gay men is irrefutable: the past twenty years of filmmakg, there have a been a handful of major motn pictur which the lead character is a gay guy.

For example:Call Me By Your NameLove, SimonBohemian RhapsodyBrokeback MountaMilkA Sgle ManBehd The CanlabraOther PeopleI Love You Philip MorrisBnoPhilalphiaNow let’s list major films which an actual, real-life gay actor is hired to play the leadg gay character role:Gods and MonstersThat’s .

SHOULD STRAIGHT ACTORS PLAY GAY ROL? A STAR TV WRER SAYS NO

Of urse, when you look at the fact that gay men are nied gay rol (see above), you don’t see any of those same people exprsg equivalent outrage when a gay man los a role based on *his* sexual someone suggts that perhaps a gay actor would be better qualified for a gay role, people react fensively. When a gay guy says, “Hey, stead of hirg straight men gay leadg rol 98% of the time, maybe if we clud more actors who are gay real life, we would produce better, more pellg gay narrativ, ” straight people hear this stead: “We should ban straight people om ever workg aga! You would thk that a feelg of beg nied somethg would spire empathy for people who have been nied far more, but don’t — jt spir anger at the mory for seekg equy and pot is simple: If straight actors are allowed to play leadg gay rol major motn pictur, why aren’t gay men?

‘CALL ME BY YOUR NAME’ DIRECTOR DEFENDS CASTG STRAIGHT ACTORS GAY ROL

Regardls of where you stand on the qutn of stg, one simple fact is te: straight actors are overwhelmgly the on brgg queer characters to life the mastream right now – such as new drama Supernova, released last month and starrg Col Firth and Stanley Tucci as a gay uple. “They are unrstandg about the civil rights needs to see a a gay [bankable] ‘name’ actor playg an important homo role, but their te wish and eedom would arrive if we lived a world where didn’t matter. ” Gvanni Bienne, chair of actg unn Equy’s LGBT+ Commtee rells one agent advisg him to ‘act straight’ durg an dn for a heterosexual role, while a prcipal at drama school once told him that as a gay man of Italian herage, he would only ever play “gay ice-cream men”.

STANLEY TUCCI SAYS HE THKS STRAIGHT ACTORS SHOULD BE ABLE TO PLAY GAY CHARACTERS

In the ongog bate over whether straight actors should play gay rol, It's a S actor Neil Patrick Harris has add his voice, and might not be sayg what you'd a new terview, Harris was asked about ments recently ma by It's a S creator Rsell T. "It was one of the real te turng pots for me as exampl of sexy guys behavg as leads somethg of import, not as ic sikicks, " he add that he thks, "there's somethg somethg sexy about stg a straight actor to play a gay role, if they're willg to vt .

Boys the Band star Jim Parsons said that he thks "there's fely this spectm" of answers to the issue, and he thks s more important to foc on makg gay characters who are "well-round and pletely human dividuals. While we fely prefer that most gay rol go to gay actors, and we love the thenticy they brg to the rol and the projects they’re , we n’t help but have a special soft spot for a few straight stars, like Brendan Fraser, are great people and great at playg gay, but aren't really known for .

RSELL T DAVI FENDS NOT STG STRAIGHT ACTORS GAY ROL

We want a future where every talented queer actor n get whatever rol they want and where queer actors fally w awards for playg queer rol, but until then, the ten actors show that not every straight actor should be banned om playg gay on screen. From smaller movi like The Daytrippers and Ltle Chaos, to his inic gay rol The Devil Wears Prada, Burlque, and Supernova (oppose fellow straight-actor-we-love Col Firth), he always do the gay muny right. Chalamet hasn’t had as many gay rol as the rt of the people on this list (he’s only 27, after all), but he ma que the imprsn on the queer muny wh his touchg and realistic performance as a lovtck teen Lu Guadagno’s classic g-of-age romance Call Me by Your Name.

“I’m gog to war, ” he Ben Blackall/HBO Max“It’s a S, ” about 20-somethgs nontg the AIDS crisis the 1980s, broke new ground for s creator, Rsell T Davi, bee he had never wrten about the epimic there was somethg else that ma this HBO Max seri different om the other gay-themed programs Davi had wrten, om the origal “Queer as Folk” to “A Very English Sndal”: “It’s a S” is the first show he has ma which nearly all the gay parts are played by gay the ever-eager pugilist is stirrg ntroversy by argug terviews that, om now on, only gay actors should be allowed gay rol. There is also growg nsens that transgenr rol should be played only by transgenr before the mixed gay-straight stg of “The Inherance, ” an AIDS drama that premiered London 2018 and moved to Broadway the followg year, there hadn’t been very much public bate about the suabily of straight actors gay laid out his new posn a barrage of terviews before the January but of “It’s a S” on Bra’s Channel 4, provokg attacks om the lik of Piers Man — “Equaly means equaly, or don’t, ” he said on “Good Morng Bra” — and Peter Ash, a straight actor who plays a gay role on “Coronatn Street, ” the world’s longt nng soap opera. Davi is now advotg discrimatn agast heterosexual actors who want to dn for gay fact, the laws of Bra and the Uned Stat make Davi vulnerable to legal challeng if a straight person n prove that he wasn’t nsired for a part bee he isn’t gay.

STANLEY TUCCI SAYS HE HAS 'DIFFICULTY' WH ARGUMENT THAT GAY CHARACTERS SHOULD ONLY BE PLAYED BY LGBTQ ACTORS

“That would not jtify a blanket policy but might be ed an argument for a particular play or film where thenticy is particularly important — and where the orientatn of the relevant actors is public knowledge, ” Kenyon ’s posn is ght and somewhat puzzlg for reasons that have ls to do wh fairns than wh his own past work: He has prevly ed straight actors very succsfully many gay rol. “I’ve employed plenty of straight people straight parts, and their succs has paved the way for me to be here now, ” Davi he actually believe there is a gay actor who uld have given a more nvcg performance than Grant did?

”I suggted to Davi that many 20-somethgs, who are scribg themselv growg numbers as sexually fluid, would be baffled by his sistence that gay rol mt be played by actors a tegory that some young people no longer even regnize. "Save queer rol for queer actors, " Megan Lasher, Senr Manager of Content Strategy at Hearst Digal Media: The entire unter-argument to the ia of lettg straight people portray gay characters n be summed up three words: queer actors exist. That is somethg queer people n never ’s the ia that the actors n't fully unrstand the world om the queer lens that ultimately tracts om the art of whatever productn a straight character is "playg gay" .

Ultimately, cidg who the bt person is for the job—or the role—should e down to talent and issue that occurs when straight actors take on gay rol is whether they rely on stereotyp to brg the characters to life. A Star TV Wrer Says No, ” Charl Kaiser wr about a new TV show on HBO Max whose creator clared that only gay performers should play gay characters:“It’s a S, ” about 20-somethgs nontg the AIDS crisis the 1980s, broke new ground for s creator, Rsell T Davi, bee he had never wrten about the epimic there was somethg else that ma this HBO Max seri different om the other gay-themed programs Davi had wrten, om the origal “Queer as Folk” to “A Very English Sndal”: “It’s a S” is the first show he has ma which nearly all the gay parts are played by gay the ever-eager pugilist is stirrg ntroversy by argug terviews that, om now on, only gay actors should be allowed gay rol. There is also growg nsens that transgenr rol should be played only by transgenr before the mixed gay-straight stg of “The Inherance, ” an AIDS drama that premiered London 2018 and moved to Broadway the followg year, there hadn’t been very much public bate about the suabily of straight actors gay article ntu, explorg the legaly of only allowg gay actors to play gay rol:Davi’s stance ns unter to a longstandg prciple of the movement for L.