14 Most Memorable Gay Characters Played By Non-Gay Actors | Essence

Contents:

• STRAIGHT ACTORS WHO HAVE PLAYED GAY CHARACTERS
• STANLEY TUCCI: IT’S OK FOR STRAIGHT ACTORS TO PLAY GAY ROL IF DONE ‘THE RIGHT WAY’
• BLACK ACTORS WHO PLAYED GAY MALE CHARACTERS
• 8 GAY ACTORS WHO PLAYED STRAIGHT CHARACTERS
• 14 MOST MEMORABLE GAY CHARACTERS PLAYED BY NON-GAY ACTORS

STRAIGHT ACTORS WHO HAVE PLAYED GAY CHARACTERS

"Clive is a gay man who tri to supprs his homosexualy Edwardian-era England. "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.

Sean Penn played gay activist Harvey Milk 2008's 'Milk. Harvey Milk is one of the most important gay activists history, and straight actor Sean Penn won an Osr for playg him.

STANLEY TUCCI: IT’S OK FOR STRAIGHT ACTORS TO PLAY GAY ROL IF DONE ‘THE RIGHT WAY’

Col Firth played a gay profsor 'A Sgle Man' 2009.

BLACK ACTORS WHO PLAYED GAY MALE CHARACTERS

While straight actors have been known to play gay characters, the same is also te for gay actors playg straight rol. Le Evans is an openly gay Welsh actor and sger.

About beg a gay man playg straight characters, Le Evans once said an terview that “you n be happy wh yourself and you n also be whoever you want.

In 2006, NPH me out sayg that he was “happy to dispel any mors or misnceptns, ” that he is “que proud to say that I am a very ntent gay man livg my life to the fullt and feel most fortunate to be workg wh wonrful people the bs I love. Before g out as gay 2014, his heartwarmg speech livered at the Time to Thrive nference which aims to promote LGBT youth welfare, and later as a transgenr man 2020, Ellt Page was st as the tular role of the edy classic Juno. He believ that “livg a gay life whout publicly acknowledgg is simply not enough to make any signifint ntributn to the immense work that li ahead on the road to plete equaly.

8 GAY ACTORS WHO PLAYED STRAIGHT CHARACTERS

Heather Matarazzo was the keynote speaker at the 15th annual Gay, Lbian, and Straight Edutn Network of Boston’s nference 2005. Like, for example, how Isaiah Washgton was fired om the show after g a homophobic slur directed at T.

14 MOST MEMORABLE GAY CHARACTERS PLAYED BY NON-GAY ACTORS

In his acceptance speech, Jonathan Bailey prais the productn for beg “a lovely and celebratory snapshot of gay love” what he scribed as “a time where acknowledgg the very existence of LGBT people our schools is beg qutned. In ‘Philalphia, ’ one of the first mastream Hollywood films to acknowledge issu like HIV/AIDS, homosexualy, and homophobia, Hanks played the role of Andrew Beckett, a gay lawyer.

Stanley Tucci tak no issue wh straight actors playg gay characters — as long as ’s done “the right way. “And I’m always very flattered when gay men e up to me and talk about ‘The Devil Wears Prada, ’ when they talk about ‘Supernova, ’ and they say that was ‘jt so betiful.

Is not about havg only gay people play the gay parts but to ensure that all parts are open to all actors. ” “It’s important that gay characters are portrayed as well-round and pletely human dividuals, ” add Parsons, who noted that “there are plenty of straight actors who have played gay characters brilliantly.