20 of our favore straight actors as gay characters | CNN

Contents:

• STRAIGHT ACTORS WHO HAVE PLAYED GAY CHARACTERS
• 15 GAY ACTORS WHO PLAYED STRAIGHT ROL TO PERFECTN
• 8 GAY ACTORS WHO PLAYED STRAIGHT CHARACTERS
• STANLEY TUCCI IS PRETTY FE WH STRAIGHT ACTORS PLAYG GAY CHARACTERS
• 20 GREAT ROL: OUR FAVORE STRAIGHT ACTORS WHO HAVE PLAYED GAY CHARACTERS
• BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH OPENS UP ABOUT STRAIGHT ACTORS PLAYG GAY CHARACTERS
• NEIL PATRICK HARRIS SHAR HIS THOUGHTS ON STRAIGHT ACTORS PLAYG GAY CHARACTERS
• SHOULD STRAIGHT ACTORS STILL PLAY GAY CHARACTERS? 'IT'S PLITED'

STRAIGHT ACTORS WHO HAVE PLAYED GAY CHARACTERS

"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. And first of all, you look for actors who are gay or who are trans, pendg on the role, if you have that md and you go lookg for them but then you fd a straight actor or a cis actor that will play that part, who mak sense for that part, I thk 's okay.

Ribeiro touch on a problem here — the fact that gay and queer actors are actually not sought after or even looked at the same way straight and cis actors there. "I don't even thk about but, my films, lookg back, out of about 16 or 17 gay rol, I thk all but twice I st gay men, bee when they me to dn they were better, " Wtmoreland told Insir. "They brought wh them so much knowledge about what that character was experiencg and had a greater accs to the emotns of the story, so naturally my work, I have st gay people to play gay rol.

15 GAY ACTORS WHO PLAYED STRAIGHT ROL TO PERFECTN

Penn won an Osr for his straight actors should be 'appld' for takg on queer rolSeveral of the people Insir spoke to, cludg Stt, also acknowledged that n be hard for straight actors — particularly men — to take on queer rol as uld lead to them damagg their reers, so they should be mend for dog such actors who are straight but played gay characters are Gordon Warnecke, who starred as Omar oppose Daniel Day-Lewis 1985's "My Betiful Lndrette, " and Jam Wilby, who starred as the tular Mrice oppose Hugh Grant Jam Ivory's 1985 were both well-reviewed movi ma Thatchere Bra, a time where beg gay or queer wasn't exactly popular. "Effectively 's a love story, I don't re whether 's gay or not gay, 's about a forbidn love story, so as long as you n unrstand that ncept, I don't see what the difference is. Both actors said that they would happily play another gay character, but both did say that they regnize the climate has changed enormoly recent years, which Wilby said uld be a negative thg.

"However, spe this, Johnson, like Wtmoreland, said he do have a tenncy to st gay actors, particularly if he is on the fence between actors for a queer role.

Dog rearch and unrstandg thgs our culture and thgs that are alive and well gay people — if you immerse yourself that and you rpect and honor what those thgs are, I'm okay wh .

8 GAY ACTORS WHO PLAYED STRAIGHT CHARACTERS

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. 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. 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 .

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. We loved when McGregor played a gay mate Phillip Morris the dark edy I Love You Phillip Morris, and aga when he played real-life legendary fashn signer Halston the Netflix miseri Halston.

STANLEY TUCCI IS PRETTY FE WH STRAIGHT ACTORS PLAYG GAY CHARACTERS

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.

20 GREAT ROL: OUR FAVORE STRAIGHT ACTORS WHO HAVE PLAYED GAY CHARACTERS

However, the Tony and Emmy-nomated gay actor has also played Victor Strand on several seasons of "Fear the Walkg Dead, " and appeared films like "If Beale Street Could Talk, " "Selma, " and "Zola. The actor explaed how he felt 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.

It wasn't until she began watchg sci-fi TV seri "The X-Fil" that the first openly gay woman star of "SNL" Kate McKnon said she realized she was attracted to women.

BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH OPENS UP ABOUT STRAIGHT ACTORS PLAYG GAY CHARACTERS

"When we get to the pot where a gay pro athlete is no longer forced to live fear that he'll be shunned by teammat or outed by tabloids … then g out won't be such a big al, " Colls wrote, but ultimately nced that we're "not there yet.

" In 2013, he nfirmed that he is gay, though he hadn't exactly been hidg his LGBTQ+ stat—or his more than 20-year relatnship wh Raer Andreen, for that matter.

NEIL PATRICK HARRIS SHAR HIS THOUGHTS ON STRAIGHT ACTORS PLAYG GAY CHARACTERS

After g out at a Prop 8 rally 2008, the edian claimed she was subsequently treated like a "unirn, " that most gay or bisexual Ain Amerins don't openly share their LGBTQ+ stat. " Carver has sce been vol about Hollywood's tenncy to perpetuate negative LGBTQ+ stereotyp, as well as pigeonholg openly gay actors to playg specific typ of rol.

Bt known for playg Obi-Wan Kenobi the origal "Star Wars" trilogy, Sir Alec Guns kept his sexual orientatn—and his arrt for a homosexual act 1946—away om the public eye for the entirety of his adult life. Long before directg movi like "Prec" or -creatg Fox's "Empire, " Lee Daniels was a young gay man g to terms wh his homosexualy while growg up Philalphia. He told Variety that while watchg "Love, Simon, " a love story wh a gay protagonist, he realized, "Straight people go to the movi and lerally see themselv all the time.

"When I fally told my iends and fay I was gay after beg sred the closet for 18 years, and all they said was 'we know, '" Schnapp wrote of his g-out story, addg, "I gus I'm more siar to will than I thought. 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.

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

Some of the actors even went so far as to play straight characters who treated gay people badly and managed to do so nvcgly that the dience believed a ltle themselv. " However, he went on to say 2014 that although he's proud of beg gay and his reer has never suffered for , he's a b wary of discsg his personal life wh the media.