Knock at the Cab's Ben Aldridge Talks Comg Out as Gay - Variety

Contents:

• BEN ALDRIDGE SAYS HE COULD 'BREATHE EASIER' AFTER COMG OUT AS GAY AT 34: 'I NEED THAT SO BADLY'
• ‘KNOCK AT THE CAB’ STAR BEN ALDRIDGE GETS EMOTNAL RELLG COMG OUT AS GAY: ‘YOU’RE GOG TO MAKE ME CRY’
• ‘SPOILER ALERT’ ACTOR BEN ALDRIDGE CAME OUT 2020. NOW HE’S A LEADG GAY MAN TWO BIG STUD FILMS.
• AFTER G OUT PUBLICLY, BEN ALDRIDGE IS BRGG MORE GAY REPRENTATN TO PRIMETIME TV
• BEN ALDRIDGE REFLECTS ON COMG OUT PUBLICLY AS GAY AT 34, SAYS 'I COULD JT BREATHE EASIER'
• KNOCK AT THE CAB’S BEN ALDRIDGE ON G OUT AS GAY AND MAKG HOLLYWOOD
• BEN ALDRIDGE PRAIS 'PROGRSIVE' GAY RELATNSHIP KNOCK AT THE CAB (EXCLIVE)
• 'SPOILER ALERT' - JIM PARSONS AND BEN ALDRIDGE ON THEIR GAY 'LOVE STORY'
• BEN ALDRIDGE AND PEARL MACKIE ON THE SUBTLE WAY THEIR GAY CRIME DRAMA IS HELPG QUEER KIDS BELONG

BEN ALDRIDGE SAYS HE COULD 'BREATHE EASIER' AFTER COMG OUT AS GAY AT 34: 'I NEED THAT SO BADLY'

"I have really relished playg gay men, " he add to EW.

Ben Aldridge me out as gay not even three years ago wh a post on Instagram. “The journey to pri was a long one for me, ” he wrote alongsi vtage photos of gay rights protts as well as a vio of him playfully kissg another man on the cheek.

Aldridge says he uld never have imaged playg gay characters when he first got to the bs. “If people didn’t want to work wh me bee I was gay or they wanted to stop stg me, then I wasn’t terted workg wh those people eher, ” he says. Now that he’s walked through the closet, his world has gotten much bigger and, well, gayer.

‘KNOCK AT THE CAB’ STAR BEN ALDRIDGE GETS EMOTNAL RELLG COMG OUT AS GAY: ‘YOU’RE GOG TO MAKE ME CRY’

And so seems, as Aldridge, an tablished London theater actor who me out publicly as gay 2020, thsts himself to leadg-man rol two major stud films after a recurrg role “Fleabag” and a more substantial part, as Thomas Wayne, HBO’s “Pennyworth.

Night Shyamalan’s apolyptic horror film “Knock at the Cab, ” portrayg another gay character, this time alongsi “Lookg” actor Jonathan Groff. 3, as gay dads vatng at a remote b, which ends up not beg much of a vatn at all when they’re taken hostage.

‘SPOILER ALERT’ ACTOR BEN ALDRIDGE CAME OUT 2020. NOW HE’S A LEADG GAY MAN TWO BIG STUD FILMS.

From the Park Lane Hotel New York Cy, Aldridge spoke about how feels “vigoratg” beg a gay actor playg gay characters, his reactn to Sally Field portrayg his onscreen mother and the “wave of progrs” LGBTQ-led ntent. There’s the moment where there’s this -gayg of K’s place right before his parents e over.

AFTER G OUT PUBLICLY, BEN ALDRIDGE IS BRGG MORE GAY REPRENTATN TO PRIMETIME TV

It’s funny bee I feel like that’s relatable to every gay person. I thk somethg the film do very subtly is show the journey of… as gay people, until the moment our parents fd out about our te selv, we are very ed to managg their handle on the tth and what they know about . And I thk the -gayg of the apartment, I n relate to almost -gayg myself a ltle b when gog home when I was younger, and maybe potentially drsg differently or jt beg more nsc of that.

BEN ALDRIDGE REFLECTS ON COMG OUT PUBLICLY AS GAY AT 34, SAYS 'I COULD JT BREATHE EASIER'

And they both have gay children themselv.

KNOCK AT THE CAB’S BEN ALDRIDGE ON G OUT AS GAY AND MAKG HOLLYWOOD

They had so much re over and over playg parents to gay children. Is this your first gay character?

I played a gay character on stage a play lled “The Lyons” my 20s.

And then I had done a UK tective seri [“The Long Call”] jt before filmg this where was apparently the first ever gay tective on UK screens.

BEN ALDRIDGE PRAIS 'PROGRSIVE' GAY RELATNSHIP KNOCK AT THE CAB (EXCLIVE)

In a reflective post, he shared a slishow of planks of the LGBT+ rights movement: the Gay Liberatn Front packg London’s Leicter Square 1972, Stonewall Rts pneers Marsha P Johnson and Sylvia Rivera walkg New York Cy’s 1973 Pri para. Lol attractive gay man Andrew Stt played the “hot prit” on the btally dark show, whose thirst-spirg role both forever changed the word “kneel” and earned him a Cric’s Choice Award.

'SPOILER ALERT' - JIM PARSONS AND BEN ALDRIDGE ON THEIR GAY 'LOVE STORY'

It will feature a gay lead character, played by an actor who is gay (Aldridge), and directed by Lee Haven Jon, who is also gay. “There was somethg very eeg for me as an actor to be directed by a gay man and to have other queer people on set. ’ It’s ITV, and ’s mastream, and ’s a married gay uple.

And was a gay director and two gay actors.

While promotg his new thriller Knock at the Cab, the 37-year-old actor said he “felt so powerful” after g out as gay June 2020 when he was 34-years-old.

BEN ALDRIDGE AND PEARL MACKIE ON THE SUBTLE WAY THEIR GAY CRIME DRAMA IS HELPG QUEER KIDS BELONG

A few months ago, Ben explaed how another one of his new movi prented gay characters a different way than he’s ever seen before. He unrstood he was different by age 8, was lled “gay” and was bullied. “I grew up an evangelil hoehold, and through osmosis, om society, had absorbed that beg gay wasn’t really an optn or a good thg to be, ” he says, addg that he’s no longer a wasn’t terted sports and remembers prayg “to be a normal boy”: “I wanted to not be who I was, basilly.