Should straight actors still play gay characters? 'It's plited'

STRAIGHT ACTORS WHO HAVE PLAYED GAY CHARACTERS

* famous actors who have played gay roles *

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

Lonsdale played gay teenager Bram the 2018 film "Love, Simon, " which ma history when beme the first mastream teen rom- to feature a gay protagonist. Although he's bt known for playg Sheldon Cooper on "The Big Bang Theory, " Parsons also got touch wh LGBTQ history by playg a gay activist fightg to addrs the risg 1980s HIV-AIDs crisis the 2014 drama "The Normal Heart" (which is based on Larry Kramer's 1985 play of the same name).

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

Jam Corn's performance as a gay man "The Prom" was lambasted, but Ewan McGregor's turn "Halston" has been acclaimed. * famous actors who have played gay roles *

"The story really h home for me, g om a hoehold where my brother's gay and I'm gay, " Lane is quoted as sayg the movie's prs not. " He plays gay bookshop owner Geth, who jos several other queer activists to help strikg mers nservative 1984 England. "I thk the thg that I feel very strongly about is that everybody that I've spoken to is really moved by ['Pri'], and for that reason I say 's not jt a gay film, " Stt told Entertament Weekly 2018.

"I thk 's been embraced by the gay muny bee I thk people are very celebratory about the fact that gay people are not jt seen story l that are related to sex or sexualy, that their attribut of kdns and bravery and passn are the thgs that are celebrated the movie. Actrs and wrer-director DuVall has long played openly gay characters (recently on "The Handmaid's Tale" and her 2016 film "The Interventn") she me out, one of her most proment rol was playg rebell teenager Graham the 2000 satiril edy "But I'm a Cheerlear. When Everett played openly gay man Gee Down the 1997 edy "My Bt Friend's Weddg, " gay actors playg queer characters was still a very rare thg Hollywood.

His character, Gee, is close iends wh Julia Roberts' character, Julianne, who sets out to w over another old iend on the eve of his 2019, Everett told Entertament Weekly that, at the time, he thought his role the film was "gog to be the end, bee I was gay, and was a ty ltle gay role, and 'What was the pot? Acclaimed veteran actor McKellen has been open about his sexualy sce 1988, and got the chance to play another celebrated gay film figure when he portrayed real-life director Jam Whale the 1998 bgraphil drama "Gods and Monsters. "'Gods and Monsters', I thk, was the begng of Hollywood admtg that there were gay people knockg around, even though half of Hollywood is gay.

BLACK ACTORS WHO PLAYED GAY MALE CHARACTERS

The bate over whether or not straight actors should play gay rol isn’t gog to die down any time soon. * famous actors who have played gay roles *

" One of his ls faiar rol was playg Patrick the HBO seri "Lookg, " which followed the liv and iendships of three gay men livg San show aired om 2014 to 2015, and a feature-length film wrapped up the story 2016.

Js has a relatnship wh Kayla, a bright-eyed new Fox employee who is asslted by Ail and cis to speak Lnsgate's EPK soundb for the film, McKnon allud to her character beg spired by first-hand acunts after scribg her character as a "closet liberal and closet gay woman.

Sce g out 2013, Sivan has openly discsed his experienc as a gay man and been vol about his tersectnal support of the LGBTQ muny as a whole. He took on an actg role related to the topics when he played a gay teenager forced to a nversn mp the 2018 drama "Boy Erased. Hedg played real-life gay wrer and activist Jared Eamons 2018's "Boy Erased, " and spoke about how he personally related to the role while promotg the film.