Taye Diggs is makg his theater eback, playg a gay character the h Broadway mil, Hedwig and the Angry Inch. Diggs jos a select list of Black actors who have played gay characters on the big and small screen. Flip through for some of our favore gay and lbian portrayals on TV and film.
Contents:
- STRAIGHT ACTORS WHO HAVE PLAYED GAY CHARACTERS
- 20 GREAT ROL: OUR FAVORE STRAIGHT ACTORS WHO HAVE PLAYED GAY CHARACTERS
- 14 MOST MEMORABLE GAY CHARACTERS PLAYED BY NON-GAY ACTORS
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. * celebrities who 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.
Harvey Milk is one of the most important gay activists history, and straight actor Sean Penn won an Osr for playg him. Bros, which marks the first-ever gay rom- om a major stud and featur a prcipal LGBTQ+ st, follows the dysfunctnal relatnship between podster and rad show host Bobby Lieber (Billy Eichner) and real tate lawyer slash jock Aaron Shepard (Le Macfarlane). The former GAY TIMES ver star has ntuoly ed his platform to advote for LGBTQ+ rights on social media and through his mic; his song Gay Street Fighter celebrat the LGBTQ+ muny and clar war on homophobia.
Starrg the Billy on the Street alum as Bobby Lieber, the host of a New York podst and rad show lled The Eleventh Brick at Stonewall, Bros follows the character as he accepts a posn as a curator for Manhattan’s upg Natnal LGBTQ+ History Mm and and falls for Aaron Shepard (Le Macfarlane), a handsome “Tom Brady”-que gay. In an terview wh GAY TIMES earlier this year, Eichner said of the historic film: “We are jt so hungry as LGBTQ+ people, as gay men, to see accurate, multi-dimensnal and genuely funny and genuely smart pictns of ourselv that we don’t get. ” He also explaed that was ccial for the dialogue Bros to reflect how he and his queer circle teract everyday life by pictg gay people as “funny, sad, lonely, extremely nfint, msy, brave, horny and hypocril adult human begs.
20 GREAT ROL: OUR FAVORE STRAIGHT ACTORS WHO HAVE PLAYED GAY CHARACTERS
Due to the greater acceptance of homosexualy today's society, we are seeg a rise the reprentatn of gay characters mastream cema. One tertg pot is that often the gay characters are played by straight people. * celebrities who played gay characters *
9-1-1: Lone Star’s beloved police officer Carlos Rey is played by openly gay Brazilian-Amerin actor Rafael Silva.
14 MOST MEMORABLE GAY CHARACTERS PLAYED BY NON-GAY ACTORS
In his 2020 digal ver story wh GAY TIMES, Silva paid homage to the pneers who “harvted the us” long before him and ma possible for queer love to be mastream on televisn. The actor, who was recently nfirmed to make his Marvel Cematic Universe but Wandavisn sp-off Agatha: Coven of Chaos, is openly gay. Scht’s Creek won rave reviews throughout s six-season n for s plete absence of homophobia the storyle and portrayal of David Rose – played by -creator Dan Levy – and his sexualy, due to the lack of openly pansexual characters on televisn.
Levy, who is gay and has been out to his loved on sce he was 18, ma history when the sixth and fal season of the Canadian edy swept all seven major tegori at the Primetime Emmy Awards – the first time for a edy or drama. Wily nsired as Pose’s breakout character, Elektra Wtour has been ducted to Gay Twter’s Hall of Gif Fame thanks to her snappy ebacks and legendary reads, particularly for her takedown of the pdish, transphobic whe woman season two.