In their own words, actors on beg black and (openly) gay Hollywood - Los Angel Tim

Contents:

• ‘EMPIRE’ ACTOR JSIE SMOLLETT REVEALS HE’S GAY ON ‘ELLEN’: ‘THERE IS NO CLOSET’
• GAY HOLLYWOOD: 45 OUT AND PROUD LGBT STARS (PHOTOS)
• EMPIRE 'S GAY SON IS THE SHOW'S GREATT ASSET
• ‘GAME OF THRON’ ACTOR OUT AS GAY
• WHEN HOLLYWOOD STUDS MARRIED OFF GAY STARS TO KEEP THEIR SEXUALY A SECRET
• IN THEIR OWN WORDS, ACTORS ON BEG BLACK AND (OPENLY) GAY HOLLYWOOD
• RYAN MURPHY’S (KDA) TE ‘HOLLYWOOD’ STORY: 1940S MEETS GAY STARS, INTERRACIAL ROMANCE AND (GASP!) A FEMALE STUD CHIEF

‘EMPIRE’ ACTOR JSIE SMOLLETT REVEALS HE’S GAY ON ‘ELLEN’: ‘THERE IS NO CLOSET’

"The 31-year-old "Empire" star me out on "The Ellen DeGener Show" after his character om the h Fox seri revealed he's gay. "WITH A JUICY BLEND OF MUSIC, DRAMA AND OUTRAGEOUSNESS, 'EMPIRE' HAS BECOME THE BREAKOUT HIT OF 2015Jsie Smollett discs his role on ‘Empire’ and how he had to dn seven tim before landg the role of Jamal Lyon, who me out as gay a recent episo.

"Followg the episo when his character me out, Smollett received hate onle, but didn't ter him om movg forward wh the storyle or revealg he's also gay real life. Even today, movi featurg gay sex or LGBTQ+ characters are typilly rated more strictly than movi wh straight characters.

GAY HOLLYWOOD: 45 OUT AND PROUD LGBT STARS (PHOTOS)

Look no further than Old Hollywood actor Rock Hudson, whose homosexualy remaed a tightly guard secret durg the height of his fame. 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. " He discsed g out as gay 2014, after enterg a civil partnership wh poser Mark Bradshaw, llg public reactns "surprisgly lovely.

Ma history as the first openly gay player to play a Canadian Football League regular-season game, playg for the Montreal Alouett. Gay actor Matt Bomer won a Goln Globe for playg a closeted journalist the TV film adaptatn of Larry Kramer's AIDS epimic-foced play "The Normal Heart. 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.

EMPIRE 'S GAY SON IS THE SHOW'S GREATT ASSET

Helpg to change that is former NBA player Jason Colls, who beme the first openly gay man to play one of the four major profsnal team sports.

‘GAME OF THRON’ ACTOR OUT AS GAY

"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.

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. Carver performed on Broadway "The Boys the Band, " which tails the gay experience 20th-century Ameri before the Stonewall Rts occurred.

WHEN HOLLYWOOD STUDS MARRIED OFF GAY STARS TO KEEP THEIR SEXUALY A SECRET

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.

Actor Marlon Brando once told his bgrapher, "Like a large number of men, I, too, have had homosexual experienc and I am not ashamed. Acrdg to mic legend Qucy Jon, one of Marlon Brando's alleged homosexual trysts was wh edy legend Richard Pryor the 1970s.

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.

IN THEIR OWN WORDS, ACTORS ON BEG BLACK AND (OPENLY) GAY HOLLYWOOD

Hopg to quash the ntroversy, Banks me out as bisexual that same year, addg that nearly all of her iends are gay and that one of her siblgs is transgenr.

That same month, he donated $1 ln to GLSEN (Gay, Lbian, and Straight Edutn Network), which works to create clive and safe environments schools.

While his most notable role of the last few years put beg gay ont and center stage, actor Lee Pace was not always as forthg about his own sexualy.

RYAN MURPHY’S (KDA) TE ‘HOLLYWOOD’ STORY: 1940S MEETS GAY STARS, INTERRACIAL ROMANCE AND (GASP!) A FEMALE STUD CHIEF

(Reportedly, however, Pace ma headl 2012 when his "Hobb" -star, Ian McKellen, accintally scribed Pace as gay an terview. While he adms he was never outright srned for beg gay, there have been stanc where he felt was more of a hdrance than jt a fact that shouldn't matter.

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. Rather than jt flailg agast his father's homophobia and retreatg to the fort of his keyboard, Jamal summoned his anger to a missn statement: He pledged to take over his father's pany.

First, and I fear we've unrsold this our last two reps, how spectacular is that a work TV show picts not only a gay man of lor, but a gay man of lor the hetero-domated world of hip-hop? Lee Daniels and his team may have unrled Luc's homophobia too hard so far, havg him nsistently refer to Jamal as female and sist homosexualy is a choice egregly bluntly, but 's probably (and sadly) realistic—and mak Jamal's assertn that he is a gay man, emphasis on both of those scriptors, all the more valuable.