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:
- STANLEY TUCCI: IT’S OK FOR STRAIGHT ACTORS TO PLAY GAY ROL IF DONE ‘THE RIGHT WAY’
- 20 GREAT ROL: OUR FAVORE STRAIGHT ACTORS WHO HAVE PLAYED GAY CHARACTERS
- STANLEY TUCCI IS PRETTY FE WH STRAIGHT ACTORS PLAYG GAY CHARACTERS
- 8 GAY ACTORS WHO PLAYED STRAIGHT CHARACTERS
- BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH OPENS UP ABOUT STRAIGHT ACTORS PLAYG GAY CHARACTERS
- SHOULD STRAIGHT ACTORS STILL PLAY GAY CHARACTERS? 'IT'S PLITED'
- 14 MOST MEMORABLE GAY CHARACTERS PLAYED BY NON-GAY ACTORS
STANLEY TUCCI: IT’S OK FOR STRAIGHT ACTORS TO PLAY GAY ROL IF DONE ‘THE RIGHT WAY’
Stanley Tucci, who portrayed queer men 'The Devil Wears Prada' and 'Supernova,' wad to the bate about straight actors playg gay characters. * actors who play gay characters *
“And I’m always very flattered when gay men e up to me and talk about ‘The Devil Wears Prada, ’ when they talk about ‘Supernova, ’ and they say that was ‘jt so betiful. ” “It’s important that gay characters are portrayed as well-round and pletely human dividuals, ” add Parsons, who noted that “there are plenty of straight actors who have played gay characters brilliantly. Grant qutned a 2019 terview wh the Sunday Tim how anyone uld still “jtify heterosexual actors playg gay characters.
”And “Glee” alum Darren Criss ma headl 2018 for sayg that he might stop playg gay characters, tellg Btle, “I want to make sure I won’t be another straight boy takg a gay man’s role. 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. Theron won an Osr for playg queer serial killer Aileen Wuornos Monster, and then played gay aga the next year 2004’s Head the Clouds. But we really loved her as a bisexual actn star Atomic Blon, and as a gay in rol like Fura Mad Max: Fury Road, and Andy The Old Guard.
20 GREAT ROL: OUR FAVORE STRAIGHT ACTORS WHO HAVE PLAYED GAY CHARACTERS
The bate over whether or not straight actors should play gay rol isn’t gog to die down any time soon. * actors who play gay characters *
Firth was nomated for an Osr and won the BAFTA for his role as a gay Brish profsor livg 1960’s California the film A Sgle Man. He’s also played gay oppose Stanley Tucci Supernova, and plays Harry Bright, one of Sophia’s potential fathers (and a gay man) the Mamma Mia! 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.
Gyllenhaal broke all of our hearts as a gay wboy Brokeback Mounta and then played an eccentric queer art cric Velvet Buzzsaw.
Early her reer, Lyonne played the inic role of the cheerlear the semal lbian movie But I’m a Cheerlear, and sce then, she’s never stopped playg gay. 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.
STANLEY TUCCI IS PRETTY FE WH STRAIGHT ACTORS PLAYG GAY CHARACTERS
We loved the straight actors playg gay! * actors who play gay characters *
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.
Tom Holland’s fans are fendg him agast homophobic backlash after he appeared a sex scene wh another man the latt episo of his Apple TV+ seri “The Crowd Room. ”After the episo aired over the weekend, homophobic viewers h Twter to pla about the Marvel star’s scene, postg a lany of bigoted tweets wh the hashtag “NotMySpirman.
— Theo Foxx (@FoxxDoThgs) July 14, 2023throwg love at tom holland, bee my man do not serve the homophobia that's beg thrown his way rn — pla ? || is gog to afhf & eras tour (@lilysdreamworld) July 15, 2023The homophobia directed at Tom Holland is sickeng, pathetic, and utterly unsurprisg. Pl Dawks (@Pl__Dawks) July 16, 2023The fact that a sgle scene on an Apple Pl show featurg Tom Holland has brought out so much homophobia om the stupist people is...
8 GAY ACTORS WHO PLAYED STRAIGHT CHARACTERS
Benedict Cumberbatch opens up about straight actors playg gay characters followg the but of his new film, “The Power of The Dog,” at the Telluri Film Ftival. * actors who play gay characters *
— ⑅ j (@purwntr) July 15, 2023Many of his fans also seemed perplexed over the backlash, nsirg that former “Spir-Man” actors Toby Maguire and Andrew Garfield have each portrayed gay characters as homophobia spewg om ic book fans bee Tom Holland played a character on TV while simultaneoly puttg the other two Spiys on a pestal as if they haven't done gay scen before too is somethg.
On The Oprah Wey Show 2014, the uple discsed Jabson’s journey to g out as gay and how affected their relatnship. The s, which aired on TV Land om 2011 to 2013, featured the actrs as Fran Lovett, a florist pg wh the realizatn her hband (played by John Michael Higgs) is gay.
A fierce advote for the LGBTQ muny, Drcher officiated the weddgs of real-life gay upl as part of a marriage ntt that Happily Divorced promoted 2012.
BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH OPENS UP ABOUT STRAIGHT ACTORS PLAYG GAY CHARACTERS
* actors who play gay characters *
While homophob are by gettg mad at Tom Holland for havg a gay scene his current show The Crowd Room, they’re missg somethg important: he’s not the first Spir-Man actor to play gay.
In fact, Holland is followg a long and proud tradn of Spir-Man actors playg are some prev tim that actors who have played Peter Parker have crossed over to the other si and played gay characters movi, TV, and on stage. In a fake trailer for an Osr-ba movie the film, Maguire plays himself, who is starrg a movie about two gay 18th Century monks lled Satan’s Alley. Garfield, who played Parker the rebooted Spir-Man movi by Marc Webb, has actually gotten wispread cril acclaim for playg gay.
In 2017, he started playg the role of Prr Walter, a gay man wh AIDS, the celebrated play Angels Ameri at the Natnal Theatre London. In The Crowd Room, Holland, who plays Spir-Man the Marvel Cematic Universe, plays a troubled young man named Danny Sullivan, who ms some heo crim, but also has gay sex.
SHOULD STRAIGHT ACTORS STILL PLAY GAY CHARACTERS? 'IT'S PLITED'
Hilary Swank, “Boys Don’t Cry” (while Swank’s character Brandon Teena was transgenr, not gay, the role was inic for many gays and lbians). While there may not be a simple answer, Stanley Tucci—who has played gay rol The Devil Wears Prada and 2020's Supernova (not to mentn Emma Stone’s father who was inilly gay once Easy A)—recently weighed , sayg that he believ ’s perfectly acceptable as long as ’s done “the right way. “I am always very flattered when gay men e up to me and talk to me about The Devil Wears Prada or they talk about Supernova, and they say that, ‘It was jt so betiful, ’ you know, ‘You did the right way.
”While Tucci didn’t elaborate on this particular form of bad-fah actg, ’s pretty easy to assume that he was referrg to the myriad of films which LGBTQ+ people have been rced to harmful, homophobic stereotyp over the years. ) Or perhaps he was referencg the super ol clatn of, erm, certa actors to fensively claim that the gay films they star are not jt “a gay story about the guys beg gay. We have some of the most pellg liv, so 's not surprisg that everyone wants to tell our s gotten better recent years, throughout history, most great gay rol have gone to straight actors, wh over a dozen wng Osrs for playg LGBTQ+ characters.
Sometim n be tirome seeg straight actors get all of this praise for brgg gay people to life, but other tim s tly are our ten favore performanc by straight actors playg queer characters movi and TV om 2022.
14 MOST MEMORABLE GAY CHARACTERS PLAYED BY NON-GAY ACTORS
While she spends most of her time at work yellg at men who flirt wh the sk clerk she's cshg on and ly tellg guts that she n't help them, Victoria is secretly holdg a ep secret: she's gay, but has never been wh a woman.
"Acrdg to GLAAD's annual Stud Rponsibily Inx, 22 of 118 films released by major movie studs 2019 clud characters who were lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr and/or queer (18. Anrson not that a movie like "Love, Simon" avoid cricism for stg a straight lead actor bee was the first film by a major Hollywood stud to foc on a gay teenage romance. "All of those issu are important to me at once, and I thk that we n advote for all of them at once bee ultimately we want our media to be an accurate reflectn of the world which we live, " they Billy Eichner, who is gay, told Deadle earlier this year that Hollywood was "so hypocril" how treats LGBTQ actors, that many attend fundraisers for the muny but fail to tell LGBTQ stori wh LGBTQ actors.
I thk we need to stop unrvalug that, the feelg that if a gay person plays a gay person ’s not actg but if a straight person plays a gay person, we give them an Osr.