45 Actors Who Went Gay For Pay

In his new Sundance flick, Daniel Radcliffe joins a long list of straight actors who have portrayed LGBT characters on the big screen.

1. Robert Redford, "Inside Daisy Clover"

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Redford played a closeted homosexual married to a female recording star.

2. Marlon Brando, "Reflections in a Golden Eye"

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Brando portrays a married, repressed homosexual on an Army base in the 1940s.

3. William Hurt, "Kiss of the Spider Woman"

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Hurt is a jailed gay main who falls in love with his cell mate.

4. Harry Hamlin, "Making Love"

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Hamlin is a married man coming to terms with his homosexuality.

5. Hugh Grant, "Maurice"

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Grant plays a student who falls in love with the title character of the film.

6. James Wilby, "Maurice"

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Wilby is the main character in a tale of homosexual love in early 20th century England.

7. River Phoenix, "My Own Private Idaho"

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Phoenix is a gay street hustler who travels back to his hometown in Idaho.

8. Antonio Banderas, "Philadelphia"

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Banderas is Hank's partner Miguel Álvarez in this film about AIDS and HIV.

9. Tom Hanks, "Philadelphia"

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Hanks is a closeted homosexual lawyer who contracts HIV in this courtroom drama.

10. Will Smith, "Six Degrees of Separation"

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Smith stars as a gay con-artist.

11. Leonardo DiCaprio, "Total Eclipse"

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DiCaprio appears as a French poet Arthur Rimbaud who engaged in a passionate romance with fellow poet, Paul Verlaine.

12. Robin Williams, "The Birdcage"

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Williams plays the owner of a South Beach drag club who has to play it straight when his son's future in-laws come to visit.

13. Greg Kinnear, "As Good As It Gets"

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Kinnear portrays a gay artist who learns to bond with his obsessive compulsive and judgmental neighbor.

14. Jonathan Rhys Meyers, "Velvet Goldmine"

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Rhys Meyers stars as a Bowie-like, gay rockstar.

15. Matt Damon, "The Talented Mr. Ripley"

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Damon stars as an identity theft who has deep obsessions with his male counterparts.

16. Hilary Swank, "Boys Don't Cry"

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Swank portrays a transgender man who is savagely murdered.

17. Dennis Quaid, "Far From Heaven"

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Quaid embodies the character of a married man who is caught cheating on his wife with another man.

18. Ed Harris, "The Hours"

Harris stars opposite of Streep as a HIV-stricken poet.

19. Meryl Streep, "The Hours"

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Streep plays the other half of Harris' story as a lesbian married to him.

20. Christina Ricci, "Monster"

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Ricci plays Theron's devoted lover.

21. Charlize Theron, "Monster"

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Theron stars in the true story of a prostitute turned serial killer.

22. Joseph Gordon-Levitt, "Mysterious Skin"

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Gordon-Levitt stars as a sexually abused man who turns to prostitution.

23. Jake Gyllenhaal, "Brokeback Mountain"

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Gyllenhaal shares a romance with Ledger in a movie about closeted gay cowboys.

24. Heath Ledger, "Brokeback Mountain"

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Ledger plays the other half of the secret relationship that takes place backwoods of Wyoming.

25. Felicity Huffman, "Transamerica"

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Huffman stars as a transsexual woman, who goes on a road trip with her long-lost son.

26. Cillian Murphy, "Breakfast On Pluto"

Murphy plays a transgender woman searching for love and her long-lost mother.

27. Philip Seymour Hoffman, "Capote"

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Hoffman portrays Truman Capote in this biopic.

28. James Franco, "Milk"

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Franco stars as Harvey Milk's lover.

29. Emile Hirsch, "Milk"

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Hirsch appears as Harvey Milk's mentee.

30. Sean Penn, "Milk"

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And Penn captures the world of the gay rights activist.

31. Colin Firth, "A Single Man"

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Firth embodies the world of a depressed British professor mourning the loss of his partner.

32. Nicholas Hoult, "A Single Man"

Hoult plays a student who crosses the boundaries of student-teacher relationships with Firth's character.

33. Sacha Baron Cohen, "Bruno"

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Cohen stars as an outlandish, gay Austrian fashion journalist in this mockumentary.

34. Jim Carrey, "I Love You Phillip Morris"

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Carrey stars as an inmate who falls in love with an inmate.

35. Ewan McGregor, "I Love You Phillip Morris" / "Velvet Goldmine"

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McGregor plays Carrey's love interest in I Love You Phillip Morris (pictured). In a prior role, McGregor plays the glam-rock lover of Rhys Meyers' character in Velvet Goldmine.

36. Annette Bening, "The Kids Are Alright"

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Bening shares the screen with Moore as one-half of a lesbian couple.

37. Julianne Moore, "The Kids Are Alright" / "The Hours"

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Moore stars as Bening's wife and co-parent of two kids (pictured) in the indie flick. In The Hours, she stars as a confused, sexually repressed housewife who has feelings for her female neighbor.

38. Bradley Cooper, "Valentine's Day"

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Cooper does a bait-and-switch on the audience when it's revealed he's in a same-sex relationship.

39. Eric Dane, "Valentine's Day"

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Dane is revealed to be Cooper's boyfriend.

40. Benedict Cumberbatch, "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy"

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Cumberbatch is a gay, nerve-wracked spy in this espionage thriller.

41. Rooney Mara, "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo"

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Mara stars as a bixsexual, goth freelance surveillance agent and researcher, who was previously played by Noomi Rapace.

42. Christopher Plummer, "Beginners"

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Plummer portrays a father who comes out very late in life.

43. Casey Affleck, "ParaNorman"

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Affleck voices the dumb jock older brother who reveals he's gay at the end of this animated film.

44. Ben Foster, "Kill Your Darlings"

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Foster stars as William Burroughs, one of queer poets in the beat generation.

45. Daniel Radcliffe, "Kill Your Darlings"

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Radcliffe co-stars as Allen Ginsberg in this portrayal of a true story about a murder.