From Amandla Stenberg To Jonathan Bailey – Here Are 15 Openly Gay And Queer Actors Who Have Played Straight Characters On Screen

"I think I'm an actor first before I'm a gay person."

It's been an ~interesting~ journey for queer people in the movie and television industry. Once upon a time, gay and lesbian actors, specifically, had to stay in the closet, and there were next-to-no gay parts on screen.

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When there were gay parts, these were often hideously stereotypical and offensive. Things started to change in the previous century, but even in recent decades, out gay actors have spoken about being disenfranchised by the industry.

Rupert Everett famously said in 2010 that after coming out he "never had another job for ten years". Similarly, actor Richard Chamberlain once said he wouldn't advise a leading man type to come out lest he lose out on parts.

The idea that openly gay actors can play het characters is a relatively new phenomenon. Previously, out gay actors could only really work when roles for them a) existed, and b) weren't being given to heterosexual actors.

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Alternatively, they could stay in the closet and play whoever they liked, as long as they pretended to be straight in the public eye.

Now it seems much more acceptable for an openly gay actor play a straight character. In fact, here are 18 times an actor has played a straight character on screen, despite being openly gay or queer in real life...

1. Jane Lynch as Sue Sylvester in Glee

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Jane has said she didn't particularly have a coming out, but she has equally never denied being gay either. Of appearing as a lesbian dog trainer in Best in Show in 2000, Jane told The Daily Beast that it didn't even cross her mind whether people would think she was gay in real life.

The actor began appearing as the often aggressively straight Sue in Glee in 2009, and married her girlfriend Lara Embry a year later. In 2010, Jane told Outfest that her coming out "happened so naturally and I didn't hide anything." She also commented that, "I play straight people all the time, I think I'm an actor first before I'm a gay person."

2. Vincent Rodriguez III as Josh Chan in Crazy Ex-Girlfriend

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Back in 2015, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend was lauded for its groundbreaking casting of Vincent as Josh, a straight bro-type who plays the romantic lead in the series. Nico Lang of Salon wrote that the fact that Josh is written and played without the "faintest hint of irony [is a] stunning rebuke to the long-standing belief that queer actors simply cannot play straight."

Vincent actually married his husband Gregory Wright in the same year that The CW comedy-drama began airing, and played the character until the series end. Of his casting, he told Advocate that the "idea of Asian or LGBTQ representation, this is all stuff that's been percolating and building momentum behind the scenes... [Our] voices are getting louder, and the momentum is undeniable... Crazy Ex-Girlfriend is on its fourth and final season with a Filipino romantic love interest on network television, who happens to be gay in real life. That's its own thing."

3. Neil Patrick Harris as Barney Stinson in How I Met Your Mother

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Neil is said to have officially come out in 2006 after years of speculation about his sexuality, which appears to have grated on the actor. He told People Magazine "rather than ignore those who choose to publish their opinions without actually talking to me... I am quite proud to say that I am a very content gay man living my life to the fullest".

A year before this, Neil first appeared as interminable womaniser Barney in HIMYM, which ran until 2014. He has since opened up about playing a character who is "nothing like" him, commenting that "as an actor you certainly hope you can be a visible option for all kinds of different roles". He has also said he thinks filmmakers shouldn't demand actors be gay or straight.

4. Andrew Scott as The Priest in Fleabag

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Andrew's performance as the "hot priest" was a tour de force addition to the second series of Fleabag, and many remarked upon the scintillating chemistry between his character and Phoebe Waller-Bridge's. The series aired in 2019, six years after Andrew first being mentioned gay in an interview with The Independent.

"I am a private person; I think that's important if you're an actor. But there's a difference between privacy and secrecy, and I'm not a secretive person", he told the outlet after clarifying he was gay. "Really I just want to get on with my job", he added, "which is to pretend to be lots of different people. Simple as that."

5. Amandla Stenberg as Ruby Daly in The Darkest Minds

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Back in 2018, Amandla told Wonderland Magazine that they identify as gay. The actor has had a number of high-profile roles – think The Hunger Games; Everything, Everything; The Hate U Give – while also powerfully asserting their queer identity from as early as 2016. Since coming out, Amandla appeared as a lead in several films where their character was straight.

"So far, it doesn't seem challenging at all for people to conceptualise me as a hetereo", they told The Times in 2018. "I actually think it's more challenging for people to conceptualise me as gay." Amandla also revealed that they haven't encountered anyone telling them they couldn't play straight.

"I don't know if anyone around me felt that way. But even if they did, they probably wouldn't express it to me because they know that I wouldn't want to hear it. Also, I just want to be happy in my life, and if my career doesn't allow room for that, then it's not the right career for me."

6. Jonathan Bailey as Anthony Bridgerton in Bridgerton

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Jonathan is said to have been out for most of his 20s to friends and family, but first publicly acknowledged his sexuality in 2018, two years before Bridgerton hit screens. The actor has admitted he wanted to be "visible" about his sexuality, but recognises that there "aren't that many gay roles".

Fans of the series will know Anthony as a bit of a womaniser, a role he felt confident in performing. In an interview with The Evening Standard, the actor said "there has been a history of needing to be closeted to succeed and be famous, especially in acting. And the idea of not being able to believe heterosexual relations and narrative, if you know one of the actors is gay… everyone should be able to play absolutely everything."

7. B.D. Wong as Wally Lin in Awkwafina Is Nora from Queens

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At this point, B.D. Wong is a bit of gay icon. The actor came out in the early 2000s, and has played a plethora of parts on screen – from Dr. George Huang in Law & Order: SVU to (the voice of) Captain Li Shang in Mulan. In 2020, he began starring as Nora's father in Awkwafina Is Nora from Queens.

The character is seemingly straight and dates a character played by Jennifer Esposito – something he was new to. "I've also never been in a romantic relationship in a role before, actually", the actor told Backstage, "so that's also a nice thing that I love."

8. Portia de Rossi as Lindsay Bluth Funke in Arrested Development

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Arrested Development began airing in 2003 with Portia in one of the main roles of Lindsay Bluth – a spoiled, selfish woman who's married (albeit unhappily) to a man. Portia had already been kind of outed by the media when pictures of her with then-girlfriend Francesca Gregorini were published in 2001. She publicly came out in 2005 in an interview with Advocate, by which time she has begun dating Ellen DeGeneres.

The actor told Advocate that she introduced Ron Howard and Brian Grazer (the executive producers of Arrested Development) to her girlfriend at the time the first ever time she met them. She also told the outlet that she "[loves] playing all different kinds of women, and the majority of women aren't gay, so the majority of characters aren't going to be gay."

9. Ben Platt as Evan Hansen in the Dear Evan Hansen movie

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Ben has been openly gay in the industry since 2019, having told his friends and family in his early teens. While he shot to stardom as Benji Applebaum in the Pitch Perfect films, and as Evan Hansen in Dear Evan Hansen (both parts with crushes on girls), Ben has played all sorts of roles since then – some gay, some queer, and some straight.

Of being gay in Hollywood, Ben told them, "we [queer performers] aren't able to tell straight stories or play straight characters... Not only are queer actors overlooked when it comes to casting queer roles, they're overlooked when it comes to casting any role". He did clarify that in the world of theatre, things are move progressive because "there's less of a hang-up on what someone's look and image is".

10. Justice Smith as Simon Aumar in Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves

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Justice has identified as queer in the public eye since 2020, and has continued to take on a variety of parts that are straight and LGBTQ-identifying. In The Voyeurs he played opposite Sydney Sweeney as her character's partner, and in Dungeons & Dragons he played a wizard pining after Sophia Lillis' character. In Genera+ion, however, his character Chester is openly gay.

Of being queer and an actor, Justice told Men's Health "'I wouldn't want a career in which I couldn't be myself.' I would never accept a career in which they were like, 'You can be an actor, but you can't be Black.' That would be fucking crazy to me. If this prevents me from getting opportunities then I never wanted those opportunities. Those opportunities were never formed because this is how I was made. This is who I am. Period."

11. Luke Evans as Gaston in Beauty and the Beast

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Luke first told journalists he was gay in 2002, and then sort of went back into the closet. From 2010, when his star was on the rise, he began tip-toeing around questions about his sexuality, but would occasionally acknowledge his gayness with very indirect answers. Though many were excited about the possibility of the actor being the first ever openly gay action hero, Luke wasn't open about his sexuality again until around the 2020s.

In 2020, he accepted the Man of the Year Award at the Virgin Atlantic Attitude Awards, commenting that "over the years, it may have looked like I wasn't the proud gay man that folk were expecting me to be, but to me, I was just trying to be my true self."

He also added that "people are often shocked when they discover that the actor who played the bad guy in Fast and the Furious – who had the big fight sequence with The Rock and Vin Diesel – is actually gay... Or that the narcissistic, chauvinistic womaniser from Beauty and the Beast was played by a gay guy. Well, here's some news: who we are, and what we are, and who we love has absolutely no effect or influence on our abilities, our ambitions, and our talents."

Here's Luke's full acceptance speech, in which he talks about his career and being gay in Hollywood:

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12. Ben Whishaw as Michael Banks in Mary Poppins Returns

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Ben was hesitant discuss his sexuality publicly for many years, telling Out magazine in 2011, "I have no understanding of why we turn actors into celebrities." By 2013, the actor had confirmed that he was gay in statement from his rep, and that he had married Australian composer Mark Bradshaw a year before.

Since then, Ben has played a variety of straight and gay roles. At the 76th Golden Globe Awards, the actor told reporters that he didn't have a problem with straight actors taking on gay roles, but that there needed to be "greater equality" in the industry: "I would like to see more gay actors playing straight roles. It needs to be an even playing field for everybody that would be my ideal."

13. Kristen Stewart as Princess Diana in Spencer

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Kristen's rather public coming out saga began in 2017 when she told The Guardian that she identified as bisexual; however, the actor has also identified as gay in other appearances, including her SNL hosting gig in 2017. In 2021, Kristen won acclaim for her performance as Princess Diana, who was infamously married to King Charles from 1981 until 1996.

On gay actors playing straight characters (and vice versa), Kristen has said "it's such a gray area". The actor told NBC News that while she would "never want to tell a story that really should be told by somebody who's lived that experience", but that it's a "slippery slope" because then she could never play another straight character. "Sometimes, artfully speaking, you're just drawn to a certain group of people", she continued; "there's nothing wrong with learning about each other. And therefore helping each other tell stories."

14. Tyler Alvarez as Dillon in Crush

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If you don't know Tyler, you're missing out! The talented 25-year-old has been in everything from Orange Is the New Black to Never Have I Ever, and had his breakout role in Netflix's American Vandal as Peter Maldonado. In 2021, he officially announced he was gay in a post for Pride.

In 2022, Tyler appeared as Rowan Blanchard's BFF in Crush, who also has a girlfriend played by Teala Dunn. On playing straight characters, the actor told Metrosource that he was afraid coming out would impact the roles he was able to go out for: "I was afraid that I'd be up for a part, they'd find out that I was gay and they wouldn't pick me."

The actor continued to say that coming out hasn't limited the types of roles he has been called in for, and that he doesn't worry about playing straight roles in any particular type of way. "Here's the thing, sexuality isn't a personality – it's just who we kiss and do other things with. So, no, I'm not paying attention to those things. I might not say, 'yaasss, queen!' like in life, but it's more about the verbiage than it is about the way I act. Being gay is the people I love, not how I act."

15. Sarah Paulson as Linda Tripp in Impeachment: American Crime Story

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Probably one of the most recognisable queer figures in TV and movies is Sarah Paulson, who, in fact, considers herself sexually fluid. Sarah has spoken several times about accidentally outing herself in 2005 when she kissed her then-girlfriend Cherry Jones, who had just won a Tony Award. Since 2015, Sarah has been in a high profile relationship with Holland Taylor.

A versatile actor, Sarah has played a variety of roles including straight and queer characters. On her ability to play different roles, Sarah told Pride Source, "I'm a character actress – nobody is assigning a particular kind of sexual anything to me... I can do a lot of things. I don’t think anybody's made one particular association with me that would then make them go, 'Well, I can’t see her this way now."'

The debate around whether gay characters should be played by actors who share the same identity is ongoing, but it's certainly true that casting gay people in ANY and ALL roles is sure to even the playing field of the entertainment industry, and lead to a future where it doesn't matter who plays who!

Let us know your thoughts in the comments below, and share any examples that we missed!

You can check out more posts that celebrate National Coming Out Day and LGBTQ+ History Month over on our LGBTQ+ page.

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