Is it true, as some gay activists claim, that Sacha Baron Cohen’s Bruno is the gay equivalent of “blackface?” Is a straight playing gay “just acting?”
Truth be told, in our experience (Cohen and Robin Williams notwithstanding), straights tend to play gay overly earnestly. For this they get called “incredibly brave.”
(They also tend to get asked “What was it like kissing your co-star?” a lot).
The chart below gives a thumbnail glance at who’s been playing gay and who’s not.
(Note: for this chart we’re sticking with gay males, since the female vibe is more complex. Stars like Megan Fox, Portia DiRossi or Lindsay Lohan get to call themselves “bisexual” and it seems to add to their intrigue).
Ostensibly straight male actors who’ve played gay
Kevin Kline (In And Out)
Martin Sheen (That Certain Summer)
Eric McCormack (Will And Grace)
Al Pacino (Cruisin’)
Heath Ledger (Brokeback Mountain
Jake Gyllenhaal (Brokeback Mountain)
Will Smith (Six Degrees Of Separation)
Sean Penn (Milk)
Philip Seymour Hoffman (Capote)
Harry Hamlin (Making Love)
Christopher Reeve (Deathtrap)
Daniel Day Lewis (My Beautiful Laundrette)
Tom Hanks (Philadelphia)
Antonio Banderas (Philadelphia)
Joel Grey (Cabaret)
Clive Owen (Bent)
Matthew Broderick (Torchsong Trilogy)
Greg Kinnear (As Good As It Gets)
Ewan McGregor (Velvet Goldmine)
William Hurt (Kiss Of The Spider Woman)
Openly gay actors who’ve played gay
Ian McKellen (Gods And Monsters)
Rupert Everett (My Best Friend’s Wedding, The Next Best Thing)
Harvey Fierstein (Torchsong Trilogy)
Nathan Lane (The Birdcage)
B.D. Wong (M. Butterfly)
Openly gay actors who’ve played straight
Ian McKellen (Scandal)
Rupert Everett (An Ideal Husband, Dance With A Stranger, The Comfort Of Strangers)
Neil Patrick Harris (How I Met Your Mother, Harold And Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay)
Dan Butler (“Bulldog” from Frasier)
T.R. Knight (Grey’s Anatomy)
jim.slotek@sunmedia.ca
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