20 the stars who went gay for pay
Hugh Grant played gay Cambridge student Clive Durham in 1987’s Maurice. (Mikki Ansin/Getty)
Hugh Grant played gay Cambridge student Clive Durham in 1987’s Maurice. (Mikki Ansin/Getty) (Image: Getty Images)
Films provide an important voice for LGBTQ+ people as they offer much-needed representation in the media, and actors do a vital job bringing the stories of queer characters to life.
However, very few high-profile LGBTQ+ roles are actually played by out LGBTQ+ actors. Actors who are open about their sexuality often struggle to carve a successful career path for themselves – a fact that is not helped by their heterosexual counterparts filling up roles that some might argue should be reserved for them.
Here are just some of the Hollywood stars who have gone ‘gay for pay’ on the silver screen, as well as some of the out gay actors who have made a name for themselves playing it straight.
Jane Lynch
It’s not just straight actors who have gone gay on-screen, gay actors have played against their off-screen sexuality also.
Well known for playing Sue Sylvester the sadistic coach on the hit show Glee, Lynch is a strong supporter of LGBTQ+ rights.
She played a lesbian on-screen 2000’s Best in Show, but has also played an array of straight characters.
From Paula in The 40-Year-Old Virgin (2005) to Julia Child’s sister Dorothy in Julie and Julia (2009), this out gay actor has her fair share of straight roles under her belt.
Luke Evans
Out gay Welsh actor Luke Evans has made the transition to Hollywood leading man over the last decade and in 2017 he played the villainous Gaston in Disney’s live action adaptation of Beauty and the Beast.
The star also played the boyfriend of bisexual actor Michelle Rodriguez’s character in the Fast and the Furious franchise.
He has also starred in hit films like The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (2013) and The Raven (2012).
Wentworth Miller
The Prison Break star came out publicly in 2013 when he posted a letter to the GLAAD website declining a place at a Russian film festival over the country’s persecution of LGBTQ+ people.
He played Michael Scofield in Prison Break from 2005-2009 before returning for a revived fifth season in 2017.
Miller has since been a strong advocate for mental health awareness, LGBTQ+ rights and other important causes, revealing in 2021 that he had been diagnosed with autism as an adult.
Cher in Silkwood (1983)
Cher plays the lesbian character Dolly Pelliker in Silkwood, a film about the life of Karen Silkwood, a nuclear whistleblower and labour union activist who died in mysterious circumstances
Silkwood was a plutonium factory worker and is played by Meryl Streep. Cher plays Dolly, Karen’s lesbian friend.
The film marked a turning point in the LGBTQ+ icon’s career as one of the more “serious” films she did.
Hugh Grant in Maurice (1987)
The 1987 British romantic drama is based on the novel by E. M. Forster and is a classic gay love story set in the early 20th-century.
Grant plays the wealthy Clive Durham who confesses that he is attracted to Maurice (James Wilby), but the feelings go unreciprocated until they begin to develop an intimate relationship with each other.
Durham stops them from becoming sexually involved as he fears that his status as an upper-class member would be diminished if their relationship was found out.
Grant has more recently starred as politician Jeremy Thorpe in the BBC drama A Very English Scandal. The mini-series follows the story of Thorpe’s trial for the alleged murder of his gay lover, Norman Scott.
Jonathan Groff
Glee star Groff played Jesse St. James, the love interest of Rachel Berry (Lea Michele) on the hit musical series. After coming out publicly in 2009, Groff dated Zachary Quinto, before the pair broke up in 2013.
He has since appeared alongside Russell Tovey in HBO’s LGBTQ+ drama Looking, and voiced the roles of Kristoff and Sven in Disney’s Frozen (2013) and Frozen 2 (2019). His most recent big screen appearance came opposite fellow out gay actor Ben Aldridge in M. Night Shyamalan’s Knock at the Cabin (2020).
James Wilby in Maurice (1987)
The acclaimed film adaptation of E. M. Forster’s 1971 novel charts the Edwardian-era love story of Cambridge University students Maurice Hall (played by James Wilby) and Clive Durham (Hugh Grant).
Maurice and Durham’s relationship grows closer after Maurice drops out of Cambridge to pursue a career as a stockbroker in London.
However, they break their relationship off after their close friend Lord Risley (Mark Tandy) is arrested and sentenced to six months hard labour for soliciting sex from a soldier.
Maurice undergoes gay “conversion” therapy but it is, obviously, unsuccessful and Maurice meets gamekeeper Alec Scudder (Rupert Graves) who he becomes intimate with.
The two flee England to live in a country where homosexuality is no longer criminalised, while Clive is left to reminisce about his relationship with Maurice.
Sarah Paulson
The American Horror Story actor has played a number of straight characters in Ryan Murphy’s hit FX anthology series.
She also played a Christian who believes homosexuality is a sin in the short-lived 2006 TV drama Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, starring Friends’ Matthew Perry.
She dated actor Cherry Jones from 2004-09 and since 2015 has been in a relationship with actor Holland Taylor.
Jake Gyllenhaal in Brokeback Mountain (2005)
Gyllenhaal plays Jack Twist in director Ang Lee’s Oscar-winning adaptation of Annie Proulx’s 1997 novel.
Jack is working as rodeo cowboy in 1960s Wyoming hen he makes a pass at Ennis del Mar (Heath Ledger) after a night of heavy drinking, with the pair quickly developing a deep emotional and sexual relationship.
They part ways and go on to marry women, but after four years Jack visits Ennis and he tries to convince him that they should spend their lives together.
Instead, the lovers organise regular fishing trips where they can be together, but the story takes a tragic turn after Jack dies in what is implied to be a homophobic attack.
Michelle Rodriguez
The Fast and the Furious star played straight character Letty in a number of the franchise’s films.
She came out publicly as bisexual in October 2013 and has since revealed that she dated Cara Delevingne.
Rodriguez got into some hot water when she defended her role in 2016’s controversial action film The Assignment, which saw her play an assassin who undergoes a ‘forced sex change’ at the hands of a crazed doctor, played by Sigourney Weaver.
Eddie Redmayne in The Danish Girl (2015)
Redmayne plays trans landscape artist Lili Elbe in this Oscar-winning LGBTQ+ drama set in mid-1920s Copenhagen.
It is based the life of Danish painter Lili Elbe, who was one of the first known people to undergo gender affirmation surgery surgery.
The Danish Girl follows Lili as she comes to terms with her gender identity while being supported by her wife Gerda Wegener (Alicia Vikander).
She begins to seek help from doctors and meets one which offers to help her with gender affirmation surgery, but the artist tragically dies following complications with her second operation.
David Hyde Pierce
Pierce played psychiatrist Dr. Niles Crane on Frasier between 1993 and 2004.
By the end of the show, Crane had a son and was married to a woman, but Pierce came out publicly as gay in 2007.
He married his partner Brian Hargrove in 2008, at which point the pair had already been together for 25 years.
Charlize Theron in Monster (2003)
Charlize Theron plays the role of Aileen Wuornos, a real-life sex worker who was executed in 2002 for killing six men.
Theron received critical acclaim and won seventeen awards for her portrayal, including the Academy Award for Best Actress, Golden Globe Award for Best Actress and the Screen Actors Guild Awards for Outstanding Lead Actress.
The biographical film follows Wournos after she kills a client that raped her and her attempts to get out of sex work.
However, her lack of qualifications and criminal history pushes her back into sex work, and she begins to rob and kill her clients as she suffers PTSD from the rape.
Neil Patrick Harris
Neil Patrick Harris out publicly as gay since 2006, but it hasn’t stopped him playing straight roles on TV and film.
The star, who has a twin son and daughter with husband David Burtka, famously played straight womaiser Barney Stitson in TV sitcom How I Met Your Mother.
Upon coming out publicly in 2006, Harris said: “I am happy to dispel any rumours or misconceptions and am quite proud to say that I am a very content gay man living my life to the fullest and feel most fortunate to be working with wonderful people in the business I love”.
Maria Bello
Coyote Ugly star Maria Bello came out in 2013, but it never stopped her playing straight roles on the big screen.
She has since made appearances in films like The 5th Wave (2016), The Late Blooner (2016) and Lights Out (2016).
Bello has a son with her ex-boyfriend Dan McDermott, but has been in relationships with women including Clare Munn and chef Dominique Crenn.
In 2015 she published a book on the topic of sexuality entitled Whatever… Love Is Love: Questioning the Labels We Give Ourselves.
Philip Seymour Hoffman in Capote (2005)
Philip Seymour Hoffman plays gay author Truman Capote in the biographical film about his time writing the 1966 book In Cold Blood.
Capote becomes attached to two convicts who have been charged with killing the Clutter Family. He frequently visits them to try and understand the evening they were killed.
He develops a bond with convict Perry Smith (Clifton Collins Jr.) and his soft tendencies, but the whole time he grows further away from his life at home.
Sean Penn in Milk (2008)
Sean Penn plays the title character Harvey Milk in the film biopic which documents his political career, from his early failed political campaigns up until his assassination in 1978.
It also looks at his relationship with Scott Smith (James Franco) and Jack Lira (Diego Luna), as well as his working relationship with Dan White (Josh Brolin), a conservative supervisor on the San Francisco Board.
White eventually shoots Milk after he becomes enraged at the gay rights movement.
Matt Bomer
Actor Matt Bomer came out publicly in 2012 and shares three sons with his partner Simon Halls, who he married in 2011. Prior to coming out, he made film appearances in noughties films including Flightplan (2005) and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning (2006).
After opening up publicly about his sexuality, Bomer has continued to play both straight and gay roles, such as in Magic Mike: XXL (2015) and The Boys in the Band (2020). On TV, Bomer is known for playing Neal Caffrey in White Collar and starring alongside Lady Gaga in American Horror Story: Hotel.
Bomer also starred in Ryan Murphy’s 2014 TV adaptation of Larry Kramer’s classic 1985 AIDS stage play The Normal Heart.
Portia de Rossi
The Australian-American actress’ most notable TV roles have been in Ally McBeal and as Lindsay Bluth Funke in Arrested Development, where her character was married to a man.
She married Ellen DeGeneres in 2008 and the couple are still going strong.
De Rossi has also made film appearances in motion pictures such as Scream 2 (1998) and Cursed (2005).
Dame Judi Dench in Notes on a Scandal (2006)
Judi Dench plays lesbian history teacher Barbara Covett in the 2006 psychological thriller Notes on a Scandal.
It follows Barbara, a spinster and history teacher in London who takes comfort in writing in her diary. She begins to develop feelings for her new colleague, an art teacher named Sheba Hart (Cate Blanchett).
However, things turn sour after Barbara realises that Sheba is having a relationship with an underage student, using this knowledge to manipulate her new friend.
After Barbara leaks the affair, both she and Sheba are fired. Sheba’s husband leaves her and the art teacher is sentenced to 10 months in prison, with the film ominiosuly ending with Barbara striking up conversation with another younger woman.
