20 Openly Gay Actors Who Love Playing Straight
A-list actors have the pick of roles in Hollywood, with tons of scripts landing on their desks every week. The only problem is - not so many movies cast gay characters in the leading role. It is then they are stuck in a dilemma - stay true to their own sexuality or just do what they do best and act their hearts out.
Quite often we fall in love with these actor's on-screen personas and completely forget that we wouldn't have a chance in hell with them in real life. Over the years the LGBT community has gained more freedom and celebrities are coming out now more than ever. It's just these celebrities are so damn good at playing straight that we all forget they came out years ago.
21 Guillermo Diaz
Guillermo Diaz currently stars in ABC's hit drama TV series Scandal, alongside Kerry Washington. His character, Huck, has enjoyed a few hot and steamy love scenes with actresses. Also well known for roles in Half Baked and Stonewall, as well as guests appearances in Law & Order, Weeds and ER - he has no problem landing the 'tough guy' role.
Díaz is openly gay, but when he was younger he wasn't so vocal about it due to a rough upbringing. He told Out magazine, "I went to school in the Bronx. I learned to constantly try to cover up the fact that I was gay. That façade of being somebody I'm really not just to protect myself definitely helped with acting." Diaz considers himself the ultimate Madonna fan, he has been to nearly all of her tours, and even has her face tattooed on his right arm.
20 Jane Lynch
Glee, Two and a Half Men and Angel of Death actress, Jane Lynch, has won over many of fans with her sharp-tongued, quick-witted attitude on screen. Although she didn't always have the same confidence as her Sue Sylvester character. She told People magazine, "It was almost like I had a disease I had been diagnosed. I had a journal and… I remember I wrote, 'I am gay. No one can ever know this.' And I went four blocks away and threw it out in somebody else's garbage. It led to a life of secrecy that I had to unravel."
Lynch now has her very own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. She also won a Primetime Emmy Award, Golden Globe Award, Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series, and the People's Choice Award for Favorite TV Comedy Actress.
19 Jonathan Benett
Jonathan Bennet is a real Hollywood heartthrob. Since his role as Aaron Samuels in 2004's hit movie Mean Girls, where he starred as Regina George's boyfriend and Cady Heron's (Lindsay Lohan) fantasy boyfriend, teenage girls have been swooning after him. He also took on a recurring role in the mystery drama Veronica Mars, as another heartthrob, Casey Gant.
Although Bennett has never confirmed he is gay, he was "outed" by Dancing With The Stars judge, Julianne Hough, in 2014. She told host Mario Lopez, "(Bennett) tweeted me last year and said, like, I had a nice butt, but he also tagged my trainer. And so I was like, 'Oh, he's hitting on me. I should try to go on a date with him.'" When Lopez responded: "What happened?" Hough continued, "He's gay. So, I was like, that's not gonna work." Hough received a social media backlash, as many fans said it was unfair to reveal his sexuality before he had officially come out.
18 Lily Tomlin
Lily Tomlin stars opposite Jane Fonda in the Netflix hit comedy show, Grace & Frankie. The series follows Grace, a retired cosmetics mogul, and Frankie, an art teacher played by Lily Tomlin, whose husbands, Robert and Sol, announce they are in love with each other. Despite the two women never really have liked each other, they are now forced to live together and move on with their lives.
The 76-year-old actress married her real-life, long-term partner Jane Wagner in 2013. She said that she decided to wait until her mother had died before coming out. She told The Telegraph, "My mother would have died. Literally. If she'd lived to see me come out. Bless her heart, she was Southern, basically fundamentalist, but she was very witty and sweet and kind and she adored Jane. She died 10 years ago. She was 91. So that was always kind of a dilemma for me."
17 Neil Patrick Harris
Neil Patrick Harris is best known for his role in How I Met Your Mother as the womanizing-playboy, Barney Stinson. In 2014, he launched himself onto the big screen as Foy the "Lady Tickler", who steals Amanda Seyfried's character, Louise, away from her boyfriend in A Million Ways To Die In The West. Then in the same year, he took another dominant role as the super rich Desi Collings, for the movie adaption of Gone Girl, where he fulfils his white-knight fantasies placing a woman under his protection. You can see a pattern here - he enjoys playing the ladies man more than any other role.
Harris, who has been happily married to actor David Burtka since 2014 and the pair have two children together, publicly came out in 2006. He confirmed in a public statement, "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."
16 Jonathan Groff
30-year-old Jonthan Groff is best known for his role as Jesse St. James in the Fox series Glee, winning the hearts of many teens. Last year, the 30-year-old actor let singer and gay icon Madonna feel the wrath after she was caught texting throughout his broadway performance of Hamilton at New York's Public Theater.
When asked byFourTwoNine magazine if he was disappointed that Madonna was banned from visiting cast members backstage, Groff replied, "No. Because that b***h was on her phone. You couldn't miss it from the stage. It was a black void of the audience in front of us and her face there perfectly lit by the light of her iPhone through three-quarters of the show." Well that sure told her.
15 Cynthia Nixon
Cynthia Nixon starred as Miranda Hobbes in HBO's television sitcom Sex and the City between 1998-2004. She was also happy to reprise her role in both of the big screen spin-off movies, despite the critical response being less than savoury with film critic Roger Ebert calling the characters: "flyweight bubbleheads living in a world which rarely requires three sentences in a row." Despite criticism, Nixon received an Emmy Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award for her performance.
Playing a straight woman is far from Nixon's reality. She has been married to her partner, Christine Marinoni, since 2012 and the couple have a baby son together. The 49-year-old actress said she doesn't like to keep secrets revealing to The Independent, "There are things in my life that I don't necessarily think should be secret. When I am starting to date a woman for the first time, I don't want a photographer there at the first date but I feel that once we are a solid couple and we are living together and stuff, I don't know how one would try and hide that."
14 Nathan Lane
From the start of his career, where he gave his voice to Snowball the Cat in Stuart Little and Timon the Meerket in Lion King, Nathan Lane has won the hearts of many. His reoccurring roles on Modern Family and The Good Wife earned him a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
The Tony Award winning star married his long-term partner, producer and playwright Devlin Elliot, at New York City's city hall just last year. The pair had been together for eighteen years, so it was about time he put a ring on it. They had recently collaborated on a children's book called Naughty Mabel about a character loosely based on their own French bulldog. Awwww.
13 Alan Cumming
Scottish actor Alan Cumming has been nominated for two Primetime Emmy Awards, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, two Golden Globe Awards and a Satellite Award for his performance as Eli Gold in CBS drama The Good Wife. In the series Eli has separated from his wife and now has to look after his boisterous daughter, alongside trying to embark on a romantic fling with Natalie Flores, played by America Ferrara.
In reality, Cumming lives in Manhattan with his husband, graphic artist Grant Shaffer. The couple were granted a civil partnership at the Old Royal Naval College in Greenwich, London, on January 7th 2007. Then when the new laws changed they were able to become legally married in New York on January 7th 2012, to celebrate five years of their civil partnership.
12 Jim Parsons
Almost everyone recognises actor Jim Parsons from his role as Sheldon Cooper in the CBS sitcom The Big Bang Theory. His awkward scenes of methodological romance with his girlfriend, Amy, has comedy fans hooked on the show. He scooped several awards for his performance and his reported $29 million he made during 2015 placed him in top position as the highest earning television actor.
42-year-old Parsons has been with his partner Todd Spiewak since 2002, he never officially "came out" instead just didn't deny the truth. He told James Lipton on Inside the Actors Studio, "I never had a coming out piece, I just didn't mention it. I took Todd with me to events and then finally one day Patrick Healy for The New York Times and he just point-blank asked, 'Was working on The Normal Heart meaningful to you as a gay man?' And I was like, 'Well, yeah. Yeah.' And what a wonderful… I can't tell you what a wonderful thing that was, what a gift he gave me with one question. It was suddenly out there and official."
11 Sara Gilbert
Another out-gay star of The Big Bang Theory is actress Sara Gilbert, who plays the role of Leslie Winkle the on-off girlfriend of Leonard. She is also well-known for her role as Darlene Conner in ABC's sitcom Roseanne between 1988 to 1997, where her character fell in love with Roseanne's son, David Conner.
During her teenage years, Gilbert dated her Roseanne co-star (and also later her The Big Bang Theory co-star) Johnny Galecki. It was during this time that she realised she was gay but managed to stay close friends with Galecki. In 2001, she began dating producer Allison Adler and they have two children together. In 2001, Gilbert and Adler announced their separation and following the break-up, Gilbert began a relationship with singer-songwriter, Linda Perry. The pair, who were married in 2014 welcomed a son just last year.
10 Russell Tovey
British actor Russell Tovey has earned himself quite the reputation as a heartthrob. His TV credits include hit shows on the BBC such as Sherlock, Him & Her and the supernatural drama Being Human. For the 34-year-old actor, he didn't have an easy time growing up as his sexuality caused friction within the family.
Although he knew he was gay from the age of 15, he didn't tell his parents until years later. His father said that if he knew of his son's preferences, he would have asked him to undergo medical treatment to "fix the problem", as he was concerned he might contract HIV. Tovey told The Scotsman newspaper, "The only thing I can give to young gay people is that when I was growing up there were no role models that were blokey, that were men. Everybody was flamboyant and camp, and I remember going, 'That's not me, so even though I think I am gay, I don't think I fit into this world."
9 Raven Symone
Raven Symone is one of America's former child stars who first appeared on The Cosby Show as Olivia Kendall in 1989. She then released five studio albums and recently landed a hosting spot on The View. She first spoke publically of her sexual orientation in 2012 when she tweeted: "My sexual orientation is mine, and the person I'm dating's to know. I'm not one for a public display of my life."
Then in October 2014, during an interview with Oprah Winfrey she came out but claimed that she does not like to be labelled as gay. She argued that she hates labels demanding, "I'm tired of being labeled, I'm an American. I'm not an African-American; I'm an American. I don't want to be labeled gay, I want to be a human who loves humans."
8 George Takei
George Takei became a huge star when he took on the role as Hikaru Sulu in the television series of Star Trek. He also reprised his role as helmsman of the USS Enterprise in six of the feature films and in a one-off episode of Star Trek: Voyager. He then found new fame after becoming involved in social media. He posts numerous humorous posts on Facebook daily and his fan base grew to 9.5 million.
In 2005, he revealed to Frontiers magazine that he was gay and had been in a relationship with his partner, Brad Altman, for 18 years. He is a proud LGBT rights activist and has won several awards and accolades for his work with Japanese-American relations and human rights.
7 Maria Bello
Actress Mario Bello stunned the world when she came out as gay in an article published in the New York Times in 2013. She wrote about how at 46-years-old she had to speak to her 12-year-old son, Jackson, about her long-term relationship with a woman named Clare. She remembers, "This was the moment I had been anticipating and dreading for months. I took a deep breath, knowing that my answer, and his response, would have an impact on our lives for a very long time."
Maria, who starred in A History of Violence, Secret Window and Coyote Ugly, realised that she had feelings for her best friend when she was looking back on photos of the two together. She said that at that moment she thought, "What had I been waiting for all of these years? She is the person I like being with the most, the one with whom I am most myself."
6 Wentworth Miller
Wentworth Miller hit the big time when he starred as Michael Scofield in the Fox series Prison Break. He bagged himself a Golden Globe Award nomination for best actor in a leading role and won the hearts of thousands of girls around the world. Well many hearts were broken when he came out as gay in August 2013.
Miller struggled with severe depression growing up as he struggled to come to terms with his sexuality. He revealed during a speech at a Human Rights dinner in Seattle, "The first time I tried to kill myself, I was 15. I waited until my family went away for the weekend. I was alone in the house and I swallowed a bottle of pills. I don't remember what happened over the next couple of days, but I'm pretty sure come Monday morning, I was on the bus back to school pretending everything was fine." He has since become a very outspoken campaigner for the LGBT community.
5 Sarah Paulson
Sarah Paulson became the Queen of Scream after starring in FX's hit horror series American Horror Story. Currently she stirring up quite the debate, as she stars in the role of prosector Marcia Clark in American Crime Story, which focuses on the murder trial involving O.J. Simpson.
40-year-old Paulson has been dating Two and a Half Men star 72-year-old Holland Taylor since November last year. Paulson said that meeting her partner was, "the most wonderful, extraordinary thing that could have every possibly happened in my life."
4 Portia de Rossi
Portia de Rossi rose to fame as lawyer Nelle Porter on Ally McBeal and Lindsay Fünke on the sitcom Arrested Development. She currently stars on Scandal as Elizabeth North. The Australian born star was married to documentary film-maker Mel Metcalfe from 1996 to 1999, their union was initially part of a plan to get a green card, but she knew it wasn't right and didn't go through with it.
She then dated director Francesca Gregorini, the stepdaughter of Ringo Starr for four years between 2000 to 2004. She revealed that she was petrified of anyone finding out she was gay as it would have killed off her career. Her Ally McBeal cast mates didn't know she was gay until paparazzi published shots of her with Gregorini. She is now happily married to Ellen DeGeneres and the pair have been happy together for over ten years.
3 Matt Bomer
Matt Bomer and Lady Gaga had everyone's eyes on them when they performed some seriously steamy sex scenes in American Horror Story: Hotel. 38-year-old Bromer said he wasn't shy about revealing his body to the Bad Romance singer claiming, "I think you see more of me in the first episode of this than you see in the first two Magic Mikes combined."
He revealed his sexuality two years ago, despite having been married to his husband, Hollywood publicist Simon Halls, for over three years now. During the the Desert AIDS Project's Steve Chase Humanitarian Awards in Palm Springs, he officially came out when he said during his acceptance speech, "I'd really especially like to thank my beautiful Simon. Thank you for teaching me what unconditional love is. You will always be my proudest accomplishment. God bless you."
2 Ellen Page
Ellen Page is a Canadian actress who won over critics for her compelling performances in both Hard Candy andJuno. The 28-year-old has received nominations for an Academy Award, BAFTA, Golden Globe and a Screen Actors Guild Award.
Page officially came out in the June issue of Flare magazine in 2014. She revealed, "The more time went by, the more I thought, 'Oh my god - I want to love someone freely and walk down the street and hold my girlfriend's hand'. I was very nervous. I was emotional, deeply, deeply emotional. You think you're in a place where you're all I'm thrilled to be gay, I have no issues about being gay anymore, I don't feel shame about being gay, but you actually do. You're just not fully aware of it. I think I still felt scared about people knowing. I felt awkward around gay people; I felt guilty for not being myself."
1 Jodie Foster
Jodie Foster, who graduated from Yale, won widespread critical acclaim for her portrayal of a rape survivor in The Accused, and it was for this performance that she landed her first Oscar. Three years later, she won her second Oscar when she starred as ClariceStarling, an FBI trainee investigating a murder case, in The Silence of the Lambs.
Foster came out as gay for the first time during her 2013 speech at the Golden Globes. She announced, "I have a sudden urge to say something I've never really been able to air in public, a declaration that I'm a little nervous about. I'm just going to put it out there, right, loud and proud. I hope that you're not disappointed that there won't be a big coming out speech tonight because I already did my coming out about a thousand years ago back in the stone age." Her speech won over the nation and a year later she married her long-term partner, photographer Alexandra Hedison.
