20 Times Hollywood Got It Right By Casting LGBTQ+ Actors In Leading Queer Roles
Casting LGBTQ+ actors in queer roles is an important step for LGBTQ+ equality in the entertainment industry. Sadly, a lot of our past favorite gay characters were played by straight actors. While we are happy about the representation, it is just not enough.
But sometimes, Hollywood does get it right by casting queer actors in queer roles, and we love to see it. Here are 20 times Hollywood got it right:
1.Stephanie Beatriz as Rosa Diaz in Brooklyn Nine-Nine
Stephanie and her character in the show, Rosa, are both proud bisexual women.
2.Jesse Tyler Ferguson as Mitchell Pritchett in Modern Family
HULU / Via giphy.com
Jesse and his character in the show, Mitchell, are both gay, married men.
3.Indya Moore as Angel Evangelista in Pose
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Angel Evangelista, a trans gender sex worker was played by actor Indya Moore, who is non-binary and goes by they/them pronouns.
4.Sara Ramirez as Callie Torres in Grey's Anatomy
ABC / Via giphy.com
Sara Ramirez played the longest-running LGBTQ+ character in TV history, Callie Torres from Grey's Anatomy. Both Sara and Callie identify as bisexual. They identify as non-binary and use they/them pronouns exclusively.
5.Dan Levy as David Rose in Schitt's Creek
NBC / Via tenor.com
Dan Levy, a gay man, played the role of pansexual icon, David Rose in Schitt's Creek. Levy has revealed that the lack of pansexual representation in mainstream media led him to create the character.
6.Brigette Lundy-Paine as Casey Gardner in Atypical
Netflix / Via tenor.com
Brigette played a queer character, Casey, in the Netflix original show. They came out as non-binary in 2019 while working on the show that aired from 2017 to 2021.
7.Sean Hayes as Jack McFarland in Will & Grace
NBC / Via tenor.com
While Sean Hayes had received mixed reviews for his portrayal of the flamboyant gay acting coach, Jack McFarland is one of the first longest-running queer characters in TV history.
8.Kristen Stewart as Abby in Happiest Season
HULU / Via tenor.com
Happiest Season, released in 2020, made history as the first LGBTQ+-themed Christmas movie by a major studio. Kristen Stewart, who identifies as bisexual, plays a lesbian character in the movie.
9.Keiynan Lonsdale as Abraham Greenfeld in Love, Victor and Love, Simon
Keiynan Lonsdale identifies as queer and plays a gay teenager, Bram Greenfeld, in the movie. Lonsdale is a vocal activist of the LGBTQ+ rights movements and uses his platforms to advocate for them.
10.Lena Waithe as Denise in Master of None
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Lena Waithe identifies as a lesbian and plays the role of a lesbian woman in the show.
11.Megan Fox as Jennifer Check in Jennifer's Body
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Megan Fox who identifies as bisexual plays a character who "goes both ways" in the movie.
12.Hunter Schafer as Jules Vaughn in Euphoria
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Hunter, a trans woman, plays the role of a trans teen in the show. In 2019, Schafer said that she was "closer to what you might call a lesbian." In December 2021, she stated on Twitter that her sexuality is "bi or pan or something."
13.Chris Colfer as Kurt Hummel in Glee
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The Emmy-nominated actor identifies as a gay man and plays the role of a gay teenager who is conflicted about his sexuality and is bullied in school.
14.Laverne Cox as Sophia Burset in Orange Is the New Black
Netflix / Via giphy.com
In Orange Is the New Black, Laverne Cox, a trans woman, plays the role of an incarcerated trans woman and showed some of the struggles trans people face while prison.
15.Sarah Paulson as Lana Winters in American Horror Story
HULU / Via media.giphy.com
Sarah Paulson is a lesbian icon and has played many LGBTQ+ roles in her career. In American Horror Story, she plays a strong-willed lesbian journalist.
16.Reneé Rapp as Leighton Murray in The Sex Lives of College Girls
In the HBO Max show, Reneé Rapp's character, Leighton Murray, is an affluent witty closeted lesbian. Rapp identifies as queer.
17.Omar Ayuso as Omar Shanaa in Elite
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Omar Ayuso plays the role of a gay teenager with homophobic parents in the Spanish high school drama Elite. The actor identifies as a part of the queer community.
18.Olly Alexander as Ritchie Tozer in It's A Sin
In the drama that tells the story of HIV/AIDS in London in the '80s, Alexander's character Ritchie, like himself, is a gay man.
19.Lachlan Watson as Theo Putnam in Chilling Adventures of Sabrina
Lachlan Watson, who identifies as non-binary, plays the role of a trans male teenager in the fantasy drama. The actor who identifies as pansexual is also one of the youngest non-binary actors in Hollywood.
20.Tituss Burgess as Titus Andromedon in Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt
Netflix / Via giphy.com
Although Tituss' character in the show is a flamboyantly gay character, the actor considers himself “probably the most boring of the rainbow gay men."