12 Straight Actors In Convincing Gay Roles

If you’re talking method acting, one sure way to get critics talking and drum up some controversy is to play a character from the LBGT community. Nothing says “range” like an actor taking a role in a same sex couple on screen.

Sometimes it catapults an actor’s career to the next level, and sometimes we forget they even took the role in the first place. Surprisingly, if you look back at some of the most bankable actors, they’ve done it. Look back at 12 straight actors in convincing gay roles and see what it did for their respective careers.

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Kerry Washington

Before she was Olivia Pope, Kerry Washington was Fatima Goodrich in Spike Lee’s She Hate Me. When Fatima hooked up with Dania Ramirez’s character Alex Guerrero, the church stood up and said, “Amen.”

Will Smith

Those Will Smith rumors began around the time he took the role of Paul in Six Degrees Of Separation. When Will asked Denzel Washington for advice, the OG reportedly told him, “Don’t let them have you kissing no man.”

Zoe Saldana

There’s a fairly well documented scene between Zoe Saldana and Mila Kunis in the 2007 film After Sex that gives new meaning to the term “box lunch.”

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Michael K. Williams

As the infamous Omar Little on the iconic show, The Wire, Michael K. Williams was one of the original members of the Alternative Lifestyle Unit. But that didn’t mean he wouldn’t shoot you with a quickness.

Jennifer Lopez

J-Lo and Iggy only played up the Sapphic vibe for “Booty.” But Jennifer Lopez’s character in the horrible 2003 flick Gigli was actually written to be a member of the LBGT community.

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Rosario Dawson

During a series of shorts for New York Times Magazine, Rosario Dawson and Jenny Slate enjoyed a New Year’s Eve kiss or two.

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Taye Diggs

Once upon a time long, long ago, Taye Diggs played James Hanson on Will & Grace. Props for diversity, since Diggs didn’t have to settle for a stereotypical character like Thug # 17.

Uzo Aduba

Uzo Aduba earned each one of those Golden Globe awards playing “Crazy Eyes.” One look at Orange Is The New Black, and you’d swear she’s really trying to make that little becky her prison wife.

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Isaiah Washington

In hindsight, the diversity of some of Spike Lee’s characters has been slept on. Washington played a gay, black man named Kyle in 1996’s Get On The Bus, and coincidentally found himself in hot water by using a homophobic slur as a member of Grey’s Anatomy.

Naya Rivera

Do you think Big Sean was doing the Kevin Durant “You The Real MVP” clap when Naya Rivera kissed Demi Lovato during that episode of Glee?

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Ving Rhames

In real life, no one dared say anything disparaging about Rhames’ roles in Pulp Fiction or Holiday Heart.

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Anthony Mackie

Much like Washington, Mackie played an intelligent, empathetic character on screen, only to say some very intolerant, suspect remarks in real life. But maybe Brother To Brother is on Netflix if you’d like to see him in a different light.