A Thread About Being Openly Gay in Hollywood. Sort of.

This whole "Actors can only play what they really are," bullshit is very, very similar to writers being accused of only writing themes and philosophies which they themselves condone or advocate.

It's called ACTING or FICTION for a reason.

I didn't know Neil Patrick Harris was gay until a few weeks back, and that Russell Tovey was gay until a year or so ago. Neither discovery took away any credibility from the roles they play onscreen, Barney is still very much a womanising horndog, and George is still George (may he rest in peace). Who an actor chooses to sleep with offscreen makes very little difference to their onscreen roles, I'm not watching Tovey chat up Nina, I'm watching George, and it's Tovey's acting skill that makes me believe that, not his sexuality.

Richard Chamberlain in "The Thorn Birds" also puts that to rest. He had some great chemistry with the woman who played Maggie - you cannot tell he's gay in that movie at all, which proves that great actors can act well.

Shadow Dragon said:

I had no clue he was gay.

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He only came out a few years ago, apparently. His agent advised him to "play it straight" for fear of getting fewer roles.