Tom Hollander portrayed the gay character Quentin in the second season ‘The White Lotus’, and he recently addressed his sexuality.
Aside from the hit HBO series, the 56-year-old British actor is playing another gay role in Ryan Murphy’s upcoming TV show ‘Feud: Capote vs. The Swans’, where he is starring as American novelist and screenwriter Truman Capote.
Related: FX Drops Intriguing Trailer of New Series ‘Feud: Capote vs. The Swans’
Not to mention, he also portrayed other real-life gay men, including British diplomat Guy Burgess, as well as Oscar Wilde’s lover Bosie Douglas. In an interview with Vanity Fair, Hollander talked about his experience portraying gay characters, stating:
“I have been asked to play several gay characters over the years […] People keep asking me to do it because apparently when I play these characters, it’s believable. And that’s, in a way, where my job begins and ends.”
“For some reason, who I am, who I am as a person allows me to present as gay. Yeah, sometimes I do present as gay […] I’m somebody that walks into a room and there are some people who walk into the room, you go, ‘Well, they’re not gay,’ and, ‘They are gay.’ My own sexuality is sufficiently liberal to have encompassed many different experiences, which are not anyone’s business,” he continued, touching on the topic of his sexuality.
‘The White Lotus’ star further shared,
“I certainly have not lived the life that gay men used to have to live. I’ve not lived that difficulty. I’ve not had to live in the shadows and been under the threat of going to jail for expressing my sexuality.”
He then revealed his sentiments on the debate about straight actors playing gay roles.
“What shouldn’t be sacrificed is the sort of basic fundamental principle of actors being able to play things that they are not necessarily, because then that’s not art,” Hollander expressed.
Moreover, ‘Feud: Capote vs. The Swans’ is set to premiere on January 31 on FX, and it will also be available for streaming on Hulu.
Source: attitude.co.uk
Especially considering the limited number of roles that would be available to gay actors, if one could only portray characters of the same sexual orientation.
I tend to agree that straight actors should be able to play gay characters and vice versa.