CONTACTStaffCAREER OPPORTUNITIESADVERTISE WITH USPRIVACY POLICYPRIVACY PREFERENCESTERMS OF USELEGAL NOTICE
© 2024 Pride Publishing Inc.
All Rights reserved
All Rights reserved
Scroll To Top
By continuing to use our site, you agree to our Private Policy and Terms of Use.
13 Straight Actors Who Won Awards for Playing Queer Roles
Hollywood loves queer stories. Why not queer actors?
Getty Images
Don't get us wrong: we love seeing LGBTQ+ narratives on screen. But we would be remiss not to mention the fact that a lot of film and television's most well-known — and awarded — queer roles are, more often than not, going to non-queer actors. It's a step in the right direction to see more and more LGBTQ+ stories, but considering that out actors don't get as many opportunities as their straight colleagues, we still have a long, long way to go when it comes to fair and accurate representation.
Here are a bunch of straight actors who took home gold after playing queer on screen.
Brendan Fraser
A24
The beloved actor took home the trophy for Best Lead Actor during the 95th annual Academy Awards in 2023 for playing a solitary, gay, 600-pound English professor named Charlie who is trying to reconnect with his biological daughter despite being estranged from his family after falling in love with another man.
Cate Blanchett
Focus Features
The two-time Academy Award winner took home the Best Leading Actress award at the 2023s BAFTAs (the British equivalent of the Oscars) for playing an abusive lesbian conductor in Todd Field's psychological drama Tár.
Ewan McGregor
Netflix
After playing gay fashion icon Halston in Netflix's eponymous limited series, McGregor took home the award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie during the 73rd annual Primetime Emmy Awards in 2021.
Olivia Colman
Fox Searchlight
Colman won an Academy Award for Best Actress in 2019 after starring in The Favourite as Queen Anne of England. In the film, Anne had love affairs with two women in her court, played by Rachel Weisz and Emma Stone.
Sean Penn
Focus Features
Sean Penn won his second Oscar for Best Actor in a Leading Role in 2009 after playing famous gay rights activist and California's first openly gay elected official Harvey Milk in Milk.
Hilary Swank
Fox Searchlight
Hilary Swank won her first oscar in 2000 for her portrayal of Brandon Teena, a trans man who was brutually murdered in Nebraska, in Boys Don't Cry.
Charlize Theron
Newmarket Films
Charlize Theron won the Academy Award for Best Actress in 2004 for her role as bisexual serial killer Aileen Wuornos in Monster.
Annette Bening
Focus Features
Bening won a Golden Globe in 2011 for her role as Nic, a lesbian mother raising two teens with her bisexual wife (played by Julianne Moore), in The Kids Are All Right.
Mahershala Ali
Universal Pictures
Ali won his second Best Supporting Actor Oscar in 2019 after playing gay pianist Dr. Don Shirley in the controversial film Green Book.
Jared Leto
Focus Features
Leto won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in 2014 for his role in Dallas Buyers Club as Rayon, an HIV-positive trans woman.
Darren Criss
FX
Darren Criss won a Primetime Emmy in 2018 and a Golden Globe in 2019 after playing gay, Filipino-American serial killer Andrew Cunanan in FX's The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story. He has since said he that will no longer be playing gay roles so that more openly gay actors can have a chance at them.
Nicole Kidman
Paramount Pictures
Nicole Kidman won an Academy Award for Best Actress in 2003 after she starred in The Hours as acclaimed lesbian writer Virginia Woolf.
Rami Malek
20th Century Fox
Malek won the Oscar for Best Actor in 2019 for playing bisexual rock icon and Queen frontman Freddie Mercury in the controversial biopic Bohemian Rhapsody.
Latest Stories
30 pics of 'Foundation' star Lee Pace that exude Big Daddy Energy
March 25 2024 10:35 AM
21 LGBTQ+ TV shows we loved that only lasted one season
March 22 2024 11:53 AM
21 of our favorite—but problematic AF—fictional queer women
March 08 2024 6:10 PM
15 'Drag Race' queens who were shockingly eliminated after 1 lip sync
March 07 2024 9:47 AM
20 hotties who perfected the art of the mirror selfie
March 05 2024 3:20 PM
16 Times Celebrity Men Had to Say They Weren't Gay
February 29 2024 1:19 PM
26 actors who showed bare ass in movies & TV shows
February 28 2024 1:50 PM
21 Pokémon who are totally, absolutely, definitely queer
February 27 2024 11:28 AM
15 Unforgettable Gay Kissing Scenes From TV & Movies
February 14 2024 10:20 AM
10 Unforgettable Lesbian & Sapphic Kisses From TV & Movies
February 14 2024 10:10 AM
Here's how long each Pit Crew hunk has been on 'RuPaul's Drag Race'
February 09 2024 2:16 PM
Yes, Ricky Martin is showing you his feet pics for free
February 08 2024 2:56 PM
25 LGBTQ+ movies we can't wait to watch in 2024
January 26 2024 4:16 PM
'Looking' cast: where are they now?
January 22 2024 11:56 AM
15 iconic LGBTQ+ documentaries that have screened at the Sundance Film Festival
January 19 2024 3:36 PM
10 important trans movies that have played at the Sundance Film Festival
January 19 2024 2:53 PM
Meet the DC-based gay photographer shining a light on the beauty of the LGBTQ+ community
January 19 2024 2:38 PM
15 movies about gay men that have played at the Sundance Film Festival
January 17 2024 2:06 PM
Meet the queens of 'RuPaul's Drag Race UK vs the World' season 2
January 17 2024 2:00 PM
20 artists that LGBTQ+ fans are excited to see at Coachella 2024
January 17 2024 1:22 PM
Trending stories
Most Recent
Recommended Stories for You
Raffy Ermac
Raffy is a Los Angeles-based writer, editor, video creator, critic, and the digital director of Out.
Raffy is a Los Angeles-based writer, editor, video creator, critic, and the digital director of Out.