How to become a gay actor
How to Get Gay Famous
This piece is part of Outward, Slate’s home for coverage of LGBTQ life, idea, and culture. Read more here.
“Ooooh, there she is,” “Ah, hey, girl,” “I cherish it,” “Did you notice her?” “Gorgeous.”
Praise floats through the air above the clusters of fans, attributable to no one in particular but palpable all the same. The diva’s response is always measured—a kind smile, nod, some air kisses to those they recognize or casually know, possibly a generic “hey, how are ya?”—a general largesse and beneficence directed more toward the space than any particular admirer. Or maybe, if they’re in a mood, they’ll stomp across the room, shoulders-up-head-down, to the safety of their inner circle, who will shield them from interlopers or hangers-on. Later on, there will be a stage and a performance. The crowd will sing along, applaud, and cheer wildly, offering up a geyser of enthusiastic approval. The diva serves them fantasy and glamor—and they lap it up.
This scene may sound like an award show red carpet, Broadway premiere, or star-studded gala. But it takes place at your local kingly shows most Friday and Saturday nights and often, if you live in a bigger
What It’s Like to Be a Gay Arab Star in Hollywood
posted on: Oct 20, 2019
SOURCE: OUT
BY: GARY M. KRAMER
Lebanese-American actor Haaz Sleiman is sensitive and candid. These qualities are what make him so ingratiating on and offscreen and part of the reason why the star will be honored at OUTShine, Fort Lauderdale’s LGBTQ+ clip festival, on October 20. He is being recognized with the festival’s Vanguard Award for being one of the few visible gay, Muslim, Arab-American men in Hollywood.
Sleiman’s best-known characters — Tarek, the drummer in The Visitor; Nurse Jackie’s “Mo-Mo,” TV’s first gay Muslim character; and Tim, the gay, Lebanese pianist in Those People — all showcase him as a character actor in a leading man’s body. He has also played vertical roles: Cookie, in the underseen Dorfman in Love; Jesus in Killing Jesus, and Ali, a terrorist in Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan.
But what excites Sleiman as an actor these days is the opportunity to provide honest portrayals of gay and Arab people. He says growing up in Lebanon helped him develop a plump skin and an empathy for others that has served him well in his 15-year career.
Out caught up with the actor prio
Let’s Settle This: Can Straight Actors Compete Gay Roles?
No way. Well, maybe? Sometimes. Okay — yes. Of course! We’re all human beings at the complete of the morning … and sexuality is on a spectrum, right? Acting is acting!
This whirlwind of contradictory answers flutters through my uncharacteristically conflicted mind every time I attempt to respond this question. It’s a debate we’ve seen time and time again, most recently when many high-profile names leapt to the defence of Jack Whitehall being cast as Disney’s first openly gay character. So I’m by no means the first person to communicate on this seemingly unsolvable debate, but with the recent release of Supernova — Hollywood’s latest gay film starring Colin Firth and Stanley Tucci — I’m throwing my coin into the hat for fine measure.
Gaslighting queer folk
Netflix’s Disclosure (well worth a watch) beautifully highlighted the importance of casting transsexual actors in transitioned roles — or should I utter, the harm of casting cisgender actors in trans roles. But the casting of gay roles remains more of a grey area than you realise. As an star and a homosexual man, I locate myself caught in the middle of this debate, straddling both sides of
Atavery young age I knew I was different, and it terrified me. Growing up, I always wanted to fit in, and I tried very difficult to wear the right clothes, say the right things, and basically just try to blend in. I just wanted to be like everyone else, so I pretended I was. I acted as straight as I possibly could, but one morning I decided enough was enough.
The first person I told that I was gay was a costume designer at the local community theater, where we were putting up a production of Twelfth Night (I was very much the thespian at a young age, and my family was its own little troupe of actors). After coming out to her, it spread like wildfire. Soon my family knew, then my friends, then the whole school. I was so out I even did an interview with my local newspaper about what it was like to be openly gay as a teenager in a small town. I definitely got called "fag" a few times in my high-school career, but ultimately I was 100-percent OK with who I was, and I didn't protect what anyone else thought.
Then, after a brief stint as a business major, I decided that the only thing I wanted to be was an actor, so I took my A-OK-with-being-gay self to Los Angeles and went to a conserv
Casually sitting in a room at AMDA LA, alumnus Ben Baur laughs when asked what savage notion brought him to the earth of entertainment. “I never considered productive as an performer. Business just seemed logical. It seemed like something I could do to ‘make money,’ ‘have a career,’ all that stuff.” He pauses. “I never really thought acting was a thing.”
So says the guy who has lived in both Los Angeles and Novel York City as a successful thespian since graduating from AMDA’s Studio Conservatory, having performed on both coasts in multiple TV series, shorts, movies, web series and plays. In fact, Ben Baur has gained more credits and experience than many his age, with appearances in such shows as “The Following,” “Mythos,” “Nip/Tuck,” “#Adulting” and ABC’s reality series “What Would You Do?” He’ll also be starring as Jace Holden in the upcoming movie Something Like Summer, an indie romance currently in post-production.
Ben is best known, however, for starring as the lead in the award-winning series “Hunting Season,” which earned him a nomination for Foremost Actor at the Indi