Actors who've played roles with a different sexual orientation to theirs

It's obvious that Gielgud and Jacobi were/are gay. However Gielgud could play straight (or at least, a neutral sexuality); Jacobi couldn't in Hamlet (I haven't seen him in anything else, except Richard II, where Richard may or may not have been gay).

You're forgetting Rupert Everett- one of the few prominently gay film actors (although he can play it straight and seemingly able to play a woman- one of my sister's friends thought the headmistress in St trinians was actually a woman).

That reminds me- did anyone watch that hilariously un-PC reality show TV series 'Playing it Straight'? A girl lives for a few weeks or so on a ranch with a gang of men, some of which are straight, some of which are gay, and she has to pick out which ones are gay. She identified this one poor man as being gay because he waxed his legs- and he was straight!
Guilty entertainment.

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I agree actually, older folks are generally just harder to figure out than young people. It's even harder to tell with women.

I heard that bloke from Will and Grace is actually straight though. The friend of the title characters. If that's true, that guy is a great actor as he does camp extremely well.

I think much of the gay identity today is woefully steeped in that sort of "camp". Their emergence in the public sphere is quite new, and I think that, even today, people still need some sort of positive identifier. Eventually, the gay identity will become synonymous with straight identity, much in the same way racial identity CAN be homogeneous. I consider a caricature like Sacha Baron Cohen's Bruno to be analogous to '60s Black Power.

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Although I didn't include Rupert Everett in that list, I had mentioned him a page or two back, as he was my second choice to play Bond.

I'm pretty sure the friend is gay, but the actor playing Will is straight.

I'm sure that's the way it is. I remember a gay actor (it may've been John Barrowman) being interviewed and he said that he'd been up for the role of "Will" but was turned down for "not being gay enough" (or words to that effect) and then he saw the show and they'd cast a straight guy.

thats a terrific point. I agree wholeheartedly.

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I think it was John Barrowman, actually.

Although there's always rumours of closeted actors in Hollywood, though I'm not sure I believe all of them.

I thought Hanks and Banderas were very convincing as a couple in Philadelphia...loved Penn in Milk too.

I don't understand why Nathan Lane wouldn't work out...his character in The Producers was straight. Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal played lovers in Brokeback Mountain and I'm pretty sure they're both straight. Harry Hamlin played a gay character in the 1982 film Making Love and he has been happily married to Lisa Rinna forever.

Tom Cruise has played straight men loads of times.

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Every major actor has played a gay character- some many times. Colin Firth has played three gay characters, two of which are openly gay, and two characters in which his only friend is gay and in love with him. I don't like Brokeback Mountain as I didn't buy into the chemistry between the guys. The 'action' was there but not the chemistry.

I agree regarding Sean Hayes' performance in Martin & Lewis...totally convincing.

Almost every Tom Cruise film qualifies.

I beat you to it dude

Never thought Robert Downey Jr. was gay, but sure wished he was.

There is a film from Denmark called "En kort en lang" (English title: "Shake It") where Mads Mikkelsen plays a gay man. Most of his films are very "manly" but well "En kort en lang" is a great film.

Jared Leto in Dallas Buyers Club !

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