The Bones
costar argues through personal experience that there's
no need to be closeted for the casting agents.
I never came out
of the closet. I was never in the closet. Well, I
suppose you're born in the closet and when you realize that
you're gay, you then take steps to tell the people
around you. So yes, I suppose I was in the closet. It
took me a little bit of time to admit it to myself and
then a little bit of time to tell my friends and ultimately,
my parents. Oh, and I had to tell each and every one
of my five siblings when the time felt right. Having
done all of that, I was then cast to play a young
lovesick gay man in the movie On-Line. It then
occurred to me that it would come up in interviews.
Was I, like the character, gay? I figured publications
like The Advocate and Out magazine would ask.
Well, when the movie premiered at Sundance, the
movie's director scheduled my partner, Charles, and me
to make an appearance at the Gay Brunch where I would be
interviewed by gay publications. He never asked me if I
wanted to attend. I think he just assumed that, since
I was so completely out in my life, I wouldn't have a
problem doing gay-related publicity for the movie. So I
went. I met with Lawrence Ferber, who wanted to write an
article about me for The Advocate when the
movie was released. And I met Jeffrey Epstein, who
wanted to do a piece about me for Out (they went on
to name me the "Hottest Up-and-Coming Openly Gay
Actor" of 2003). I called my agent and asked him what
he thought—whether or not he thought it was a bad
career move—and he told me it would be no
problem for me. And so that was that.
The movie was
released, and the articles came out. Other publications
wanted interviews, and I did them as well. None of these
were really about "coming out," though, because it's
not as if I'd been famous before these
articles were published. People like Nathan Lane,
Ellen DeGeneres, and Rosie O'Donnell came out of the closet
after establishing their careers. I was out before
anything happened to me. And things turned out OK. It
was still a struggle to get jobs, as it is for
straight people. It's a competitive business. But I did OK,
and I wasn't typecast as gay. Now there is nothing
wrong with playing gay roles. And when people asked me
if I was worried about being typecast as gay, I would
say "I have no problem with being typecast as employed."
But it was cool that I got to play straight roles. I wasn't
typecast. I went on to play a man in a mental hospital
who falls in love with a female patient in the
Off-Broadway play Constellations. I had a nude scene
with her and kissed her onstage. I was openly gay and
still got cast in such a role. I made out with a girl
on Law & Order: Criminal Intent and kissed
Oscar winner Estelle Parsons in the world premiere of
the musical version of Harold and Maude.
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