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Darren Criss and Naya Rivera, ‘Glee’
Acting really comes down to one thing: bringing characters to life. Some of the best acting happens when the actor has nothing in common with his or her character! In ‘Glee,’ both Darren Criss and Naya Rivera play characters that are different from themselves in one key way: they’re gay. Criss plays Blaine Anderson, the romantic interest of another gay character on the show, while Rivera’s role is Santana Lopez, a newly outed lesbian who is still trying to find herself.
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Eric Stonestreet, ‘Modern Family’
On ‘Modern Family,’ Eric Stonestreet plays Cameron Tucker, a man from Missouri who adopted a daughter with his partner, Mitchell. Despite his somewhat flamboyant performance on the show, though, Eric Stonestreet couldn’t be more different from his character in real life. In fact, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, who plays his on-screen partner, refers to Stonestreet as “gay-for-pay.”
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Zooey Deschanel and Rashida Jones, ‘Our Idiot Brother’
The movie ‘Our Idiot Brother’ didn’t break any box office records, but it did bring viewers a romantic pairing that they may have never imagined was possible: Zooey Deschanel and Rashida Jones. The heterosexual actresses portrayed a lesbian couple, one half of which feared commitment while the other half couldn’t wait to settle down.
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Nelsan Ellis, ‘True Blood’
Nelsan Ellis, who plays fan favorite Lafayette Reynolds on the hit HBO vampire series ‘True Blood,’ comes from a very strict religious upbringing. He is also a heterosexual man, which may come as quite a surprise if you’ve seen his convincing portrayal of Lafayette, who is gay.
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Justin Bartha, ‘The New Normal’
Justin Bartha, who you may recognize from ‘The Hangover’ series, is 100% straight in real life and generally plays heterosexual men on-screen. In his NBC series ‘The New Normal,’ though, Bartha portrays a homosexual man. His character David Sawyer is a doctor who, along with his partner Bryan, hired a surrogate mother in order to start a family.
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Felicia Day, ‘Supernatural’
On ‘Supernatural,’ Felicia Day plays a character named Charlie, who is an I.T. expert, fangirl, and gamer who began appearing on the show in 2012. In an interview with Zap2It, Day described how Charlie relates to the men on the show:
“Charlie is into girls, so she’s able to kind of go toe-to-toe with [Sam and Dean] and there’s none of that sexy attraction thing going on. I would venture to say that it’s almost like a little sister kind of attitude in a sense.”
Tom Hanks and Antonio Banderas, ‘Philadelphia’
Tom Hanks won an Academy Award when he played a gay man with AIDS in ‘Philadelphia,’ while Antonio Banderas played his partner. In real life, though, Hanks has been married to Rita Wilson since 1988, and Banderas married Melanie Griffith in 1996.
Shay Mitchell, ‘Pretty Little Liars’
Actress Shay Mitchell plays a lesbian on ‘Pretty Little Liars,’ the teen drama series on ABC Family. Her character began the show in the closet, but she was later outed and began a romantic relationship with a woman.
Adam Pally, ‘Happy Endings’
On the ABC sitcom ‘Happy Endings,’ comedian Adam Pally plays the role of Max, a gay man who behaves like your average lazy bachelor: he feels most at home when he’s eating and watching sports.
Adam Pally is straight in real life; he’s been married to his wife Daniella since 2008. The couple has two children together.
Andy Samberg, ‘I Love You, Man’
Comedian Andy Samberg has played a wide variety of roles in his day, and he expanded into yet another new territory when he played the main character’s gay brother in ‘I Love You, Man.’ His character loved spending time at the gym and hitting on various men, gay or straight, who came in to work out. He also earned the title of his father’s best friend, which irritated his brother to no end.
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Woody Harrelson, ‘Friends With Benefits’
In the movie ‘Friends With Benefits,’ Woody Harrelson played Justin Timberlake’s gay coworker at GQ who openly discussed his sex life and helped give JT helpful advice in the process. Off-screen, Harrelson has been married to Laura Louie since 2008. He and his wife had been dating since 1987 and now have three daughters.
Michael K. Williams, ‘The Wire’
Heterosexual actor Michael K. Williams played an extremely memorable role on ‘The Wire’: Omar Little, a gay man who robbed drug dealers.
Bradley Cooper, ‘Wet Hot American Summer’ and ‘Valentine’s Day’
Academy Award-nominated actor Bradley Cooper, who has appeared in such films as ‘The Hangover,’ ‘Silver Linings Playbook,’ and ‘Wedding Crashers,’ generally plays either the leading man or the best male friend, and his characters are almost always straight. In ‘Wet Hot American Summer’ and ‘Valentine’s Day,’ though, he changed things up and played gay men.
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Oscar Nunez, ‘The Office’
On ‘The Office,’ Oscar Nunez played Oscar Martinez, an at-first closeted, then out gay accountant whose biggest struggle in life was putting up with the antics of his coworkers and boss, Michael Scott. Nunez is straight in real life.
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Julianne Moore and Annette Bening, ‘The Kids Are All Right’
Finally, in ‘The Kids Are All Right,’ two heterosexual actresses, Julianne Moore and Annette Bening, played a married lesbian couple who used a sperm donor in order to have children.
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