Having gone where you have gone before, actor Zachary Quinto has revealed he’s been offered more work than ever before since he came out publicly.
The Star Trek Into Darkness actor told British talk show host Jonathan Ross that he hasn’t actually stopped working since he came out in 2011, inspired by the bullying death of teenager Jamey Rodemeyer.
“For me I felt like it was the right time and the right way,” Quinto said. “If people don’t want to work with me because of my sexual orientation, then I have no interest in working with them to begin with. It doesn’t really put me in a position where I feel like I’m limited.”
That shouldn’t be a concern. The actor has proven his range with recent project. After an acclaimed turn as the villain on TV’s American Horror Story: Asylum and following the Star Trek sequel due in the theaters this month, Quinto will return to his first love, the stage. The actor will headline a revival of Tennessee Williams’ The Glass Menagerie, as Tom Wingfield a surrogate character for the tormented gay playwright.
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Polaro
I love me some Zachary Quinto, but he is not the typical pretty boy leading man. Let’s face it, he started as a psychopathic mass murderer who cut people’s heads open, and a homosexual ghost. Being gay goes to casting for him, even if he is a randy Spock.
Homophile
@Polaro:
Him not being a “pretty boy leading man” doesn’t make his being out and proud any less important to the community. What Harvey Milk said about the importance of everyone coming out is still as true today as it was then.
“Once they realize … that we are indeed everywhere, every myth, every lie, every innuendo will be destroyed once and all.”
Cam
@Polaro:
Actually he has played pretty boys before. But you know, keep on trying to downgrade him.
balehead
He means more Broadway..less Movies….Hollywood is still pretty backwards….
QTYMann
I still think he should do some films with Charlie David.
M
I’m the least shocked.
I recall some people saying he would lose his career when he came out, just like Neil Patrick Harris, Ellen and Anderson Cooper LOL
tdx3fan
@M: “I recall some people saying he would lose his career when he came out, just like Neil Patrick Harris, Ellen and Anderson Cooper LOL”
Lets realistically examine. Zachary may have an upcoming role as Spock, but that role is more based on the looks of the actor (has to look a CERTAIN way) than it is anything else. Also, Star Trek has been going more gay friendly than just about everything else. Other than that, he has mostly been television not Hollywood.
Neil Patrick Harris has only done television and low rent movies. Ellen has not acted except for a few commercials. She has her own show, but so did Rosie O’Donnel. Daytime loves them some funny lesbians. AC just lost his own show and only has his news anchor gig to fall back on. He is not exactly doing any progress in his career. It is more like fall back.
That is not to say that Hollywood could never accept a gay leading man, but that gay leading man is going to have to so non-stereotypical that he makes straight men look effeminate. It really has a lot less to do with being gay and a lot less to do with the actions you can and cannot make to make people convinced you are actually straight. Since there are about ten times more straight roles than gay ones, if you cannot act straight then you might have a problem unless you like Broadway, where typically, no one can act straight.
miagoodguy
Glad he came out and his career is going strong, but he isn’t a leading man actor type on the big screen. He isn’t a Ryan Reynolds, Tom Cruise, or Channing Tatum type. I will be more impressed when one of those type of actors comes out and keeps those roles (or when an actor comes out and actually gets those types of roles). At this point it is “easier” to come out when you are a TV, character, supporting, ensemble actor type. It is a good step, but not as risky of a career move as some make it out to be.
multitasker
@tdx3fan: “Neil Patrick Harris has only done television and low rent movies. Ellen has not acted except for a few commercials.”
Um, Neil Patrick Harris has worked in highly successful ventures almost continuously since a kid, especially on Broadway, e.g. “Rent.” Ellen was never as much about acting as stand-up and quite successful at it, which is why she got her own show on ABC; AND Covergirl even picked her up as a spokes model after she came out publicly. Ellen may have hurt briefly, but otherwise neither of their careers has suffered from their coming out. As for Anderson Cooper, becoming chief anchor for a news outfit is pretty much the pinnacle of the journalism field; and achieving the degree of power over his career that he has is uncommon.
Finally, Hollywood (much of Los Angeles, really) is sociopathically obsessed with public image. Few other places in the Western world are as narcissistic as LA culture demands. While a great deal of that pathology has roots in the old studio system, today it’s more the regional culture than the overall entertainment industries’ influences, I believe. The irony there is that being queer is totally accepted—nay, embraced—in LA County.