Openly Gay Actors

Pedro Andrade is known for The Companionist (2008), Pedro pelo Mundo (2016) and 1st Look NY (2007).

Scott Hislop is an actor, dancer, choreographer and producer, known for A Cinderella Story: Starstruck (2021), La La Land (2016), The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008) and Titanic (1997). Originally from Reno, Nevada, he has made Los Angeles his home for nearly three decades. He has enjoyed a career both in front of and behind the camera, working on some of the biggest projects of film and television.

Barrett Pall is known for One Day I'm Gonna Whistle (2012), The Comment Section (2022) and Britney Spears Live: The Femme Fatale Tour (2011).

Derren Brown was born on 27 February 1971 in Croydon, Surrey, England, UK. He is a producer and writer, known for Ghost Stories (2017), Derren Brown: The Experiments (2011) and Crooked House (2008).

Simon Sherry-Wood was born on 7 November 1984 in Dublin, Ireland. He is an actor, known for But She's My Best Friend (2016), The Real World (1992) and RuPaul's Drag Race (2009).

Wes Hurley (born Vasili Naumenko) is a Russian-born Seattle-based filmmaker, writer and actor. He wrote, directed and produced two features - the queer pop-art comedy musical "Fallen Jewel" and a documentary "Waxie Moon" - in addition to over a dozen shorts. Hurley is also the creator of the critically-acclaimed "Capitol Hill" TV/web series which was produced in partnership with Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. Hurley is Advocate Magazine's Person to Watch, City Arts Magazine's Artist of the Year and a recipient of Seattle Mayor's Artist Grant. His autobiographical "Little Potato" - co-directed with Nathan Miller - won Best Short Documentary Jury Prize at 2017 SXSW.

Michael was born and raised in Fresno, California. There he found a love for art, music and life- Performing in almost every local talent show, family gathering and theater, he learned how to sing, act, play piano and dance. Realizing a need for greater opportunities, Michael traveled to Los Angeles and booked his first Little Debbie Commercial at the age of thirteen where he sang "My Girl". Michael continues to pursue both acting and music, writing and performing his original songs.

Dan Donigan is known for O'Brian's Apples (2014), Glamour Magazine: RuPaul's Drag Race Cast Shows Us the Last Things on Their Phones (2018) and RuPaul's Drag Race (2009).

Derrence Washington is known for The Trinket (2010), Hipster Treatment (2009) and Olympus: A Retrospective (2023).

Born in Chateauroux, France, Matthieu Charneau moved to Paris after high school where he applied and was accepted into the prestigious Cours Florent, a legendary French acting school.

Soon thereafter a string of successful short-films followed, most notably Coup de Grace, directed by Justin Wu, which was selected at the International Film Festival of San Jose.

This visibility offered Matthieu to collaborate with renowned artists such as Frank Ocean, Pierre and Gilles, Ricardo Gomes, Laurent Humbert... being featured in numerous editorials for publications such as V Magazine, Out Magazine, i-D, Citizen K, Yearbook, Les Inrockuptibles and quickly gained notoriety.

After his acting school graduation, in 2015, Charneau joins Lee Jones, Stephen Moyer and Katey Sagal in Kurt Sutter's new FX Series The Bastard Executioner and in 2016, he plays in Les Nouvelles Folies Francaises, directed by Thomas Blanchard.

Portuguese Director, Carlos Conceicao's Bad Bunny, featuring Matthieu Charneau in a leading role, premiered at the 70th Cannes Films Festival in May 2017 and was selected at the 40th Clermont Ferrand International Short Film Festival in 2018, and the 48th edition of New Directors/New Films at the Film Society of Lincoln Center and The MoMA in New York.

In 2017, Matthieu worked with British-Nigerian director Joseph a. Adesunloye on his second feature film Faces; a follow up to his much acclaimed White Colour Black. Faces is a multi-narrative feature film set in London. The film which features international stars Terry Pheto & Shingai Shoniwa sees Matthieu playing the leading role of Gaspard and won the Best LGBTQ Feature Film Award at the International Durban Film Festival in 2018.

Continuing on his thriving journey in films de genre, Matthieu has reunited this year with Portuguese Director Carlos Conceicao on his new feature film - Um Fio De Baba Escarlate / Name Above Title - set in Portugal and centered around the exploits of an infamous serial killer, played by Charneau himself.

During the last couple years, Matthieu has been experimenting his passion for film-making while shooting and directing short films on cellphones, using the raw aspect to tell stories set between fiction and nonfiction. His first music video, featuring American singer artist Vylet will be airing at the end of 2019.

Max von Essen is known for Elementary (2012), The Good Wife (2009) and Gossip Girl (2007).

Harley Rodriguez was born on 22 April 1973 in Downey, California, USA. He is an actor, known for Sweet Valley High (1994), V.I.P. (1998) and Price of Glory (2000). He has been married to Jonathan Knight since 26 June 2015.

Joel Grey's father, Mickey Katz, created "Borscht Capades" in the early 1950s. Mickey Katz was a musician -- a clarinetist and a saxophone player -- in bands around the east. Mickey was performing, playing in a band in Cleveland, Ohio, which is where Joel Grey was born. Musician and bandleader Spike Jones needed a clarinet player who could do bits, funny things. Mickey went on the road with Jones' band for about a year, the Katz family ending up, as the band all went to California.

One day his father Mickey was doing a recording session at the Sunset Boulevard RCA-Victor recording studio in Hollywood, and during a break, Mickey always wrote parodies to pop songs for fun and had just written this parody -- he was singing it to one of the other Jewish musicians. Unbeknownst to him the microphone was open in the control room and this group of non-Jewish, white-bread heads of RCA-Victor were sitting there and he's singing a Yiddish song. They didn't know what he was singing but they were laughing and laughing and they decided to record it. The recording became an enormous hit. The records were so successful Mickey put together a variety show that sold out every week in Los Angeles at the Wilshire Ebell Theater. Joel knew, even at 9, that he was going to become an actor. When his father had this variety show, Joel said, "How can I be in it?" And his father said, "Well, what do you want to do?" Joel replied, "I don't know how to sing and I don't dance, but I'll run around and I'll move."

So Joel's aunt dropped him a song that was a big record in New York, a Yiddish song -- it was a million words and very fast and it was very popular with the audience -- and Joel learned it by rote. Joel had no idea what he was saying or singing and the next thing he knew, he was boxed in to being a song-and-dance man as opposed to an actor. "Romania, Romania." The song was like a Danny Kaye spectacular, fast, patter song that left a lot of room to dance and sing and mug and do all the things like his hero at the time -- Jerry Lewis. Maybe two years, Eddie Cantor saw Joel in Florida and put him on his "Colgate Comedy Hour' television show, and that was the end of the "Borscht Capades" for Joel, and the beginning of Joel's long tenure in night clubs all over the country.

Manila Luzon was born on 10 August 1981 in Cottage Grove, Minnesota, USA. He is an actor and producer, known for Manila Luzon: Hot Couture (2012), General Hospital (1963) and Manila Luzon feat. Willam: That's a Man, Maury (2017). He has been married to Michael Alvarez since 24 December 2017.

Jamie Lambert is known for BKLYN (2021), Sunday Night at the Palladium (2014) and Loose Women (1999).

Steven Dehler is known for Cherry Pop (2017), Bitch Perfect (2016) and Amanda Lepore: Buckle Up (2019).

Jose Llana was born in Manila, Philippines and raised near Washington, D.C. He moved to New York City after high school to attend The Manhattan School of Music Conservatory as a classical voice major. At the age of nineteen, during his freshman year, he landed his first starring role on Broadway in The King and I as Lun Tha opposite Lou Diamond Phillips and Donna Murphy. Other Broadway: Chip Tolentino in The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (Drama Desk Award), Wang Ta in Flower Drum Song (starring opposite Lea Salonga), Angel in Rent, Jessie-Lee in Streetcorner Symphony. Off-Broadway: Gabey in On the Town (Delacorte Theater, NYSF) and Saturn Returns at The Public Theater. Regional: Martin Guerre (Guillaume, Guthrie Theater), Ballad of Little Jo (The Steppenwolf Theater, Jefferson Nomination - Best Supporting Actor), Candide (The Prince Theater, Barrymore Nomination - Best Actor).

Born on the beautiful shores of Lake Superior, at the age of twenty Odin traveled to Russia to train at the Moscow Art Theater School-Studio (MXAT) for three months and ended up staying in Moscow for fifteen years.

Graduated from MXAT with honors in 2009, one of only two Americans and a handful of foreigners to have ever graduated from the traditional (Russian-language) acting program. Studies were followed by a five-year run as beloved intern Phil Richards on Russia's most popular sitcom "Interns".

In 2013, an unexpected invitation from renowned director Kirill Serebrennikov ("The Student", "Leto", "Petrov's Flu") to play the lead role of Pavel Ivanovich Chichikov in his staging of Nikolai Gogol's "Dead Souls" lead to eight prolific years as a troupe actor at Russia's acclaimed contemporary theater, Gogol Center where Odin was involved in more than fifteen premieres, two Golden Mask nominations for best actor and participated in multiple international festivals, including three residencies at Festival d'Avignon ("Dead Souls" 2016, "Outside" 2019, "The Black Monk" 2022).

In July 2022 Serebrennikov's "The Black Monk" (Thalia Theater, Hamburg) opened the 2022 Festival d'Avignon at the Palais de Papes. On May 18th, 2022 Odin walked the red carpet at the 75th Festival de Cannes, presenting Serebrennikov's film "Tchaikovsky's Wife" where Odin played Pyotr Tchaikovsky.

In March of 2022 Odin left Moscow permanently due to Russia's aggression in Ukraine. Berlin-based since 2022. Currently a guest actor at Hamburg's Thalia Theater.

Henry W. Laster is best known for doing the voice-over for L.E.S in Love at First Byte (1988) and as Kent Flankman in Salute Your Shorts (1991).

Born on December 12, 1978 in Miami, Florida, Laster's first experience was in elementary school singing the song Fifty Nifty United States. His love and respect for theatre deepened as his love for theatre from that day going forward.

What people don't know is that he didn't love being a kid. Racing toward adulthood to escape bullying, he began writing jokes for stand up. Getting picked on and feeling disenfranchised is a subject that's very near to Henry's heart. This experience was a traumatic one because it kept bringing up unresolved feelings left over from childhood.

He was so obsessive in his goal to try to be what he thought others wanted.

He is incredibly active in anti-racism and anti-bullying campaigns, but he has never has been recognized for his unwavering dedication.

Through his hard work, Henry has had the opportunity to be heard, to extend his point of view and become regarded as a true pioneer in his field. He takes none of it for granted.

Not one to rest on his laurels, Henry spent whatever free time he had working on finding his next gig.

Laster can also be seen in Miracle of the Heart: A Boys Town Story (1986), Christmas Angel (2012), and Tammy (2014).

Matthew Risch was born on 20 August 1981 in Salem, Massachussets, USA. He is an actor and director, known for Sex and the City 2 (2010), Test (2013) and How to Get Away with Murder (2014).

Tom Goss is known for Shared Rooms (2016), Reshaping Beauty: Round in All the Right Places (2019) and Out to Kill (2014).

Jason Somerville is known for América (2018), Out in the Open (2013) and Poker Night in America (2014).

Bob Harper was born on 18 August 1965 in Nashville, Tennessee, USA. He is an actor, known for Bob Harper: Beginner's Weight Loss Transformation (2011), Bob Harper: Totally Ripped Core (2011) and Bob Harper: Ultimate Cardio Body (2011).

Jeff Hiller is an actor and comedian known for Somebody, Somewhere. Hiller started as a performer at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre in New York and has also performed on Broadway in "Bloody, Bloody Andrew Jackson", in NYC's Shakespeare in the Park, and Off-Broadway in "Silence" (The musical version of "Silence of the Lambs").

Jesse Archer was born on 30 June 1977 in Taiwan, Republic of China. He is an actor and producer, known for A Four Letter Word (2007), Violet Tendencies (2010) and Half-Share (2011).