There is a still a fear in Hollywood of getting typecast for playing gay, and that if you take more than one or two gay roles, you’ll be in a career cul-de-sac. It’s the same fear that stops a lot of famous folk from coming out – that suddenly you won’t be cast as straight characters (which of course is most roles).
However, Michael Urie has been playing gay roles on screen since WTC View in 2005, before becoming far more famous as a scheming gay assistant in Ugly Betty. During the run of that show he also came out publicly. Since then he’s played several other gay roles, both on stage and screen, including in thre TV show Partners and the indie movie Such Good People.
However, talking to Metro Source, he’s suggested that people have been telling him since he first became an actor, he shouldn’t have played gay or come out. He says, “When I first came on TV, there were people who said to me, “Don’t come out of the closet because if this doesn’t work out, you won’t be able to play straight roles.
“Even recently people have told me that I need to stop playing so many gay roles. But I just think: I work! I’m busy!”
He adds, “I do a lot of gay roles because they’re awesome! And because they’re different. I think the concern is being typecast as gay. But being typecast as gay is as silly as being typecast as straight. The idea that there’s only one type of gay character is an antiquated idea.”
Indeed, Urie thinks playing gay has actually helped his career, saying, “If I didn’t play gay characters – if I wasn’t out of the closet – I would just not work as much. You wouldn’t know who I was.”
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