Daniel Radcliffe Frustrated Gay Actors Can’t Come Out In Hollywood For Fear Of Typecasting

Daniel Radcliffe certainly hasn’t hidden his support for the LGBT community, standing up to use his fame to speak out as well as help raise money for the likes of The Trevor Project. However, he’s also aware that within his own industry, there’s still a long way to go for true equality.

On the BBC’s Victoria Derbyshire show, he was asked why he thought so few actors have come out. He answered, “I suppose because, then, people just want to cast you as gay.”

He added, “There’s very few [openly gay actors], well, Neil Patrick Harris has made a career out of playing the straightest guy on television, which is fantastic. But in film, yeah, it’s sad, because, again, we’re in this industry that likes to see itself as being totally progressive and liberal, but there is a line where people go, ‘Oh no, people won’t buy him as straight anymore’.”

Rumours suggest there are still quite a few well-known names in Hollywood who aren’t open about their true sexuality, with many agents unafraid to pressure their clients to keep quiet for fear telling the truth will limit their career. It’s also been suggested there an extra difficulties for even those in the closet, with studio execs worried about the effect on the box office if their sexuality became public, and so they’d prefer not to take the ‘risk’.

Radcliffe is currently promoting Imperium, in which he plays an FBI agent who goes undercover into a white supremacist group.