Greg Berlanti’s gay-themed teen movie Love, Simon has received some great reviews and strong word of mouth since it opened in the US last Friday. The promotion of the film has also revealed a few interesting titbits about the cast, such as Joey Pollari revealing publicly for the first time that he is gay himself.

Pollari, who plays Lyle in the movie, is a former Disney actor who appeared in the likes of Skyrunner and Avalon High, as well MTV’s US version of The Inbetweeners. The 23-year-old spoke to The Advocate about how he came out to family and friends when he was 18, but had now decided to be open more widely.

He says of coming out, “I think all my friends and family knew on some level. I think maybe two people were shocked.”

“The only part that was difficult was me coming out to myself. And I think that is the most difficult coming-out.” He adds that “My mom knew. She laid hints for me everywhere,” and was waiting for him to come out.

While the film’s lead actor, Nick Robinson, is straight in real life, he spoke to Ellen recently about how his younger brother same out as gay during the making of Love, Simon. He told her, “I think that he had been dealing with this for a long time and this was – I think the timing was sort of coincidental but one of the best things that came out of this movie is just being able to talk to him. I think that’s the strength of a film like this is that it starts conversations, and I hope that it can do that for more people.”