‘I do present as gay’: Tom Hollander opens up about his sexuality after playing queer characters

LONDON: Tom Hollander has spoken frankly about roles and his sexuality as he played gay characters in his latest television series.

The British actor played the gay criminal Quentin in ‘The White Lotus’ Season 2 and in the new series ‘Feud: Capote vs The Swans’ he will portray the gay author Truman Capote.

Tom Hollander says he plays ‘believable’ gay roles

Hollander shared recently, “I have been asked to play several gay characters over the years. […].”

He went on to say, “People keep asking me to do it because apparently when I play these characters, it’s believable. And that’s, in a way, where my job begins and ends."

“For some reason, who I am, who I am as a person allows me to present as gay. Yeah, sometimes I do present as gay. […]” he admitted. 

“I’m somebody that walks into a room and there are some people who walk into the room, you go, ‘Well, they’re not gay,’ and, ‘They are gay.’ My own sexuality is sufficiently liberal to have encompassed many different experiences, which are not anyone’s business,” the ‘Pride and Prejudice’ star said.

Tom Hollander says he has 'not lived in the shadows' 

He also mentioned, “I certainly have not lived the life that gay men used to have to live. I’ve not lived that difficulty. I’ve not had to live in the shadows and been under the threat of going to jail for expressing my sexuality.”

Hollander expressed his views on straight artists doing gay characters. He added, “What shouldn’t be sacrificed is the sort of basic fundamental principle of actors being able to play things that they are not necessarily, because then that’s not art.”

Tom Hollander’s fans hail him for his work

A fan of him tweeted on X, “One of his more notable gay roles was the 90s indie film Bedrooms & Hallways, where he and Hugo Weaving played a kinky couple on the down-low.”

“I wasn’t sure about him playing Truman Capote, after Phillip Seymour Hoffman’s Oscar award-winning performance, but everything I’ve seen so far he looks excellent.” a person on Facebook wrote.

Another one said, “He was great in ‘Bedrooms and Hallways.’”

Tom Hollander remembers Treat Williams

Hollander remembered his ‘Feud: Capote vs The Swans’ late co-star Treat Williams, who lost his life in a motorcycle accident in June 2023.

The 56-year-old actor told People, “It's very, very tragic and it's quite difficult for us to talk about because he was right there just now. We haven't really mourned him.”

“We were just getting to know him. He was a very, very sweet spirit. He was the most positive up, glass-half-full enthusiast,” he added.