Luke Evans Says He 'Wouldn't Have Had a Career' If Gay Actors Could Only Play Gay Roles
Jeff Spicer/Getty Images Luke Evans
Luke Evans doesn't believe that an actor's sexuality has to match that of a character they're playing.
The 43-year-old actor, who is openly gay, acknowledged in an interview with The Telegraph published Thursday that "gay people have definitely missed out on gay roles," when asked about quotes Doctor Who showrunner Russell T. Davies gave last year.
While The Telegraph didn't specify Davies' quotes, the latter said in a 2021 interview with The New York Times that he believed, for the most part, only gay actors should be permitted to play gay roles.
And though Evans is "not sure about that," he does concede that he understands where Davies, 59, is coming from and "totally think(s) that things do need to change."
"But from my perspective: firstly, I wouldn't have had a career if gay people played gay roles and straight people played straight roles," he said.
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Everett Luke Evans in Fast & Furious 6 (2013)
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"I'd have played two roles out of the 36 projects I've worked on, or whatever [the number] is," the Beauty and the Beast star continued.
Evans also revealed that he believes it's more important that "the right person gets the job," whatever said job may be, based on "talent and ability, and a bit of luck and timing."
"That should be the reason why you get a job," he added. "It shouldn't have anything to do with anything else."
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Personally, Evans said he has "lived an openly gay life" from the time he was in his teen years, but remembers being "told I have to come out again, like it's a big thing" when he was breaking into the film scene 14 years later, around age 30.
"So that was weird, and to have to endure that was unpleasant — the public opinion saying that I went back in the closet and all that stuff. Absolutely ridiculous," Evans recalled.
Specifically, the Echo 3 actor remembers attending a world premiere with a female friend and the two having "giggled so hard" about a report that she was his girlfriend.
"[But] the next thing is: 'Luke Evans has a beard and he's hiding away!' How wrong people are!" he said. "And how quickly a story can be made up to the point where I hid it away. And I didn't at all."
