Actor Joey Pollari says in a new interview that being openly gay hasn't affected his career.

Pollari plays Lyle in the film Love, Simon. The movie from out director Greg Berlanti follows 17-year-old Simon (played by Nick Robinson) as he begins a correspondence with another closeted teen.

Speaking to UK glossy Attitude, Pollari, who has previously said that he came out to his family and friends five years ago at the age of 18, said that he's not worried about being open about his sexuality in Hollywood.

“No, I’m not too worried about it,” Pollari said. “I don’t feel that it’s affected me. You know, maybe talk to me in five or ten years and I’ll have a different answer, but no. I think the problems are there, but I think a lot of the quote unquote ‘problems’ I’ve run into have been more self-imposed. Even let’s say hypothetically the industry does make it harder [for me], some of that for me – and I can only speak from my own personal experience – is self-imposed. I know a lot of people who’ve made incredible, incredible careers being out and playing all kinds of sexualities. The problem is there, I don’t want to be misunderstood – there’s definitely people being out and not being hired because of that. And we all have to face that struggle. But I think we’re seeing more and more now, especially in this era of making our own content, authenticity and individuality are becoming a commodity more and more. We’re really celebrating people who are brave enough to come out and have the careers they desire. I don’t mean to underplay the difficulty that remains there, but in my own personal experience some of that difficulty has been self-imposed.”

“What do you mean by self-imposed?” he was asked.

“That I’m a gay man and I can’t play straight roles. That’s the biggest one. I just don’t think it’s true whatsoever. It’s ridiculous that we think sexuality is the defining thing that we cannot break out of. You know, when I played a rapist I did not need to have that experience to have that understanding! It’s an old idea and a pervasive one in our culture that our sexuality is rigid or that because I’m gay I don’t know what it’s like to be straight or vice versa. I mean, lots of straight actors have played gay roles brilliantly, there’s no argument about that. And it goes both ways. The acting thing, I go through it not with one part of me but with all parts of me: the gay guy from Minnesota; the parents that I have; the things I saw and experienced; it’s too wide a range to say ‘oh you’re gay, you can’t play a straight role,'” he explained.