Out actor Denis O'Hare has said that he
felt honored to play a transgender character on American Horror
Story: Hotel.
The 57-year-old O'Hare is best known
for his four roles on American Horror Story, as well as his
portrayal of Russell Edgington on HBO's True Blood. He
received critical acclaim for playing Liz Taylor in American
Horror Story: Hotel.
(Related: True
Blood's
Denis O'Hare marries boyfriend in New York City.)
Speaking with Entertainment Weekly,
O'Hare said that he assumed he was playing a man in drag rather than
a transgender woman.
“I felt honored to play this
character, and when we did it in 2015, this was sort of the last
moment when a cisgender man could play a trans character or play a
female character,” O'Hare said.
“My rationale for that was, we didn’t
know what the character was when it was written. Initially, I assumed
that Liz was a man in drag who maybe had a male counterpart. As we
got into it deeper, we all realized that wasn’t the case… we
didn’t know that at first.”
“As the character is growing into her
own identity, I’m growing into her identity. It was really
interesting,” he
added.
The show's ninth season, American
Horror Story: 1984, began airing last week.
(Related: Gus
Kenworthy defends playing straight on American
Horror Story: 1984.)