In an interview with the Los Angeles
Times, out actor Jim Parsons was asked to weigh in on the debate
about straight actors playing LGBT roles.
Parsons, 47, is best known for playing
Sheldon Cooper – a straight role – in the CBS sitcom The Big
Bang Theory.
After quietly coming out in 2012,
Parsons married longtime boyfriend Todd Spiewak in 2017.
(Related: Jim
Parsons says coming out gay helped his career.)
When asked about the ongoing debate
about whether straight actors should portray LGBT characters in films
and television shows, Parsons replied that the “fight” was about
ensuring that “all parts are open to all actors.”
“There’s definitely this spectrum:
I think the fight, as it were, is not about having only gay people
play the gay parts but to ensure that all parts are open to all
actors,” he
said. “It’s important that gay characters are portrayed as
well-rounded and completely human individuals.”
“And there are plenty of straight
actors who have played gay characters brilliantly. I think ‘Brokeback
Mountain’ is one of the most touching gay movies and love stories I
have ever seen, and those two straight actors [Heath Ledger and Jake
Gyllenhaal] were the best choices for those roles,” he said.
Parsons last appeared in the Netflix
film The
Boys in the Band, which includes gay themes.