Thank you for coming out, Matt Damon.

[Silver]

18 out actors who proved Matt Damon wrong.

http://www.pride.com/lgbt/2015/9/28/18-o...amon-wrong

[Clueless Morgan]

“But in terms of actors, I think you’re a better actor the less people know about you period. And sexuality is a huge part of that. Whether you’re straight or gay, people shouldn’t know anything about your sexuality because that’s one of the mysteries that you should be able to play.”

Bolding mine

Yeah, the minute you get married you're kind of tipping your hat on your sexuality (except in the case of those who are bi), so how about this: let's stop caring about the sexuality of the actor and just see whether they played the role they were hired to play well?

It doesn't matter whether Jim Parsons or Neil Patrick Harris or Zachary Quinto are gay and playing straight men (or half-human-half-Vulcans), or whether Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal are straight and playing gay men, they played those roles well and that's all that matters in the end, not their real life sexuality.

And I think it's a really naive statement to make that the less the public knows about actors the better. Celebrity culture is a thing, people want to know about celebrities' real lives, to just tell celebrities to be more private shows some profound ignorance about the nature and culture of "celebrity."

[Lemonvariable72]

Bolding mine

Yeah, the minute you get married you're kind of tipping your hat on your sexuality (except in the case of those who are bi), so how about this: let's stop caring about the sexuality of the actor and just see whether they played the role they were hired to play well?

It doesn't matter whether Jim Parsons or Neil Patrick Harris or Zachary Quinto are gay and playing straight men (or half-human-half-Vulcans), or whether Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal are straight and playing gay men, they played those roles well and that's all that matters in the end, not their real life sexuality.

And I think it's a really naive statement to make that the less the public knows about actors the better. Celebrity culture is a thing, people want to know about celebrities' real lives, to just tell celebrities to be more private shows some profound ignorance about the nature and culture of "celebrity."

I think he's right on the money actually. As a actor your a chemoleon by trade. The less people know about you the less they see you and the more they see what your trying to portray. Look at the greatest performance in our time, heath ledgers joker. When you saw him did you see heath ledger? Or even an actor? No you saw an insane pyschopath that wanted to watch the world burn. Would that have been possible if we had preconceived notions of heath ledger?

[Ravenshire]

I think he's right on the money actually. As a actor your a chemoleon by trade. The less people know about you the less they see you and the more they see what your trying to portray. Look at the greatest performance in our time, heath ledgers joker. When you saw him did you see heath ledger? Or even an actor? No you saw an insane pyschopath that wanted to watch the world burn. Would that have been possible if we had preconceived notions of heath ledger?

Many of us had preconceived notions of Heath Ledger. He stole the show and pulled us in anyway.

How good an actor/actress you are is paramount. Everything else is background noise.

[Clueless Morgan]

I think he's right on the money actually. As a actor your a chemoleon by trade. The less people know about you the less they see you and the more they see what your trying to portray. Look at the greatest performance in our time, heath ledgers joker. When you saw him did you see heath ledger? Or even an actor? No you saw an insane pyschopath that wanted to watch the world burn. Would that have been possible if we had preconceived notions of heath ledger?

I concur 100% with SOW; I DEFINITELY had preconceived notions of Heath Ledger. I knew him from not-great movies like 10 Things I Hate About You and A Knight's Tale and one actually good performance from Brokeback Mountain. His performance in Dark Knight superseded the preconceived notions I had of him and I forgot that he was an actor with some bad credits to his name and some personal problems in his real life and just enjoyed what he was doing in that movie.

The actor's personal life is ultimately immaterial when the actor gives a good performance, that's why I don't personally buy Damon's "just be more personal" statement.

[Fake Messiah]

You know there also seems to be another actor that is trying to "come out":

[Reforged]

Anyone else think the "lecturing on diversity" was actually just him saying "we should hire people based on ability, not skin color".

[Reforged]

Yes, what a pity that Neil Patrick Harris, Jim Parsons, Ian McKellan and Stephen Fry just can't seem to find work....

Boru

Didn't all of those names you just mentioned keep quiet about it till they reached the heights of stardom required to rise above the inevitable tidal wave of shit that would come their way?

[The Magic Pudding.]

Rock Hudson?

Ronald Reagan?

One doesn't make all.

I had gay sex with Ronald Reagan.
It was in a dream but he initiated it.

[Fake Messiah]