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Queer Character, Queer Actor - TV Tropes

  • ️Thu Oct 06 2016

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/QueerCharacterQueerActor

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Queer Character, Queer Actor (trope)

"I play a lesbian dentist — which is a big stretch because I am a lesbian, but I'm not a dentist."

When the actor cast to play a queer role identifies in the same way as their character, such as a gay man played by a gay actor, a trans woman by a trans actress, and so on.

With the prominence of LGBT visibility since the 2000s and especially after the 2010s, this trope has become increasingly desirable, especially to make up for the decades-old Double Standard in Hollywood where straight actors would play queer characters and win awards left and right (such as Hilary Swank winning an Oscar for Boys Don't Cry), while actually-queer actors had to either spend their lives in the closet or come out and watch their careers sink. In fact, many once-acclaimed performances are now looked at more critically because the character would constantly talk about being queer without ever acting on it, or their romantic scenes were tepid at best, all because the actor wasn't comfortable shooting love scenes with a same-gender co-star. Casting a queer actor for such a role helps ensure that they won't be squeamish about a Big Damn Kiss and/or sex scene.

The casting directors may not have been actually looking for someone queer to play such roles, but the actors were deemed best for the roles which may be because of the genuine portrayal. Note that though the actor and character may both be queer, they may not identify the same way. In this way, the trope may be downplayed or sometimes invoked because of the casting directors wanting an openly queer actor in the role and settling for whatever they can find.

However, it is actually illegal in some jurisdictions (including California and New York State) for casting directors to seek out actors of a certain sexual orientation or to even ask about it. This is due to employment laws meant to protect LGBT actors from blacklisting. When this trope is in effect, it's usually because queer actors seek out these roles and can apply their personal experience to the part.

Of course, this also works in the reverse: openly queer actors playing straight/cisgender characters, though this is rarer than its inverse, which leads to some questioning of Hollywood standards (queer people can only play queer, but straight people can play anyone).

Transgender actors run into a unique set of problems: when a role calls for a trans character, casting directors often cast cisgender actors and paint them up like drag queens, implying that trans people are just crossdressing. Cis women playing trans women and cis men playing trans men tend to be better received but may still be criticized for taking the role from the pool of trans actors. In fact, transgender actors are very rarely cast for non-trans roles, and if they're able to pass as their target gender, they might even be turned down for trans roles for not looking stereotypically "trans enough".

Interesting instances arise when an actor comes out once already an established character within a universe, and then their character's storyline follows suit. Similarly, it's not uncommon for an actor to realize they're queer after playing a queer character.

Subtrope of Actor-Shared Background, and Sister Trope of Disabled Character, Disabled Actor. Contrast to Trans Character, Cis Actor. Not to be confused with Cast Full of Gay, although there can be overlap if the actors playing said cast members are also LGBT+.

Examples:

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Anime 

Due to very few numbers of Japanese voice actors who have been identified as a part of the LGBT+ spectrum, most of these examples are in the dubbed versions.

Multiple Examples (by actor):

Multiple Examples (by series):

  • Both the English dubs of given and Sasaki and Miyano feature queer characters played by queer actors (with some actors appearing in both series):
    • given: In addition to the aforementioned Ritsuka, his love interest Mafuyu is voiced by the queer Brandon McInnis. There's also Jonah Scott (who is bisexual) voices the bisexual Akihiko (who used to be in a relationship with the aforementioned Murata) and Brendan Blaber (who is bisexual) voices Mafuyu's previous boyfriend, Yuuki (both actors also appeared in the show below). The dub is also directed by the gay David Wald.
    • Sasaki and Miyano: The title characters Sasaki and Miyano, both implicitly bisexual, are voiced respectively by the bisexual Kellen Goff and the non-binary Joshua Waters (both actors also appeared in the show above with the latter also playing a queer character). In addition, Brandon McInnis voices the gay supporting character Hirano (whose love interest is the aforementioned Kagiura).
  • I'm In Love With the Villainess (a yuri series):
    • Non-binary transgender voice actor Ciarán Strange voices Yu Bauer who is afflicted with a crosswise curse, a communicable disease which changes a person's gender representation unless under a full moon.
    • Rae's English VA, Hannah Alyea, is also non-binary with she-they pronouns.
    • Claire's English VA, Lindsay Sheppard, is genderfluid and goes with she/they pronouns as well as bisexual.
    • Lily's Split Personality is voiced by the non-binary Dallas Reid in English. Lily herself is voiced by queer Jill Harris.
  • Reign of the Seven Spellblades:
    • Carlos Whitrow was assigned male at birth but was magically neutered and uses they/them pronouns. In the English dub, they're voiced by non-binary voice actor Dallas Reid.
      • Kiba Walker, who is gay, briefly took over for Reid as Carlos, but would later go to voice Tim Linton, who is also gay.
    • In the same dub, Pete Reston, a Sex Shifter who was originally assigned male at birth, is voiced by Lexi Nieto, who is non-binary (using both gender-neutral and female pronouns).
  • In the GKIDS dub of Tokyo Godfathers, the assigned-male-at-birth Hana is voiced by trans actress Shakina Nayfack. From the same movie's dub, Hana's mother is voiced by gender non-conforming Kate Bornstein.

Individual Examples:

Film — Animated 

Film — Live-Action 

Live-Action TV 

  • 13 Reasons Why:
    • Ryan, who is a gay man, played by Tommy Dorfman, who also identified as a gay man at the time but has since come out as a trans lesbian.
    • In the fourth season, Alex (played by queer actor Miles Heizer) also comes out as queer.
  • 4400:
    • Theo Germaine, who plays trans boy Noah, is bisexual, transgender, and nonbinary.
    • Dr. Andre Davis is trans, as is his actor T.L. Thompson.
    • Wilder Yari, who portrays Jessica Tanner, Keisha's girlfriend, is queer.
    • Kausar Mohammed is queer like her character Soraya.
  • 9-1-1: Gay operator Josh Russo is played by gay actor Bryan Safi.
  • 9-1-1: Lone Star:
  • Abby's: Abby is a bisexual woman, played by queer actor Natalie Morales, who has said her pronouns are she/they.
  • Accused (2023): In "Robyn's Story", J. Harrison Ghee, who's a pansexual nonbinary actor, plays Robyn who is at the very least a gay man (or maybe nonbinary too) and performs drag like Ghee.
  • The Acolyte: Lesbian Rebecca Henderson plays Jedi Vernestra Rwoh, who's aromantic asexual.
  • Agatha All Along:
    • "Teen" who is really Billy Maximoff is gay and has a boyfriend. His actor Joe Locke is also gay.
    • Bisexual actress Aubrey Plaza plays Rio Vidal, who is confirmed to have been in a relationship with Agatha.
    • Jennifer Kale is bisexual in the comics, in the show Jennifer finds Rio attractive. The actor playing her, Sasheer Zamata also came out as lesbian just before the press tour.
    • Queer Miles Gutierrez-Riley plays Eddie, "Teen"'s boyfriend.
  • AJ and the Queen: Series creator and star RuPaul is gay as are most of the actors who play the show's many queer characters.
  • American Gods (2017):
  • Andi Mack: Cyrus, who came out as gay during the series, was played by Joshua Rush, who is bisexual. However, Rush came out after the show ended, making this a retroactive example.
  • Bisexual actress Nicole Pacent played lesbian Aster in the web series Anyone But Me.
  • A.P. Bio:
    • Helen is eventually revealed to be a lesbian and is played by the openly gay Paula Pell.
    • Devin is briefly stated to be fluid in one episode, and is played by queer actor Jacob McCarthy.
  • The Arrowverse has a variety of queer characters played by queer actors:
    • Wentworth Miller, who initially plays the straight Leonard Snart/Captain Cold from Earth-1 and then the gay "Leo" Snart/Citizen Cold from Earth-X. In 2020, Miller announced that he would no longer play straight characters hence why he refused to return for a sixth season of Prison Break.
    • Russell Tovey, who plays the gay Ray Terrill/The Ray, is also gay himself. In fact, Leo and Ray are dating. It's unclear if Ray's Earth-X doppelganger (also voiced by Tovey) was gay, as he's killed before this can be revealed.
    • While Victor Garber, who is gay, plays the straight (and happily married) Professor Stein, the Flash episode "Duet" features an alternate universe where Stein is married to a man.
    • In a similar way, queer actress Maisie Richardson-Sellers initially played the straight Amaya Jiwe (Vixen) in Legends of Tomorrow but in season 4, she got recast as pansexual demon Charlie.
    • Gay villain-turned-good guy Hartley Rathway, aka Pied Piper, is played by bisexual actor Andy Mientus.
    • Supergirl:
      • Season 4 introduces transgender hero Nia Nal aka Dreamer, played by transgender actress Nicole Maines.
      • Chyler Leigh (unspecific LGBT) as lesbian Alex Danvers on Supergirl - though Leigh came out after her character and said Alex's story helped her work it out.
    • In season 7 of Arrow, William Clayton (Oliver's son) as an adult is played by gay actor Ben Lewis.
    • Batwoman (2019):
      • Ruby Rose, who identifies as a lesbian, plays the titular character, who is also a lesbian. The casting call for Kate Kane specifically asked for a queer actress, though the producers had also been prepared to cast a straight actress as a last resort. Ruby Rose's casting fulfilled the original intention.
      • When she left the show, the producers made sure to be clear they were looking for another LGBT actress as the replacement. They ended up casting bisexual Javicia Leslie as Ryan Wilder, the next Batwoman, who's also lesbian.
      • Bevin Bru, who plays Angelique (Ryan's ex-girlfriend) is bisexual as well. Given the above, it's probably a deliberate choice.
  • Avocado Toast: Molly is based on and played by Heidi Lynch, who's bisexual like her.
  • The Baby-Sitters Club (2020):
    • Mary Anne's babysitting charge Bailey is a trans girl. The character is played by Kai Shappley, a trans girl who was also the focus of the documentary Trans in America: Texas Strong. According to her mum, Kai was specifically sought after for the role.
    • Bisexual actress Luvia Petersen plays lesbian Mrs. Johanssen.
  • Betty: Honeybear is attracted to women along with men but doesn't label herself. Kirt is a lesbian. Moonbear plays Honeybear and she is queer. Nina Moran plays Kirt and is a lesbian like her.
  • Big Sky: Trans woman Jerrie is played by trans non-binary actor Jesse James Keitel.
  • One of the first TV characters to be identified in-show as non-binary, Taylor Mason, is played by the openly non-binary Asia Kate Dillon in Showtime's Billions.
  • The Bisexual: Desiree Akhavan plays Leila, the titular character who is a bisexual woman like her.
  • Black Doves: Gay hitman Sam Young is played by gay actor Ben Whishaw and his ex-boyfriend Michael by gay actor Omari Douglas.
  • Bomb Girls: Queer actress Ali Liebert plays lesbian Betty McRae.
  • Bisexual trans woman Rebecca Root plays trans woman Judy in Boy Meets Girl (2015).
  • The Boys (2019): Nicola Correia-Damude plays Elena, Maeve's ex-girlfriend. She's bisexual in real life.
  • Lesbian actress Emily Rios plays lesbian Adriana Mendez on The Bridge (US).
  • The Brittas Empire: Russell Porter (who plays the gay Tim Whistler in the series) is gay in real life. However, Tim Marriott (who plays Gavin Featherly, Tim's boyfriend in the series) isn't.
  • Bisexual actress Alia Shawkat plays Adele on Broad City, who hooks up with Ilana.
  • Brooklyn Nine-Nine has bisexual Rosa Diaz being played by bisexual Stephanie Beatriz (in fact Beatriz coming out prompted Diaz to be written as bi too).
  • Brothers & Sisters:
  • Buffy the Vampire Slayer - although Amber Benson and Alyson Hannigan were straight actresses playing lesbians, Iyari Limon — who plays Willow's Season 7 girlfriend Kennedy — is bisexual. Gay actor Tom Lenk also played the gay (albeit Ambiguously Bi) Andrew Wells.
  • Burden of Truth: Star Slade, who's queer, plays Luna, a lesbian.
  • Carnival Row: Bisexual Vignette is played by Cara Delevingne, who's pansexual and genderfluid.
  • Charmed (2018):
    • Main character Mikaela in the final season was bisexual and played by queer actress Lucy Barrett.
    • Season three also introduced two trans supporting characters, trans woman Josefina and trans man Kevin. Both were played by trans actors, Mareya Salazar and J.J. Hawkins respectively, with the same genders.
    • Additionally, lesbian Jada (another supporting character) was also played by queer actress Aleyse Shannon in the show's early seasons.
  • Chilling Adventures of Sabrina: Susie, who has an Ambiguous Gender Identity at first, and comes out as a trans man and changes his name to Theo midway through the show is played by pansexual non-binary actor Lachlan Watson.
  • Class of '07: Bernie Van Tiel plays Tegan, who's a Butch Lesbian. Van Tiel is queer.
  • Cold Case: In "Best Friends", Butch Lesbian Billie was played by Tessa Thompson (her very first TV role), who came out many years later as LGBT+ (not using labels, but she's attracted to women along with men).
  • Community: The pansexual Dean Pelton is played by the openly queer Jim Rash.
  • Bisexual actress Luvia Petersen plays bisexual Jasmine Garza on Continuum.
  • Control Z: Isabela, who's a trans girl, is played by Zión Moreno, who is also a trans girl.
  • Conversations with Friends: Lesbian Sasha Lane plays Bobbi, who's also a lesbian.
  • Bisexual actress Nicole Pacent plays Tara's girlfriend Rebecca on the revival Criminal Minds: Evolution.
  • Invoked by Darren Criss. He's straight, but after two acclaimed roles where he played gays (Blaine in Glee and Andrew Cunanan in American Crime Story), he announced that he would no longer seek out or accept gay roles, as he realized that every gay male character he plays takes that opportunity away from an actually-gay actor.
  • The Crowded Room: Lesbian Sasha Lane plays Ariana, a bisexual who's one of Danny's alternate personalities.
  • The Crown (2016): Gay actor Ben Daniels plays bisexual Lord Snowdon.
  • Danger Force: Finn, a reporter, is a transgender boy like his actor Sasha Cohen.
  • Dark Angel: Transgender lesbian Louise in "Out" was played by trans actress Jessica Crockett. It's listed as the first time a trans woman character on an American television series was played by a real trans woman.
  • Dark Desire: Alma's daughter Zoe is bisexual. Her actress Regina Pavón also came out as bisexual.
  • Dead of Summer:
    • Mark Indelicato played Blair, who's gay like him.
    • Zelda Williams, a bisexual woman, played Drew, a gay trans boy.
  • Deputy: Bishop is a lesbian and nonbinary. They're portrayed by Bex Taylor-Klaus, who's nonbinary and pansexual, and uses they/them pronouns like Bishop as well.
  • Desperate Housewives:
    • Bob Hunter is played by Tuc Watkins, who came out of the closet in 2013.
    • In the episode "A Distant Past", Glen Wingfield is gay like his actor Richard Chamberlain.
  • The Deuce: Queer actress Roberta Colindrez plays Irene, a lesbian.
  • Dickinson: Sue is in love with Emily and is played by queer actress Ella Hunt.
  • Dispatches From Elsewhere: Simone is played by Eve Lindley, who's transgender like her.
  • Doctor Who:
    • Lesbian companion Bill Potts is played by bisexual actress Pearl Mackie.
    • Captain Jack Harkness in both this and Torchwood, who is pansexual, is played by openly gay actor John Barrowman.
    • Midshipman Alonso Frame, whom the Doctor sets up with Jack, is played by gay actor Russell Tovey.
    • Rose Noble, Donna Noble's daughter, is transgender like her actress Yasmin Finney.
    • The Fifteenth Doctor is played by openly queer Ncuti Gatwa, and in the episode "Rogue", he has a romance with the title character, played by Jonathan Groff, who is gay.
  • Domino Day: Sammie is queer, and played by Babirye Bukilwa, who's nonbinary.
  • Don't Look Deeper: Transmasculine actor Harvey Zielinski plays Abel, who is a trans man, it's revealed.
  • Doom Patrol (2019): In a minor case of First-Episode Twist, Matt Bomer's character Larry is revealed to be cheating on his wife with a man.
  • Laverne Cox was touted as the first series regular trans character to be played by a trans performer on Doubt.
  • Dynasty (1981) has a retroactive example with Kevin Conroy playing Steven's love interest Bart Fallmont although Conroy came out as gay over 30 years later.
  • Dynasty (2017): Sammy Jo is gay, much like his actor, Rafael de la Fuente.
  • Most gay men in EastSiders are played by gay actors including Thom (Van Hansis), Cal (Kit Williamson), Jeremy (Matthew McKelligon), and Paul (Sean Maher).
  • Easy: Kiersey Clemons is queer and she plays lesbian Chase.
  • Mrs. Hudson from Elementary is a trans woman played by Candis Cayne, who is trans. Cayne also played trans mistress Carmelita on Dirty Sexy Money.
  • Following "The Puppy Episode" of Ellen, lesbian Ellen Morgan was played by lesbian Ellen DeGeneres. On her next sitcom The Ellen Show, her character Ellen Richmond was openly lesbian from the start.
  • Empire: Openly gay Jussie Smollett plays the gay middle son Jamal.
  • Equal, a 2020 HBO docudrama on the LGBT+ rights movement, portrays many historical LGBT+ people with LGBT+ actors (usually of the same orientation or gender). The cast includes Anthony Rapp as gay activist Harry Hay, Jamie Clayton as Christine Jorgenson, the first well-known American trans woman to get sex reassignment surgery, Samira Wiley as Black lesbian playwright/writer Lorraine Hansberry, and LGBT+ Elizabeth Ludlow as the real Butch Lesbian Stormé DeLarverie, who protected the LGBT+ community in New York City with her guns (DeLarverie's scuffle with the NYPD is often identified as the spark of the famous Stonewall Riot).
  • Euphoria:
    • Hunter Schafer, like Jules, is a trans woman. Jules is also bisexual; Schafer originally identified as "closer to what you might call a lesbian" before updating her orientation to "bi or pan or something" in 2021.
    • Bobbi Salvör Menuez is pansexual, transgender, and nonbinary, and the character they play, TC, is also nonbinary.
    • Quintessa Swindell plays Anna, and they are both non-binary.
  • Everything's Gonna Be Okay: Josh Thomas, Adam Faison, and Vico Ortiz are all LGBT+ (Thomas and Faison are gay while Ortiz is genderfluid) and play LGBT characters (although in Ortiz's case, they play a cisgender lesbian).
  • The Exorcist:
    • The gay Father Marcus is played by the openly gay Ben Daniels.
    • The lesbian teen Verity in season 2 is played by queer actress Brianna Hildebrand.
  • The Fall (2013): Stella is bisexual, and played by Gillian Anderson, who's said she's had relationships with women in the past but doesn't use any LGBT+ label.
  • Fallout (2024): Dane has a very androgynous look and is referred to as "them", indicating they're at least non-binary. Their actor is Xelia Mendes-Jones, a trans man who has stated his pronouns are he/they.
  • Fantasy Island (2021): In "The Romance and the Bromance", Caitlin Stasey, who is pansexual, played Isabel, a young woman who's a huge fan of Victorian author Rachel Coldwater, traveling into the past where they get into a romance.
  • Feel Good: Mae Martin plays a fictionalized version of herself. She's already openly bisexual at the start, then comes out as nonbinary as well (like Martin did, going by either they/them or she/her).
  • Fellow Travelers: Matt Bomer (Hawk) and Jonathan Bailey (Tim) are both gay like their characters.
  • First Day:
    • Hannah is played by Evie Macdonald, who's a trans girl like her.
    • Jack Childs is a fellow trans actor, playing Sarah, who reveals to Hannah he's a trans boy, taking the name Josh.
    • Maiah Stevenson plays Sam, a queer girl. Stevenson is queer as well and goes by she/they pronouns.
  • The First Lady: Gillian Anderson, who's said she's had relationships with other women in the past and isn't attracted to people based on gender (but doesn't label herself) plays Eleanor Roosevelt, who is portrayed here as having a female lover in the 1930s for a time.
  • Anna Paquin played Robyn, a bisexual woman like her, on Flack.
  • Gay actor Ben Daniels played the bisexual Paul Grayson in Flesh and Bone.
  • Flowers (2016): Sophia Di Martino plays Amy, a lesbian, while she's dated men and women though she doesn't label herself.
  • For the People: Anya, a lesbian, is portrayed by pansexual Caitlin Stasey.
  • Foundation (2021): Ben Daniels is openly gay and his character Bel Riose is married to a man.
  • Frasier:
    • Gil Chesterton, who is heavily implied to be gay despite his insistence to the contrary, is played by gay actor Edward Hibbert.
    • There's also Bulldog — played by gay actor Dan Butler — who was presented as straight in the original show, but he comes out as gay in Frasier (2023), which also implies that Gil really is straight or at least bisexual.
  • Gen V: Dr. Edison Cardosa is married to another man. Marco Pigossi plays him, and he's in a relationship with director Marco Calvani.
  • Bisexual actress Luvia Petersen plays lesbian Val McGrath-Dufresne on Ghost Wars.
  • Gimme, Gimme, Gimme: Gay main character Tom Farrell is played by gay actor James Dreyfus.
  • Queer actress Humberly González plays bisexual girl Sophie on Ginny and Georgia.
  • Gossip Girl (2021): Zión Moreno is a young trans woman like her character Luna La.
  • In Gotham, Oswald Cobblepot is reimagined as gay like his actor Robin Lord Taylor.
  • Gotham Knights (2023):
    • Cullen Row is a trans man, and his actor Tyler DiCharia is a gay transgender man.
    • Anna Lore is bisexual and plays Stephanie, who comes out as a lesbian.
  • Grey's Anatomy:
    • Callie is bisexual and her actor Sara Ramírez is bisexual and non-binary. According to a 2013 interview, Ramírez asked for it to be part of their character.
    • Casey Parker and his actor Alex Blue Davis are both trans men.
    • Levi Schmitt and his actor Jake Borelli are both gay.
    • Kai Bartley and their actor E.R. Fightmaster are both non-binary.
    • Mika Yasuda is bisexual and is played by queer actress Midori Francis.
    • Donna Gibson and her actress Alexandra Billings are both trans lesbians.
    • Toby Donnelly is genderqueer and their actor Ari Hader is genderfluid.
    • Cass is romantically interested in Teddy and is played by queer actress Sophia Bush
  • Hacks:
    • Ava is bisexual, played by Hannah Einbinder who's also bisexual.
    • Lorenza Izzo, who's pansexual, portrays Ava's ex-girlfriend Ruby.
    • Marcus is gay, played by Carl Clemons-Hopkins, who's queer and nonbinary.
    • The "water cop" Wilson (who Marcus briefly dates) is played by Johnny Sibilly, who's queer.
  • The Haunting of Hill House (2018)'s lesbian protagonist Theo is played by Kate Siegel, who's bisexual.
  • Heartstopper:
    • Charlie is gay and is played by Joe Locke who is also gay in real life.
    • Kit Connor is bisexual like his character Nick.
    • Elle is a transgender girl, as is her actress Yasmin Finney.
    • Isaac is aroace and played by gay actor Tobie Donovan.
    • Darcy, a lesbian, is played by queer transmasculine actor Kizzy Edgell.
    • Mr Ajayi is gay, as is his actor Fisayo Akinade.
    • Felix, one of Elle's new friends, is non-binary and is played by transmasculine actor Ash Self.
    • Naomi, another one of Elle's new friends, is a trans woman like her actress Bel Priestley.
  • High Fidelity: Rob in the Hulu adaptation is bisexual like Zoë Kravitz.
  • High School Musical: The Musical: The Series:
  • Hightown: Lesbian Jackie is played by bisexual actress Monica Raymund.
  • House Of Cards: Frank is revealed to be bisexual. Kevin Spacey, after years of speculation, finally came out as gay during his sexual assault scandal.
  • House of the Dragon:
    • Emma D'Arcy, who is nonbinary, plays Rhaenyra, who shares a kiss with Mysaria.
    • Sharako Lohar, who mentions having wives, is played by Abigail Thorn, who is a trans lesbian actress.
  • How I Met Your Mother:
    • Barney's gay half-brother James is played by pansexual Wayne Brady, though Brady didn't come out until 10 years after the show ended.
    • James' husband Tom is played by gay actor Jai Rodriguez.
    • In the Failed Pilot Episode How I Met Your Dad, Danny's husband Todd is played by bisexual actor Drew Tarver.
    • In How I Met Your Father, the lesbian Ellen is played by lesbian actress Tien Tran.
  • Mercedes Mason, who's bisexual, played bisexual Cora on How to Get Away with Murder.
  • iCarly (2021):
    • Laci Mosley, who is bisexual, plays pansexual Harper Bettencourt.
    • Pop starlet Double Dutch is revealed to be attracted to women and shares a kiss with Harper in the first season finale. Dutch's actress Poppy Liu identifies as queer and non-binary.
  • Bobbi Salvör Menuez, who's nonbinary, transgender, and pansexual, played bisexual Toby on I Love Dick. She gets into a relationship with Devon, a genderfluid lesbian played by queer actress Roberta Colindrez.
  • Instinct stars Alan Cumming, who is bisexual, as the gay, happily married Dylan Reinhart.
  • Interview with the Vampire (2022): The gay Ben Daniels portrays the bisexual Santiago.
  • In the Dark:
    • Vanessa, Jess' bisexual first girlfriend, was played by Humberly González, who's queer.
    • Sterling, a lesbian whom Jess dates after Vanessa, was played by Natalie Liconti, who's a lesbian and nonbinary.
  • Quintessa Swindell, who's nonbinary, was on In Treatment during season 4 for six episodes playing lesbian Laila.
  • Jane the Virgin: Jane's bisexual ex boyfriend Adam is played by Tyler Posey who later came out as sexually fluid.
  • Queer actress Humberly González plays lesbian Gabriella on Jupiter's Legacy.
  • Scott Thompson of The Kids in the Hall has been openly gay since the '80s, and his most famous character is the "alpha queen" gay socialite Buddy Cole.
  • The Larry Sanders Show: Both Brian and his actor Scott Thompson are gay.
  • The Last of Us (2023):
    • Nonbinary actor Bella Ramsey plays Ellie Williams, who is a lesbian.
    • Gay actor Murray Bartlett played Frank, who became lovers with Bill
  • Law & Order: SVU:
  • A League of Their Own (2022):
    • Abbi Jacobson is bisexual, and her character Carson Shaw discovers she's attracted to women during the show.
    • Roberta Colindrez identifies as queer, and her character Lupe Garcia is a Butch Lesbian.
    • Melanie Field is queer just like Jo Deluca, the character she portrays on the show.
    • Lea Robinson, who's nonbinary and queer, plays trans man Bertie.
    • Rosie O'Donnell plays Vi, who's a lesbian like her.
  • Legacies: Josie Saltzman is canonically pansexual in the show, and in June 2021, her actress Kaylee Bryant came out as queer.
  • Lip Service: Heather Peace is a lesbian like her character Sam (which in fact means she's the only one among the actresses on the show).
  • London Spy: The openly gay Ben Whishaw plays a gay man.
  • Several gay actors from HBO's series Looking play gay characters, including (but not limited to) Jonathan Groff (Patrick), Russell Tovey (Kevin), Murray Bartlett (Dom), Daniel Franzese (Eddie), and Chris Perfetti (Brady).
  • Lost Girl: Zoie Palmer played lesbian Dr. Lauren Lewis. During the show, she came out publicly by thanking Alex Lalonde, her girlfriend, while getting an award for her work in the role.
  • Lovecraft Country: Monique Candelaria is two-spirit like Yahima and pansexual (it must be noted that "two-spirit" is an umbrella term to describe LGBT+ Native American people that can mean many different things, so they might not be a specific match).
  • The L Word: Laurel Holloman, Leisha Hailey, Katherine Moennig, Clementine Ford, Tammy Lynn Michaels, Guinevere Turner, Jane Lynch, Alexandra Holden, Kelly McGillis, Kristanna Loken, Karina Lombard and Heather Matarazzo are all lesbian or bisexual in real life, as well as playing lesbian or bisexual characters on the show (and Mia Kirshner has hinted at bisexuality in interviews). Amusingly, Leisha Hailey was the only actual (out) lesbian of the main cast (at the time), yet her character was bisexual. Daniel Sea, who played Max (a trans man who's initially identified as a lesbian cis woman) also had a very similar experience, coming out as non-binary and using they/them pronouns, still identifying as a lesbian in solidarity with women though saying their orientation is more akin to bisexual. Katherine Moennig is notable for only realizing that she's a lesbian while she was working on the show, a rare example of a character being their actor's real-life Closet Key. This applied to minor characters too; for instance, bisexual actress Luvia Petersen, who played Butch Lesbian mechanic drag king Dax/Cowboy and continued in its Sequel Series The L Word: Generation Q, adding new characters, mostly queer women but one trans man too, while most are played by actors of the same orientation or gender. Minor characters on there such as Rebecca Dowery (played by Olivia Thirlby, who's a bisexual woman like her) also followed this. Similarly to Moennig, bisexual actress Mercedes Mason played lesbian Lena on Generation Q, coming out herself as a result of the role.
  • Madam Secretary: Kat Sandoval and actress Sara Ramirez are both bisexual and queer - in fact, Kat's coming out conversation was pretty much just Sara explaining all the details of their own personal intersectional identity.
  • Mad Men: The openly gay Bryan Batt plays Sal Romano, who's also gay but closeted due to the time period, his job, and his marriage.
  • The Magicians: Bisexual Elliot is played by openly queer Hale Appleman.
  • Lesbian actress Emily Rios plays lesbian Maria on Men of a Certain Age.
  • Misfits: Lesbian Charlie Covell played James, the trans man who stole Alex's penis because he'd wanted one so much (being able to get it became his superpower).
  • Shay Mitchell said she's attracted to people based on a specific personality, regardless of their gender. In 2022, she appeared on TikTok with a video that indicated she's bisexual.
    • On Pretty Little Liars she played lesbian Emily Fields.
    • Later on You she played Peach Salinger, who's bi or a lesbian.
    • Stella Cole, whom Mitchell played on Dollface, is a bisexual woman.
  • Modern Family:
    • Gay Jesse Tyler Ferguson plays one half of the show’s gay couple, Mitchell.
    • Nathan Lane is gay like his character Pepper Saltzman.
    • One episode introduced Tom, who is a transgender boy like his actor, Jackson Millarker.
  • Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story:
  • A Murder at the End of the World: Oliver and David turn out to have had sex around the time of Bill's death. Oliver was played by Ryan J. Haddad, who is gay. Bisexual actor Raúl Esparza played David.
  • Bisexual actress Luvia Petersen plays lesbian Meg Harris on The Murders.
  • Ryan Murphy regularly employs this trope:
  • Never Have I Ever:
    • Dino Petrera is gay like his character Jonah Sharpe.
    • Lee Rodriguez, who plays the lesbian Fabiola, identifies as queer.
    • Addison is non-binary like their actor Terry Hu.
    • Jennifer Warner is a trans woman, like her actress Alexandra Billings.
  • The Nevers: Vinnie Heaven, who plays Jack Nimble, called him trans androgynous, which is Heaven's gender as well.
  • The Newsreader: Rory Fleck Byrne is gay and portrays the bisexual Gerry Carroll.
  • Downplayed in Normal People. In the book, Joanna was a lesbian, and a Deleted Scene showed her with a girlfriend. Her actress Eliot Salt also has a girlfriend.
  • The first ever example of a transgender person playing a transgender character on television was in the Australian Prime Time Soap Number 96, where cabaret performer Carlotta played recurring guest character Robyn Ross for four episodes in 1973. To preserve the twist that Robyn was a transgender woman, Carlotta was credited under the name "Carolle Lea".
  • On Once and Again, Jessie falls in love with a girl and is played by bisexual Evan Rachel Wood. However, Wood only came out many years later.
  • One of Us is Lying: Janae is a lesbian and genderfluid, while actor Jess McLeod realized they're nonbinary as a result of the role.
  • One Life to Live: Closeted gay Oliver Fish is played by gay actor Scott Evans.
  • Only Murders in the Building:
    • The Camp Gay Howard Morris is played by openly gay Michael Cyril Creighton.
    • Charles' stunt double Sazz Pataki is a lesbian played by lesbian Jane Lynch.
    • Mabel dates Alice Banks, an artist played by Cara Delevingne who is pansexual and genderfluid in real life.
  • In The Order (2019) queer actress Kawennáhere Devery Jacobs plays Lilith Bathory, who's a bisexual woman who shares a kiss with a man she likes before dating a woman.
  • Our Flag Means Death features the likes of Nathan Foad (who's gay like his character Lucius) and Vico Ortiz (who's non-binary like their character Jim).
  • Party of Five (2020): Matthew, who's transgender, is played by non-binary actor Garcia.
  • LGBT+ Elizabeth Ludlow plays the lesbian Keeya, who's married to another woman in Peacemaker.
  • Peep Show has bisexual Robert Webb as the also bisexual Jeremy "Jez" Usbourne, though Webb was not out while the series was airing.
  • Perry Mason (2020): Jen Tullock, who's queer, plays Anita St. Pierre, the second woman Della sees in Season 2.
  • The Power (2023): Transgender Chilean actress Daniela Vega plays Sister Maria, a nun who tells Eve she's also trans.
  • Buck Vu from The OA is a trans man played by trans actor Ian Alexander.
  • Orange Is the New Black:
    • The show features lesbian Samira Wiley as Poussey, Butch Lesbian Lea DeLaria as Carrie "Big Boo" Black, and trans actress Laverne Cox as Sophia. Then in season 3 Ruby Rose plays a lesbian. She is not only a lesbian but genderfluid too (still using female pronouns though). The last season introduces Dominga "Daddy" Duarte, who is either a lesbian or transgender (it's ambiguous), and played by lesbian Vicci Martinez. The bisexual lead Piper Chapman is portrayed by actress Taylor Schilling, who identifies as queer. McCullough similarly is indicated to be lesbian or bi, while her actress Emily Tarver started a relationship with castmate Vicci Martinez after it ended.
    • In a rare out example in the Brazilian dub, bisexual Piper is voiced by bisexual actress Mabel Cezar, one of the rare out LGBT voice actors in Brazil. Mabel is also married to the voice actress and translator Rayani Immediato, who voices Zirconia in the show.
  • Most of the many queer characters on The Other Two are played by queer actors, including Drew Tarver who plays Carey.
  • Philip K. Dick's Electric Dreams: In "Real Life" Sarah, a lesbian, was played by Anna Paquin, who's bi.
  • Quantico: Rick Cosnett as Elias Harper and Russell Tovey as Harry Doyle. Both are gay like their characters, though Cosnett came out after the show ended.
  • Quantum Leap (2022):
    • Non-binary character Ian Wright is played by non-binary actor Mason Alexander Park, and both use they/them pronouns.
    • All of the trans characters in "Let Them Play" are played by trans actors.
    • Bailey in "This Took Too Long!", a US soldier penalized for having a romantic relationship with another male soldier in 1978, is played by François Arnaud, who is bisexual.
  • Queen Sugar:
    • Nova Bordelon is bisexual and her actress Rutina Wesley was engaged to a woman at one point.
    • Micah starts questioning his sexuality in season 6. His actor, Nicholas L. Ashe, came out in 2020.
  • Queer as Folk (US) stars gay actor Randy Harrison as the gay Justin Taylor. Also of note are Peter Paige as Emmett Honeycutt and Robert Gant as Ben Bruckner.
  • While promoting her show Ragdoll, in which she plays queer detective Lake Edmonds, Lucy Hale said that while she doesn't like talking about her sexuality, she shared her character's attraction to women while not specifically defining anything.
  • Raven's Home: In Season 5, Raven’s assistant Nikki is a transgender woman (she explicitly identified herself as such), just like her actress Juliana Joel.
  • Lesbian Ariela Barer played bisexual girl Ziggie on Rebel.
  • The Republic of Sarah: Bisexual actress Nicola Correia-Damude plays Alexis Whitmore, who's having an affair with Amy "AJ" Johnson.
  • Riverdale:
    • Bisexual actress Luvia Petersen played bisexual Brooke Rivers
    • In a later season, Betty finds herself falling for a female FBI agent. This was after her actress Lili Reinhart came out as bisexual.
  • Roswell, New Mexico: Tyler Blackburn is openly bisexual and plays Alex Manes, who's gay.
  • The Sandman (2022):
    • The nonbinary character Desire of the Endless is played by the nonbinary actor Mason Alexander Park.
    • Out gay character Hal is played by out gay actor John Cameron Mitchell.
  • Saturday Night Live:
    • Occasionally gay celebrities are played by gay cast members:
      • Tennis player Billie Jean King, a lesbian, is played by Kate McKinnon, who's also a lesbian.
      • Controversial gay Congressman George Santos is played by gay Bowen Yang.
    • As an open lesbian, Kate McKinnon often plays lesbian characters, such as Barbara DeDrew in the "Whiskers R We" sketches and the Butch Lesbian Dre who (alongside Aidy Bryant's Megan) mistakes Themyscira for an island of lesbians and ends up kissing Gal Gadot's Wonder Woman.
    • A Season 46 sketch about the "It Gets Better" project had all the gay characters in the sketch played by gay cast members (McKinnon, Bowen Yang, and Punkie Johnson) and the gay host Dan Levy. During the finale of that same season, those same three cast members (plus the host Anya Taylor-Joy, who is not an example) played a group of gay characters celebrating (and crying about) LGBT Pride Month.
  • Lesbian Ariela Barer played Chloe Saved by the Bell (2020), who's queer.
    • Also Lexi, a transgender former reality star is played by transgender actress Josie Totah.
  • Schitt's Creek:
  • Schmigadoon!:
    • Bisexual Alan Cumming portrays Mayor Menlove of Schmigadoon, whose homosexuality becomes more and more apparent as the season goes on.
    • Gay Tituss Burgess portrays the Narrator of Schmicago, who hooks up with male crossdresser Sgt. Rivera in the last episode.
  • In Scream: The TV Series, Audrey is Ambiguously Bi, while her actor Bex Taylor-Klaus is pansexual and non-binary.
  • Bisexual actress Alia Shawkat plays Dory on Search Party, whose primary love interest, Drew, is male, but later enters a relationship with her friend Porcia.
  • The Secret Diaries of Miss Anne Lister: Maxine Peake, who's bisexual, plays lesbian Anne.
  • Sex Education:
    • Dua Saleh and Robyn Holdaway are openly non-binary like their characters Cal and Layla.
    • Gay character Eric is played by Ncuti Gatwa, who came out as queer in 2023.
  • The Sex Lives of College Girls:
    • Leighton is a lesbian and her actress, Reneé Rapp, is a lesbian as well.
    • Alicia dates Leighton; her actress Midori Francis is herself also queer.
    • The gay Travis is played by Betti, a genderfluid drag performer.
    • Tova's actor Vico Ortiz is also non-binary.
    • Coach Woods, who is a lesbian married to another woman, is played by Jillian Armenante, who is also married to a woman and has two children with her.
    • Molly, one of the women whom Leighton has sex with, was played by queer actress Emily Morales-Cabrera.
    • Queer actress Ruby Cruz plays Ash in Season 3, who's introduced as a participant in a speed dating session for LGBT+ women on campus.
    • Tig Notaro is a lesbian like Professor Friedman in Season 3.
  • Shadow and Bone: Jack Wolfe is gay like the character he plays, Wylan.
  • She-Hulk: Attorney at Law: Nikki implied in episode 4 that she was queer by the quip, "Oof, hetero life is grim", with it being confirmed by her actress Ginger Gonzaga. Gonzaga herself is bisexual.
  • Single Drunk Female:
    • Rebecca Henderson is a lesbian like her character Olivia.
    • Jojo Brown, who is a bisexual trans woman, plays Mindy, who is also a trans woman.
  • The Spencer Sisters: Thomas Antony Olajide is queer. He plays Zane, who is married to another man and raising their adopted daughter with him.
  • Stargirl (2020): Like his character Todd Rice, Tim Gabriel is queer in real life.
  • Star Trek:
    • When George Takei came out as gay, a lot of people assumed that his most famous character, Hikaru Sulu of Star Trek: The Original Series was also gay. However, Takei has always adamantly denied this, and Sulu was portrayed as not only straight, but happily married to a woman and, in Star Trek: Generations, the father of a grown daughter who had followed in her father's footsteps. In Star Trek Beyond — albeit after the dimensional...shift — Sulu is shown with a husband and daughter (Sulu here portrayed by straight actor John Cho).
    • Star Trek: Discovery:
      • The show features the franchise's first gay couple, Paul Stamets and Hugh Culber, played by queer actor Anthony Rapp and gay actor Wilson Cruz, respectively.
      • Season Two introduces Lieutenant Commander Jet Reno, who mentions that her wife died during the war with the Klingons the previous season. Reno is played by Tig Notaro, who is also gay. This later leads to quite an amusing scene where Stamets and Reno flirt while possessed.
      • Adira Tal comes out as non-binary to Paul. Blu del Barrio, who plays them, is non-binary as well.
      • Adira Tal's partner and Tal's former host, Gray, is played by Ian Alexander, a non-binary pansexual actor. An episode early in the fourth season had a throwaway dialogue exchange referring to Gray's "transition", implying that he is a trans man in-universe as well.
    • Star Trek: Strange New Worlds: Jess Bush, who is queer, plays Christine Chapel, who is bisexual.
  • Station Eleven: Matthew Amador is queer and he plays Clark's boyfriend Tim.
  • The Strain: Lesbian Nikki Taylor is played by bisexual actress Nicola Correia-Damude.
  • Stranger Things:
    • The tie-in podcast and novel Rebel Robin has Robin's favorite teacher Mr. Hauser, who is revealed to be gay in the novel and is voiced by gay actor Sean Maher in the podcast.
    • Season 4 all but states that Will is gay, which was also confirmed by the cast and showrunners in interviews. Will's actor Noah Schnapp came out as gay about 6 months after Season 4 was released, even quipping that he and Will have more in common than he thought.
    • Amybeth McNulty is bisexual and plays Vickie, who is heavily implied to be bi.
  • Superstore:
  • Teenage Bounty Hunters: Sterling Wesley eventually realizes she's bisexual through her relationship with April Stevens. Sterling's actress Maddie Phillips is bisexual too.
  • Teen Wolf:
    • Jackson was originally portrayed as straight, only getting involved with female characters. After his actor Colton Haynes came out and returned to the show after leaving some time prior, Jackson entered a relationship with another man.
    • Charlie Carver, who played the gay werewolf Ethan, also came out as gay after the departure of his character. When he comes back, he's in a relationship with the aforementioned Jackson.
    • The minor bisexual character Caitlin is played by Zelda Williams who's also bisexual in real life.
    • Michael Johnston, who plays the gay chimera Corey, came out in 2023.
  • One of Robert Webb's characters on That Mitchell and Webb Look, snooker commentator Peter DeCoursey, is eventually shown to be gay, while an unnamed mook for a male supervillain who he played was also his boyfriend. This was also years before Webb's coming out as bisexual.
  • This Is Going To Hurt: Adam Kay is depicted in this series as having a boyfriend. In real life, his actor, Ben Whishaw, is gay.
  • Tracker (2024): Velma Bruin who's married to Teddi Bruin is played by queer actress Abby McEnany.
  • Transatlantic (2023):
    • The openly queer Cory Michael Smith plays Varian Fry, portrayed here as a closeted gay man. His dalliance with Thomas is an invention of the show; in real life, the notion that Fry was gay came from his son after Fry had died.
    • Bisexual actress Alia Shawkat plays Lila, who ends up in a polyamorous relationship with Sarah.
  • Trinkets:
    • Elodie is gay, played by Brianna Hildebrand, who's stated she likes both men and women (while just going by "gay").
    • Sam, whom Elodie flirts with early on, is played by Caitlin Michael Riley, a queer actress.
    • Sabine is pansexual, played by queer and non-binary actor Kat Cunning.
  • True Blood:
    • Rutina Wesley plays Tara, who it turns out is a bisexual woman. She became engaged to a woman in 2017, albeit after the series ended, and like Tara had been with men before (though Wesley doesn't label herself).
    • Danielle, a werewolf who's bisexual (or at least willing to get intimate with a woman at times) was played by Jamie Gray Hyder, who's said she has been with both men and women (while also not using labels).
    • Evan Rachel Wood, who's openly bisexual, plays bisexual vampire Queen Sophie-Anne.
    • Gay actor Denis O'Hare also plays the gay vampire Russell Edgington.
  • Twenties:
    • Jonica T. Gibbs is, like Hattie, a lesbian (with the same butch style as well).
    • Idina, a supporting character who's a lesbian as well, was played by the queer actress Shylo Shaner.
  • Two and a Half Men: Evelyn Harper is bisexual. Her actress Holland Taylor is a lesbian.
  • The Umbrella Academy (2019): Elliot Page came out as transgender in 2020. The third season of the show, released in 2022, sees his character Viktor following suit.
  • Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt: Tituss Burgess and his character Titus Andromedon are both gay.
  • Uncoupled stars Neil Patrick Harris and Tuc Watkins as gay divorced couple Michael and Colin.
  • The Undeclared War: Maisie Richardson-Sellers, who's queer, plays Kathy Freeman who briefly has a relationship with Saara, the female protagonist.
  • Queer actress Humberly González plays queer girl Brooklyn on Utopia Falls.
  • Veep: The lesbian Marjorie Palmiotti is played by the lesbian Clea Duvall.
  • Veneno: A lot of characters are trans women, all of them are played by real trans women. The only exceptions are the two first actors (Guille Márquez, Marcos Sotkovszki) for Cristina's character because they play her pre-transition life.
  • A Very English Scandal: Norman Josiffe is played by gay actor Ben Whishaw.
  • Vicious: Freddie and Stuart, who are both gay, are portrayed by gay actors Sirs Ian McKellen and Derek Jacobi, respectively.
  • Vida:
    • Ser Anzoategui, who plays Butch Lesbian Eddy, is non-binary.
    • Roberta Colindrez, who plays Nico (a slightly less Butch Lesbian), identifies as queer.
    • Additionally, a number of minor LGBT+ characters are played by LGBT+ actors as well.
  • On Walker: Independence, closeted lesbian Kate is played by nonbinary Katie Findlay.
  • The Walking Dead Television Universe:
  • Watson: Caitlin Stasey is pansexual, playing Ginny Roberts in "Teeth Marks" who's queer.
  • We Are Who We Are:
    • Maggie is a lesbian in a same-sex marriage. Alice Braga, who plays her, was dating fellow Brazilian actress Bianca Comparato for three years at the time.
    • Jack Dylan Grazer plays Fraser, who is gay or bi, and came out as bisexual in 2021, along with stating his pronouns as he/they.
    • Caitlin is questioning her gender and thinks she may be a trans boy. She also shows attraction to girls and boys. Actress Jordan Kristine Seamón realized she's genderfluid as a result of playing Caitlin, saying it was a personal journey of self-discovery. Seamón is also bisexual and uses she/they pronouns.
  • Westworld:
    • Elsie kisses Clementine, a beautiful female android. She's played by Shannon Woodward, who's queer. However, Woodward sees her as straight, though the series itself does not make this clear.
    • Odina is in a relationship with another woman, Frankie. Her actress Morningstar Angeline uses any pronouns and is queer.
  • The White Lotus: Armond is portrayed by the openly gay Murray Bartlett, previously of the gay HBO drama Looking. His sexuality isn't acknowledged in dialogue until episode three when Marks asks him if anal sex hurts after learning his father died of AIDS, but he also gets in a tryst with hotel staffer Dillon.
  • In Wild Cards (2024), gay actor Adam Beauchese plays Peter Millford, who's revealed to be involved with another man.
  • The Wilds:
    • Mia Healey, who plays closeted lesbian Shelby, describes herself as bisexual.
    • Miles Gutierrez-Riley plays Ivan, who's gay, while he's queer.
  • Sean Hayes played Jack McFarland on Will & Grace but was not "officially" out during the show's initial run. When he "officially" came out in an Advocate article in the run-up to playing the gay title character in Sean Saves the World he took the position that he had "never been in". With the return of W&G, Jack is at last played by an actor known to have a matching orientation.
  • Willow: Kit (played by queer actress Ruby Cruz) and Jade (whom lesbian actress Erin Kellyman plays) are both confirmed as in love with each other.
  • The Witcher (2019): Jaskier's season 3 love interest Prince Radovid is played by gay actor Hugh Skinner.
  • The Witcher: Blood Origin: Nathaniel Curtis is queer like Brían, who he plays.
  • While it was never said in the show itself, years later it was confirmed Alex and Stevie on Wizards of Waverly Place had a relationship. Stevie's actress Hayley Kiyoko is openly lesbian.
  • Wynonna Earp: Dominique Provost-Chalkley is queer and non-binary and their character Waverly Earp is bi. Likewise, Katherine Barrell has stated she likes both men and women while her character Nicole Haught is a lesbian.
  • Yellowjackets:
    • Openly queer Jasmin Savoy Brown plays the teenage Taissa, who is later married to Simone.
    • Liv Hewson, who is gay and nonbinary, plays Van, a girl involved with Taissa when they're young.
    • Tawny Cypress, who played the adult Taissa, stated she's queer in Queer for Fear, a documentary that came out after the first season, saying that interestingly enough the film Heavenly Creatures (in which fellow cast member Melanie Lynskey had starred) made her realize this (she had fallen for her best friend at the time).
  • Canadian actor Adam Beauchese is gay. In You Me Her he played Will, who's also gay.
  • Y: The Last Man (2021): Elliot Fletcher is a queer trans man and plays Sam Jordan, who shares his gender.

Music Videos 

  • Stolen City's music video for the song "Faces" revolves around a transgender girl who is the victim of bullying. She's played by trans actress Jamie O'Herlihy. Ironically when the video came out, a lot of people didn't realize she was supposed to be trans.note 
  • Most of the actors/performers in the video for Mary Lambert's "Know Your Name" are LGBT+, like Sara Ramirez as the love interest.
  • t.A.T.u. were infamously portrayed as a lesbian couple, both in their music videos and in their actual music, live performances, and general public image. Even though it was all an act, one member, Julia Volkova, is actually bisexual in real life.

Podcasts 

  • The Magnus Archives: Protagonist Archivist Jonathan Sims, who is asexual and biromantic, is played by the real Jonathan Sims, who is bisexual. Georgie Barker, who is bisexual, is played by Sasha Sienna, who is also bisexual and genderqueer.
    • The Magnus Protocol: Alice Dyer, a transgender woman, is voiced by Billie Hindle who is also a transgender woman. Initially, she was to be voiced by the non-binary Seer Pink.
  • Night Vale Presents has a bit of a history with this...
    • Welcome to Night Vale: Cecil Palmer and Carlos are played by gay actors Cecil Baldwin and Dylan Marron.
      • Marron's casting fixes what the creators saw as a tone-deaf mistake in originally casting straight series co-creator Jeffrey Cranor in the role.
    • Alice Isn't Dead: Protagonist Keisha is played by queer actor Jasika Nicole.
    • The Orbiting Human Circus (of the Air): Julian the Janitor is played by Neutral Milk Hotel alumnus Julian Koster, who came out as "not straight" in the end-of-season Q&A.
  • Starship Q Star: Non-binary actors Drey Mendez, Isha Menon, and Sunanda Sachatrakui voice the lesbian Sim, the queer Solaris, and Butch Lesbian Dusty.
  • Unwell Podcast: Kathleen Hoil, the voice actor for Abbie, is also nonbinary.

Professional Wrestling 

  • Sonya Deville was the first openly lesbian performer to wrestle for WWE, and there were several on-screen hints that she had an attraction to her partner Mandy Rose. They did want to turn it into a full-blown storyline, but WWE nixed it.
  • Cassandro is an Exotico - a luchador who performs as a drag queen - and he eventually came out as gay to match his character.
  • Orlando Jordan is bi and, upon showing up in TNA in the 2010s, portrayed his wrestling persona as a Depraved Bisexual.
  • Mariah Moreno incorporated her trans identity into her on-screen character for WILD Wrestling - "The Bloodthirsty Vixen" Amanda - in 2011. She defeated Lucky O'Shea for the promotion's championship, but was disqualified in kayfabe when her being trans was revealed. The storyline saw management ultimately deciding to let her compete, and she set a record for being the first trans athlete to win a championship in any sport.

Radio 

  • Doctor Who Redacted stars trans actress Charlie Craggs as trans podcaster Cleo Proctor.
  • In A Ghastly Mistake, a Radio 4 dramatisation of the real-life trial of transgender man Sir Ewan Forbes, 11th Baronet of Craiglevar, whose cousin sued him over the title, claiming he wasn't a male heir, Forbes is played by non-binary actor Kit Green.
  • Round the Horne had a recurring sketch featuring two Camp Gay men named Julian and Sandy. They were respectively played by Hugh Paddick and Kenneth Williams, both of whom were also gay in real life, with the latter also describing himself as asexual.

Theatre 

  • Several productions of Angels in America have featured queer actors:
  • In the original Broadway run of Avenue Q the puppeteer of the resident closeted homosexual Rod, John Tartaglia, is a gay man in real life, who's currently happily taken by his partner, Devin Neilson, who's also known as Tumblebrutus from the American tour of Cats.
  • Miya Rurika came out as gender-free after their retirement from the Takarazuka Revue. Their character Sweetheart in Baddy is depicted with an Ambiguous Gender.
  • The Boys in the Band:
    • The original off-Broadway production (and 1970 film adaptation) featured Kenneth Nelson (Michael), Leonard Frey (Harold), Frederick Combs (Donald), Keith Prentice (Larry), and Robert La Tourneaux (Cowboy).
    • The 2018 Broadway production features an entirely queer cast, including the likes of Matt Bomer (Donald), Zachary Quinto (Harold), Andrew Rannells (Larry), Charlie Carver (Cowboy), and Jim Parsons (Michael). It was later adapted into a movie on Netflix with the same cast.
  • The play Cock is a Bisexual Love Triangle about a man named John who has a boyfriend "M" but falls in love with a woman "W".
  • The show Hedwig and the Angry Inch has the titular character of Hedwig who is possibly a trans woman but could also be Camp Gay. Hedwig is usually played by gay or effeminate men because of this. In fact, when the rather masculine Taye Diggs took over the role, upset critics and fans rioted.
  • The Normal Heart has had its fair share of queer actors:
    • The original 1985 off-Broadway production starred Brad Davis as Ned.
    • During its 1986 run in London, Ned was briefly played by Tom Hulce.
    • A 2004 off-Broadway revival had Raúl Esparza as Ned.
    • The 2011 Broadway run starred Joe Mantello as Ned, John Benjamin Hickey as Felix, Lee Pace as Bruce, and Jim Parsons as Tommy (which he’d later reprise for the HBO version).
    • A 2011-12 Toronto production starred Jonathan Wilson (who’s gay) as Ned.
    • The 2021 National Theatre production starred Ben Daniels as Ned.
  • Otherlands: For the initial London production, trans woman Harry is played by Fizz Sinclair, who's a trans woman herself. The published play text includes a note from the author stating that she should always be played by a trans woman.

    Written for an all-female cast. HARRY must be played by a trans woman. She is only ever represented as a woman.

  • The Producers: Gary Beach, who reprised the role in the 2005 movie, is gay like his character Roger De Bris.
  • The Prom:
    • Both Brooks Ashmanskas (Barry) and Josh Lamon (Sheldon) are openly gay actors playing explicitly gay characters. Christopher Sieber is also openly gay, but his character Trent's sexuality is never stated in the show.
    • Caitlin Kinnunen and Isabelle McCalla, who play Emma and Alyssa respectively, each came out during the show's run, with Kinnunen preferring not to commit to a label but generally going with "bi/queer" and McCalla eventually confirming that she identifies as bisexual.
  • The Rocky Horror Show: Played with depending on the production, as there are a lot of queer characters and queer actors but they don't always overlap (for instance, Janet was played by now-out-as-bi Susan Sarandon in the film but is one of the less explicitly queer characters, having only one brief kiss with another woman while under the influence, while neither of the two actresses who portrayed clearly bi women in the film are queer as far as anyone knows).
    • Frank N. Furter (a pansexual crossdresser from a species that seems to lack human gender norms) has been played by gay actors David Bedella and Paul Jabara (yes, the guy who wrote "It's Raining Men"), and gay actor/activist/former drag queen Páll Óskar in the Icelandic production. (Philip Sayer, who briefly portrayed him in 1974, was also apparently gay, having a brief affair with Susan Sarandon but otherwise only being interested in men)
    • Riff Raff is, depending on the actor, Ambiguously Bi, with some playing him as blatantly attracted to Frank while others leave it as subtext. While not in drag for most of the show, he turns up in fishnets at the end and was planned to do more drag in the never-made sequel (and it could be argued that all Transylvanians are on some level genderqueer by human standards). In the original stage show and film, he is portrayed by Richard O'Brien, who at the time identified as a transvestite and has since come out as nonbinary (and while he tends not to label his sexuality has said gender isn't a factor in who he's attracted to). In the Broadway revival, he is played by Raúl Esparza who later came out as bi.
    • Brad, who discovers his interest in men over the course of the story, has been played by gay actor Ben Forster for the 2015 40th anniversary performance.
    • Magenta is bisexual and was briefly portrayed in 2010 by also bisexual Evan Rachel Wood.
    • Columbia, also bisexual, has been portrayed on Broadway by Joan Jett, who does not label her sexuality but when asked if she would ever "declare herself" to be queer showed off her labrys necklace (a symbol for sapphic women, primarily lesbians) and said "I don't know how much more you can declare".
    • An unusual case with Eddie (a bi man) in the Broadway revival, who was played by lesbian actress Lea DeLaria (who also played Dr Scott, a Nazi...who was intended to be revealed as a closeted gay man in a planned sequel).
    • Subverted with the narrator, probably the most frequently cast as a queer character (primarily because it's an opportunity for famous queer people to appear that doesn't require them to sing and dance), who has no clear sexuality because they only act as...well, a narrator. He's been portrayed by gay actors like Charles Gray, Stephen Fry, TV host and gay activist Dave Holmes, and the gay stand-up comedian Joel Creasey, as well as by Richard O'Brien himself, and lesbian comedian Kate Clinton.
  • The Broadway production of Deaf West's Spring Awakening has the bisexual Andy Mientus and gay Joshua Castille play Hanschen and Ernst, who has a seduction and makeout scene.
  • Torch Song Trilogy: Harvey Fierstein is openly gay and plays flamboyant gay man Arnold Beckoff.

Video Games 

Multiple Roles:

Individual Examples:

  • Also from Apex Legends is Lesbian Jock Valkryie, voiced by the openly pansexual and genderfluid Erika Ishii, as well as the trans female Catalyst played by trans actress Meli Grant.
  • In Billie Bust Up, pansexual character Fantoccio is voiced by asexual actor Michael Kovach.
  • In Borderlands 3, gay couple Sir Hammerlock and Wainwright Jakobs are portrayed by J. Michael Tatum and David Wald, respectively, both of whom are gay in real life. Lor (who mentions he wishes to transition and comes out in a later title) is voiced by transmasc actor Ciarán Strange.
  • Baldur's Gate III:
    • Nocturne, a Forgotten Childhood Friend of party member Shadowheart shows up in Act II. If the latter recovers some memories in Act I, she will remember that Nocturne presented as a boy, and Nocturne confirms she's a trans woman. She is voiced by Abagail Thorn of Philosophy Tube, who is also a trans woman.
    • Shadowheart herself is bi/pan and finds Amazonian Beauty Karlach attractive. She is voiced by Jennifer English, who is a lesbian.
  • Cassette Beasts: Both Ranger Captain Skip and their voice actor Marin Miller are non-binary and go by they/them pronouns.
  • Class of '09: Jecka, and Nicole's Mom, who are Ambiguously Bi, are voiced by nonbinary voice actors Kayli Mills and Marissa Lenti, respectively. In addition, Elsie Lovelock, who is pansexual, voices the Ambiguously Gay Nicole.
  • Cyberpunk 2077: In addition to the aforementioned Stout, Claire is voiced by Maddie Taylor, both of whom are trans women.
  • Fire Emblem: Three Houses: Lindhardt, who is bisexual, is played by the openly gay Chris Patton.
  • Friday Night Funkin': B3 Remixed: Biddle3 voices Shaya Dearest, both of whom are trans women.
  • Goodbye Volcano High:
    • Both Fang and their voice talent, Lachlan Watson, are non-binary and go by they/them pronouns.
    • Both Sage and his voice actor, Jensen Trani, are transgender men.
    • Both Rosa and her voice actress, Dee Revilla, are transgender women.
  • In Guilty Gear -STRIVE-, agender Testament is portrayed in English by the transfeminine voice actress Kayleigh McKee.
  • In Heart of the Woods, which added voice acting in a later patch, Tara Bryck is a trans woman, like her VA, Stephanie Arata.
  • Lev in The Last of Us Part II is a trans man like his actor Ian Alexander.
  • Life Is Strange:
  • Opima from Magenta Horizon - Neverending Harvest is a trans woman, as is her voice actress Wes Wiggins.
  • Zoe from Monster Prom is framed as an allegory for a trans woman's experience: she's an ancient eldritch being who has discovered that she's much happier and more fulfilled living as a high schooler, and many of the issues she faces in trying to self-actualize parallel common trans experiences (such as being deadnamed, either maliciously by bullies or by people who misguidedly want her to go back to the way they remember her). Her voice actor, Casey Mongillo, is trans femme non-binary.
    • In the sequel Monster Camp, Casey Mongillo returns to voice Milo Belladonna and Hex, both of whom identify as nonbinary they/them. Additionally, Ciarán Strange, who is trans masc, provides the voice for non-binary playable character Sawyer.
  • In Overwatch, non-binary Venture is played by genderfluid actor Valeria Rodriguez.
  • Skullgirls: Roxie, a lesbian, is voiced by Anairis Quiñones, who is bisexual and non-binary.note 
  • Street Fighter 6: Eternity, a gender-nonconforming character, is voiced by Vittorio Wyatt Gray, who is trans.
  • Birdo from Super Mario Bros., who is a transgender woman, was voiced in the Super Mario USA commercial and BS Super Mario USA by Jun Donna, a Japanese trans female voice actress.
  • Tyler in Tell Me Why is usually credited with being the first playable trans character in a video game from a major developer. His voice actor August Aiden Black is also a trans man. In addition, DONTNOD Entertainment enforced this by making sure to cast trans voice actors for the voiceovers in other languages.
  • Juniper in Xenoblade Chronicles 3 is listed in the game's code as nonbinarynote  and uses they/them pronouns. Their voice actor, Lilly Hart, is also nonbinary.

Web Animation 

  • The Amazing Digital Circus: Pansexual actress Ashley Nichols voices the genderqueer character, Zooble, who uses all pronouns. She would later come out as non-binary after the third episode was released.
  • Alpha Betas: Stephanie Beatriz and her character Ruby Ortiz are both bisexual.
  • Battle for Dream Island: Price Tag and Winner from season 5 are non-binary like their voice actors, Wolfolotl and Schazer respectively.
  • Disventure Camp: Gay characters Jake and Tom are voiced by Josh Osborne, who is transgender and uses she/them pronouns, and Jayce Hanson, who is queer and uses he/them pronouns.
  • In gen:LOCK, pansexual genderfluid character Val/entina Romanyszyn is voiced by non-binary actor Asia Kate Dillon. The creators' first choice for the role, Tatiana Maslany, turned down the role on the grounds that this trope should be in place.
  • Helluva Boss:
    • Depraved pansexual imp Blitzo is voiced by gay actor Brandon Rogers.
    • Millie's sister Sallie May is a trans lesbian and is played by trans lesbian voice actress Morgana Ignis.
    • Non-binary drag queen Jinkx Monsoon voices:
      • Apple the succubus, who is in a relationship with Coco, another succubus.
      • Martha, a Satanist human turned sinner who is now in a relationship with her ex-rival and indirect killer Mrs. Mayberry (voiced by bisexual actress Mara Wilson).
    • Bisexual actress Erica Lindbeck voices:
      • Kiki, a succubus who flirts with a human girl in episode 3.
      • Loona, per Word of Gay in June 2024, is confirmed bisexual.
    • Vassago, per Word of Gay in June 2024, is confirmed as gay. His voice actor Harvey Guillén is queer.
  • Inanimate Insanity: Following their original voice actor's Role-Ending Misdemeanor, the non-binary Bot and Paintbrush were given similarly non-binary VAs. Specifically, Bot is currently voiced by Shooshies and Paintbrush is now voiced by Jazzy Oliver.
  • The New Norm Show: Nonbinary character Chaz is played by Dave Rubin, who is gay.
  • Queer Duck is gay, and so is his voice actor Jim J. Bullock.
  • Rain: The Animated Series: Rain, a trans girl, is voiced by Logan Frost, a demiromantic asexual man.
  • RWBY:
    • Panromantic demisexual intersex transgender non-binary actor Kdin Jenzen voices May Marigold, a transgender woman.
    • Arryn Zech revealed on a livestream that Blake Belladonna, just like herself, is bi.
    • Yang is Ambiguously Bi and eventually ends up in a relationship with Blake. She is voiced by Barbara Dunkelman, who stated she wasn't fully straight.
    • Bisexual actress Lindsay Sheppard voices Saphron Cotta-Arc, who has a wife and son.
  • Bisexual actress Alia Shawkat plays Blanche on Summer Camp Island, who's female and dating Ava.

Web Videos 

  • Carmilla:
    • Elise Bauman, who is bisexual, plays lesbian Laura Hollis.
    • Natasha Negovanlis, who is pansexual, plays lesbian Carmilla Karnstein.
    • K Alexander, who is non-binary, plays non-binary LaFontaine.
  • Dee from Couple-ish is a non-binary character played by K Alexander, who is also non-binary.
  • Critical Role:
    • Taliesin Jaffe, who is bisexual, plays multiple — genderfluid bisexual Mollymauk Tealeaf (campaign 2), aromantic asexual Caduceus Clay (campaign 2, after Molly's death), and nonbinary Ashton Greymoore (campaign 3), who uses both he/him and they/them pronouns.
    • Similarly, Ashly Burch and Mica Burton guest star in several episodes as bisexual dwarven fighter Keg and aasimar druid Reani, respectively. Burch and Burton are pansexual and bisexual, respectively.
    • AF Flowers from the Monsterhearts One Shot and their player A. G. Beardsley (credited on the show as Ally Beardsley) are both nonbinary and use they/them pronouns.
  • Australian actor Danny Barton is gay, and has played such characters in the short films Ghosted and Archipelago.
  • Dragon Ball Z Abridged: Yajirobe, Korin, and Burter, who were all made gay in the series, are voiced by the gay KaiserNeko. He also voices the flamboyantly gay Sharpner in the Buu Bits years after the series ended.
  • Dreams of an Insomniac:
    • Zachary Gignac is non-binary and voices the non-binary asexual Clyde. They also play Alex Williams, who uses they/them pronouns.
    • Winfrey is non-binary and asexual and is voiced by LyraHorrorz, a trans woman.
  • The Noedolekcin Archives: Puz, a genderfluid person, voices the genderfluid Kirk Odd.
  • The short film Out is about a gay teenager coming out to his parents. He's played by trans actor Archer Bradshaw, who also identifies as bisexual.
  • Shield of Tomorrow has main cast members Sam de Leve (non-binary) and Amy Dallen (bisexual) playing Commander Junil Rue (non-binary) and Doctor Throlo Sh'shirros (some flavor of sapphic), as well as recurring guest Xander Jeanerret playing Counselor Tristan Peylore (both gay).
  • The Irish web series Teen Life has transgender character Calum played by Jackson Lennon (credited as Jackson Ellis). He also stars in the film Boxed In, based on his own experiences transitioning as a teenager.

Western Animation 

  • Adventure Time: Distant Lands: Blaine, who is non-binary/genderfluid, is voiced by Bex Taylor-Klaus, who is transgender, non-binary, and pansexual.
  • Adventure Time: Fionna and Cake: Andrew Rannells, who is gay, voices Gary Prince, who is in a relationship with Marshall Lee. His original voice actor in Adventure Time, Neil Patrick Harris, is also gay.
  • Amphibia:
    • Sasha Waybright and her actress Anna Akana are both bisexual.
    • A Freeze-Frame Bonus of Mr. X's phone contacts, which include one named "Hubby", implies that Mr. X is gay, like his voice actor RuPaul.
  • Baby Shark's Big Show!: Viv, one of Vola’s mothers, is voiced by bisexual actress Sherry Cola.
  • Baymax!: Mbita and his actor Jaboukie Young-White are both part of the LBGTQ community.
  • Big City Greens: One of the gay couple, Alexander, is voiced by gay actor John Early.
  • Big Mouth:
    • The gay characters Matthew MacDell and Aiden are voiced by actual gays Andrew Rannells and Zachary Quinto, respectively. Also, the Old Queen in the episode "Guy Town" is voiced by Harvey Fierstein.
    • In the fourth season, transgender character Natalie is voiced by Josie Totah, who is also transgender.
    • Missy's cousin Lena and her voice actress Lena Waithe are both lesbians.
  • Big Nate: Dee Dee's girlfriend Amy is voiced by Ali Stroker, who is bisexual.
  • Bob's Burgers:
    • Ambiguously Bi Linda Belcher is voiced by the openly gay John Roberts.
    • In "Turkey in a Can", the openly gay butcher who flirts with Bob is voiced by the openly gay Tuc Watkins.
    • Dalton Crespin, a semi-recurring character in Season 8, is voiced by the openly gay John Early.
    • Marshmallow, who is transgender, was later recast with transgender actress Jari Jones.
  • BoJack Horseman:
    • Business negotiator Mary-Beth, who was introduced in season 5 to settle a dispute between Princess Carolyn and Todd, is a lesbian. She's also voiced by Wanda Sykes, a lesbian.
    • Yolanda, a woman Todd dated, is asexual and is voiced by queer actress Natalie Morales.
    • The asexual Maude introduced in season 6 is voiced by the asexual Echo Gillette.
    • Taneisha, a lesbian getting married to her fiance, is voiced by bisexual actress Tessa Thompson.
  • Bossy Bear: Real-life couple Lance Bass and Michael Turchin voice Tyler and Greg respectively, Ginger’s dads.
  • The Bravest Knight: Cedric and Andrew's voice actors T.R. Knight and Wilson Cruz are both gay in real life like Cedric and Andrew are.
  • Captain Laserhawk: A Blood Dragon Remix: The eponymous Dolph Laserhawk is attracted to men and voiced by queer actor Nathaniel Curtis.
  • Thomas in City of Ghosts is non-binary and is voiced by transgender child actor Blue Chapman.
  • In the 2019 reboot of Clifford the Big Red Dog, one of Samantha's moms, Dr. Mulberry, is voiced by Maggie Cassella, an openly lesbian actress.
  • Centaurworld: Camp Gay Zulius is voiced by openly gay actor Paveesh Cheena.
  • Clarence: Jeff's two moms EJ and Sue were voiced by real-life lesbians Lea DeLaria and Tig Notaro.
  • Clone High: Lesbian actress Vicci Martinez voices Frida Kahlo, who is queer.
  • Craig of the Creek:
    • Angel, who is agender and uses "they/them" pronouns, was voiced by queer agender storyboard artist and writer of the show Angel Lorenzana. Eventually, they would be voiced by Miss Benny, a queer transgender woman.
    • J.P.'s sister Laura is a lesbian, just like her voice actress Fortune Feimster.
    • Honeysuckle Ranger Raj's voice actor Paveesh Cheena is gay.
    • Secret Keeper's voice actor Cole Escola is gay and non-binary.
  • Daria: Depraved Bisexual Alison is voiced by Bif Naked, who's also bisexual.
  • Dead End: Paranormal Park:
    • Barney, the main lead, is both gay and trans and so is his voice actor, Zach Barack. This stands in contrast to the pilot of sorts, Dead End, where Barney is voiced by Zack Pearlman, who is neither.
    • In the EU Portuguese dub, gay actor Henrique Feist voices Pugsley, which is now written to be more allegorical to the gay and trans experience.
    • Zagan is a transgender woman like her voice actress Michaela Jae Rodriguez.
    • Margie, a woman Barney and Logs meet, is in a relationship with another woman and is played by sapphic transgender actress Angelica Ross.
    • Jules, a non-binary ghost, is voiced by non-binary actor Z Infante.
  • The lead character of Disenchantment, Princess Bean, is hinted at throughout the first two seasons and firmly established in the third season to be bisexual. Her voice actress Abbi Jacobson is herself bisexual.
  • Doc McStuffins: In “The Emergency Plan”, lesbian couple Thea Dolls and Edie Dolls are voiced by lesbian actresses Wanda Sykes and Portia de Rossi respectively.
  • The Dragon Prince: Book 4 introduces Claudia's boyfriend the Earthblood elf Terry, who is a transgender man, and his English voice actor Benjamin Callins is a bisexual transgender man.
  • Drawn Together: Xandir, a gay man, is voiced by Jack Plotnick, who is also gay.
  • Gargoyles: Lexington, who was confirmed to be gay, is voiced by gay actor Thom Adcox Hernandez.
  • The Fairly OddParents!: A New Wish: Non-binary actor iris menas voices Hazel's classmate Winn Harper, who is also non-binary.
  • F is for Family: Neil Patrick Harris voices Louis Chilson, the homosexual brother to Sue, in Season 5.
  • The Ghost and Molly McGee:
    • Molly's history teacher Mrs. Roop and her wife Pam Roop are voiced by lesbian actresses Jane Lynch and Erica Luttrell.
    • Jeff, Geoff's partner, is voiced by gay actor Vincent Rodriguez III.
  • Hailey's On It!: Hailey's classmates Thad and his boyfriend Jonathan are voiced by gay actors, Nik Dodani and Nico Santos.
  • Hazbin Hotel:
    • Pansexual actress Elsie Lovelock voices the bisexual demon Charlie Morningstar in her singing voice in the pilot.
      • Queer actress Jill Harris voices Charlie in her regular speaking voice in the pilot.
    • Gay porn star Angel Dust is voiced by the heteroromantic asexual Michael Kovach in the pilot and the ADDICT music video. In the show proper, he's voiced by bisexual actor and musician Blake Roman.
    • Alastor, who is confirmed to be asexual, was voiced in the pilot by pansexual actor Edward Bosco.
    • Openly bisexual actress Stephanie Beatriz voices Charlie's girlfriend Vaggie in the series.
    • Openly gay actor Joel Perez voices Valentino, the depraved pansexual Overlord.
  • Hey Arnold! has Mr. Simmons voiced by Dan Butler, though his relationship with Peter is made subtle.
  • Raye Rodriguez, the series creator of High Guardian Spice voices the transgender Professor Caraway. On the flip side, trans woman Julia Kaye voices Snapdragon, who is confirmed to transition eventually. Sage's lesbian cousin Anise is played by lesbian actress Haviland Stillwell.
  • Human Resources: Natalie's sister Nadja and her girlfriend Danielle are both voiced by queer actresses Sabrina Jalees and Ariana DeBose.
  • Invincible (2021): Andrew Rannells and Jonathan Groff are gay like their characters William and Rick. Groff's replacement in Season 2 Luke Mac Farlane is also gay.
  • Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous: Queer actress Kausar Mohammed voices Yasmina, who is bisexual.
  • Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts: Asher is non-binary, and their voice actor River Butcher is a trans man.
  • In The Legend of Korra, Janet Varney, who plays the title character, is bisexual, and in the series finale Korra ended up in a relationship with Asami.
  • The Legend of Vox Machina:
    • The genderqueer tavern keeper in the first episode is portrayed by the nonbinary Mason Alexander Park.
    • Lesbian halfling paladin Lady Kima is voiced by openly bisexual Stephanie Beatriz.
  • Little Demon: Bisexual actress Aubrey Plaza plays Laura, who's shown to be bisexual as well in "Wet Bodies".
  • The Loud House:
    • Bisexual non-binary actor Alyson Stoner voices Luna's girlfriend Sam.
    • Bisexual transgender actress Maddie Taylor voices transgender pageant host Dana Dufresne. In fact, her character transitioned with her.
    • Pansexual actor Wayne Brady voiced Harold McBride, one of Clyde's dads, until he was replaced by Khary Payton.
    • Pansexual and queer actress Ashly Burch voices Lainey, one of Lynn's roller derby teammates who is dating Alice.
    • Tonatiuh Elizarraraz, who's gay, voices Leni's Gay Best Friend Miguel.
  • Madagascar: A Little Wild: Odee Elliot, a non-binary okapi, is voiced by the non-binary actor iris menas.
  • Miraculous Ladybug:
    • Zoé reveals herself to be sapphic and attracted to Marinette during the fifth season. Her English voice actress Deneen Melody is pansexual.
    • Pansexual actress Erin Fitzgerald voiced Rose, who is bisexual, and Juleka, who is a lesbian, in the English dub for season 1.
    • Alix is aromantic and she is voiced by Kira Buckland, who uses she/they pronouns, in the English dub.
    • Olympia and Barbara are implied to be a couple and are both voiced by bisexual non-binary actor Anairis Quiñones in the English dub.
  • The third generation of Monster High reimagines Frankie Stein as non-binary. Accordingly, they're played by non-binary actor iris menas.
    • For their music video, Frankie's singing voice actor is Amanda Kruger, who is also nonbinary.
  • Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur (2023):
    • Non-binary actor Asia Kate Dillon voices the (literal) non-binary operating system LOS-307.
    • Transgender non-binary actor Indya Moore voices Brooklyn, a transgender girl who is a member of the volleyball team in her school.
    • Pansexual transmasculine non-binary actor Ian Alexander voices Tai, a non-binary member of the volleyball team in their school.
    • Gay actors Andy Cohen and Wilson Cruz voice Isaac and Antonio Calderon, Casey's dads.
  • Monsters at Work: Lesbian actress Paula Pell voices Sunny, who is mentioned to be Cutter's ex.
  • OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes:
    • Enid is bisexual and her voice actress Ashly Burch came out as queer and pansexual on July 1, 2022.
    • Lesbian Black Strategy of the Hue Troop, is voiced by asexual actress Erica Mendez.
  • The Owl House:
    • Raine Whispers is non-binary and uses "they/them" pronouns, just like their voice actor Avi Roque. And in "Them's the Breaks, Kid", teen Raine is voiced by non-binary actor Blu del Barrio.
    • Amity Blight is a lesbian and her voice actress Mae Whitman came out as pansexual in August 2021.
  • Our Cartoon President: Matt Rogers, who is gay, voices Pete Buttigieg.
  • Pinecone & Pony: Wren, who is non-binary, is voiced by transgender and non-binary actor Ser Anzoategui.
  • Princess Power has 2 examples:
    • Bea's dads King Barton and Sir Benedict are voiced by gay actors Andrew Rannells and Tan France.
    • Rita later gains a second mother in the form of Queen Olivia Orange, who's voiced by Jameela Jamil, who's bisexual.
  • The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder:
    • Zachary Quinto and Billy Porter, who are both gay in real life, voice Maya and KG's dads.
    • EJ Johnson is gender nonconforming and gay, just like Michael.
    • Sebastian Boyle, a.k.a. Makeup Boy, goes on a date with Michael and is voiced by Bretman Rock, who is gay and non-binary.
  • The Pupstruction episode "The Big Baby Build" reveals that recurring character Rusty is in a relationship with a man named Dusty. He's voiced by gay voice actor Parvesh Cheena.
  • Q-Force:
    • Real-life gay actors Sean Hayes, Matt Rogers, Gabe Liedman, Dan Levy, and James Adomian voiced the gay characters Steve Mayweather, Twink, Benji, Chasten Barkley, and Ennis.
    • Real-life lesbian actresses Wanda Sykes, Ali Liebegott, Fortune Feimster, and Jane Lynch voiced the lesbian characters Deb, her wife Pam, Louisa Desk, and Judy.
    • Transgender Stat is voiced by transgender actress Patti Harrison.
  • Ridley Jones:
  • In Rubble & Crew, River, who is nonbinary, is voiced by Cihang Ma, who is also nonbinary.
  • In the 2021 reboot of Rugrats, Butch Lesbian Betty DeVille is voiced by Natalie Morales, who is queer.
  • The Second Best Hospital in the Galaxy: Non-binary actor Sam Smith voices the genderless alien Dr. Azel, who uses all pronouns and is in a relationship with a woman named Dr. Klak.
  • She-Ra and the Princesses of Power:
    • Double Trouble, the non-binary mercenary introduced in the fourth season, is voiced by Jacob Tobia, who is also non-binary.
    • Showrunner ND Stevenson, who is transmasc and bigender, and in a relationship with a woman, voices Princess Spinnerella, who is not non-binary but is also in a relationship with another woman.
    • Jewelstar is a transgender man like his voice actor Alex Blue Davis.
  • The Simpsons:
    • Harvey Fierstein plays Karl in "Simpson and Delilah". Karl isn't expressly identified as gay but he does kiss Homer.
    • John Waters plays John in "Homer's Phobia".
    • Scott Thompson plays Grady in "Three Gays of the Condo", "Homer and Lisa Exchange Cross Words", "Flaming Moe", and "Werking Mom". The first of those also has Ben Schatz play a gay character.
    • Both Julio and his second actor Tony Rodriguez are gay.
    • Lesbian actress Fortune Feimster plays Evelyn, Patty's girlfriend in "Livin' La Pura Vida".
    • In "Werking Mom", RuPaul voices drag queen Queen Chante.
    • Michael from "Portrait of a Lackey on Fire", who served as a love interest to Smithers, was played by gay actor Victor Garber.
    • Gay actor Bryan Batt plays Philip in "Mad About the Toy".
    • In "Marge the Lumberjill", nonbinary actor Asia Kate Dillon plays Paula, who has a wife.
  • Star Wars Resistance: Flix, who was confirmed to be gay, is voiced by queer actor Jim Rash.
  • Steven Universe:
  • Strawberry Shortcake: Berry in the Big City has a few examples.
    • Banoffee, who is a transgender woman, is voiced by trans woman Felicia Bonée.
    • Raisin Cane, who is non-binary, is voiced by the nonbinary Justin Saint.
  • Tiny Toons Looniversity: The Camp Gay Renaldo Raccoon is voiced by a gay actor, Tony Rodriguez.
  • Total Drama: Camp Gay Bowie is voiced by Brandon Michael Arrington, who is also part of the LGBTQ community.
  • Transformers Earthspark: Z Infante and their character Nightshade are both non-binary.
  • Tuca & Bertie:
  • Velma:
  • We Baby Bears: Pirate Parrot Polly is non-binary like their voice actor Em Hagen.
  • In the reboot of the X-Men animated series X-Men '97, Morph is non-binary and is voiced by genderqueer gay actor J.P. Karliak.

In-Universe Examples:

Film — Live-Action

  • In Longtime Companion, Howard's character on the Soap Within a Show Other People is stated to be the first openly gay character on daytime TV but Howard initially fears typecasting afterwards. Rumors of Howard having AIDS — which are true towards the end of the movie — later end up costing him his role on Other People and a potential movie role.

Live-Action TV

  • Parodied in sketch show Smack the Pony where a sketch involved two actresses who have to play a lesbian scene. The straight actress is queasy about it all and wants to get it out of the way as quickly as possible. But the lesbian actress keeps inventing excuses for reshoots.

    "No, I'm not happy with the way I did that. Sorry! My fault! But can we do just one more take?"

  • Discussed in The Other Two: Cary protests that Dean must be into men because he's playing George Michael in a biopic. Shuli points out that only straight people play gay roles, but Dean is 'gay-baiting' by dating Cary because having a man who might be gay play a gay man helps generate buzz.

Alternative Title(s): Queer Actor Queer Character