rediff.com
News APP

NewsApp (Free)

Read news as it happens
Download NewsApp

Available on  gplay

Rediff.com  » Movies » Happening and homosexual in Hollywood

Happening and homosexual in Hollywood

Last updated on: April 19, 2010 11:26 IST

Image: Ricky Martin
Photographs: Jason Redmond/ Reuters

It's time to exit the closet.

Gay men and women in showbiz are opening up to the public, coming out and embracing their true sexuality. From popstars to actors, from reality show contestants to forgotten television actors, the gay community in Hollywood is beginning to stand up and be counted.

Here's a look at some notably gay popular faces:

Ricky Martin

Clearly the songs dripping with libido were overcompensatory as the performer recently announced that he is indeed a homosexual.

He took quite a while to exit the closet, doing it ten years after talk show host Barbara Walters had asked him if he was gay.

Adam Lambert

Image: Adam Lambert
Photographs: Fred Greaves/ Reuters

The young man came into the spotlight with American Idol, where his rock crooning was overshadowed by the fact that he was the show's first openly gay finalist.

The singer lost in the final flurry of votes but this was decried as a travesty by the media, and Lambert's star is firmly on the rise now.

Neil Patrick Harris

Image: Neil Patrick Harris
Photographs: Gus Ruelas/ Reuters

The Doogie Howser MD child star has grown into the Emmy-hosting star of the sitcom How I Met Your Mother, and despite playing an oversexed womaniser, Harris is an openly gay actor.

His partner David Burtka is also an actor who appears occasionally on HIMYM.

David Hyde Pierce

Image: David Hyde Pierce
Photographs: Mario Anzuoni/ Reuters

Best known for playing Niles Crane on hit NBC show Frasier, Pierce has been quite the star on stage with great successes on Broadway, most notably Monty Python's Spamalot.

Pierce currently enjoys an active life both on stage and screen, and is comfortably open about his sexual orientation.

Sir Ian McKellen

Image: Sir Ian McKellen
Photographs: Ethan Miller/ Reuters

Tony award winner and Oscar nominee Sir Ian McKellen might be 70, but the English actor remains a committed member of Stonewall, one of the UK's leading LGBT groups ever since he came out of the closet in 1988.

The Lord Of The Rings actor was knighted in 1991.

George Takei

Image: George Takei
Photographs: Fred Prouser/ Reuters

Best known for playing Sulu on the original Star Trek television series, Takei came out and has been an active campaigner for gay rights in America.

A star of the sexually explicit Howard Stern Show, Takei has won several awards for his work in the sphere of human rights as well as Japanese-American relations.

Jane Lynch

Image: Jane Lynch
Photographs: Mario Anzuoni/ Reuters

One of the most popular women on television today -- Lynch is the reason the hit Golden Globe winning musical series Glee is as successful as it is -- Jane is an openly gay actress.

Her most notable work has come in the films by Christopher Guest, mockumentaries like Best In Show, For Your Consideration, etc.

Tila Tequila

Image: Tila Tequila
Photographs: Phil McCarten/ Reuters

One of the most viewed porn stars on the Internet -- and one of the most marketing-savvy online brands out there -- Tequila is notoriously bisexual but claims that her deepest desires all involve women.

Tequila also appears on television shows like The Howard Stern Show.

Sean Hayes

Image: Sean Hayes
Photographs: Phil McCarten/ Reuters

Best known for playing the flaming homosexual character Jack on television's Will & Grace, Hayes is an openly gay actor -- even if not to the caricatured extent his character is on screen.

His on-screen sparring partner on the show, Megan Mullally, has admitted to being bisexual.

Elton John

Image: Elton John
Photographs: Gus Ruelas/ Reuters

Sir Elton John has been openly gay -- and spectacularly so -- for decades now, and as soon as laws permitted it, the British popstar married his longtime partner David Furnish.

The two had a massive celebrity-studded wedding, and have been together since.