Ageless actor Ewan McGregor has taken on numerous gay roles throughout his illustrious career, and today we're going to rank which of those roles are the most successful. Between you me and Dupree, I generally am not a fan of straight actors in gay roles. Don't tell Jake Weary! But Ewan embraces his femininity to deliver complex and believable gay roles. In the words of Maya Angelou "We have no choice but to stan." To Ewan's credit, he had reservations about playing a gay character - Halston in the eponymous Ryan Murphy series - in the year 2021, with so many insidersfalling out of favor with the practice of hiring straight people for gay roles. Out Pose actor Billy Porter famously said in 2019:
If ‘flamboyantly’ wasn’t in the description of the character, no one would see me ever for anything. Straight men playing gay — everyone wants to give them an award.
McGregor replied to this comment when making the media rounds for Halston:
I haven’t walked in Billy Porter’s shoes. I don’t know what it’s like to lose out on parts when you might feel it’s to do with your sexuality. So I can only respect his point of view.
But added about portraying Halston(a role that McGregor fought, alongside Murphy, to bring to the small screen):
If it had been a story about Halston’s sexuality more, then maybe it’s right that gay actors should play that role. But in this case — and I don’t want to sound like I’m worming out of this, because it’s something I did think a lot about — I suppose ultimately I felt like it was just one part of who he was.
Halston is just one of the many compelling gay roles Ewan McGregor has taken on, so as promised, here's a list of Ewan's gay roles... RANKED! Dun dun dun.
5) Scenes of a Sexual Nature
Not only is there not much of a sexual nature to this quick gay kiss, but the gayrelationship we're presented with is fairly on-the-nose. One half of the gay couple doesn't want to give up casual sex while the other does. One half wants to adopt while the other doesn't. Etc. Also the hair. Been there, done that, got the t-shirt. Donated the t-shirt because I was bored with it.
4) The Pillow Book
In this arthouse movie (which features amazing full frontal nudity) Ewan plays a bicurious man who gets down and dirty with Yoshi Oida for a nude scene in an outdoor bed. Not bad, but we've seen better.
3) I Love You Phillip Morris
This is the role that made me fall in love with Ewan McGregor. The wild premise (Ewan falls for real-life gay conmanSteven Russell, played by Jim Carrey) is brought down to Earth thanks to these surprisingly grounded characters. Here Ewan flexes his ability to play a believable gay character without relying on stereotypes. Yes, thetwo gay lovers in I Love You Phillip Morris are in and out of jail, buttheir relationship is still #goals.
2) Halston
Halston could easily have been aone-dimensionalgay villain. Ewan even said of researching the role “There are people I met who do not have nice things to say about him." He was a man known for burning bridges with abandon and tending to his own narcissistic whims. However... Ewan brings a complexity to Halston that cumulates during the ballet scene in the final episode. Just... watch it. Ewan's Halston is flamboyant without being a joke, and he softens throughout the five-episode miniseries. Plus, we're kinda loving these unexpectedly raw gay sex scenes...
1) Velvet Goldmine
No other Ewan McGregor gay role would make sense for the #1 spot. This is peak Gay Ewan. He has a nude scene with Jonathan Rhys-Meyers, and a non-nude gay scene with Christian Bale. It's a role that helped put Ewan on the map. While the gay scenes aren't as explicit as you might have hoped for, Ewan more than redeems himself by going full frontal on stage - where he even flashes his butthole. When it comes to Ewan, we all win!
