Nicholas Galitzine Says He Feels "Guilt" Over Playing Gay Roles As A Straight Actor
9 May 2024, 13:04
From Red, White & Royal Blue to Mary & George, Nicholas Galitzine has played multiple gay and bisexual characters.
Nicholas Galitzine has revealed that he feels "guilt" over playing queer roles on screen when he's a straight actor in real life.
Since Nicholas Galitzine first rose to fame, the British actor has taken on multiple queer roles. In Handsome Devil, he plays a closeted gay rugby player, in The Craft: Legacy, he stars as a bisexual bully, and in Red, White & Royal Blue, he plays a fictional gay prince. More recently, Nicholas appeared as a queer duke in the historical miniseries Mary & George.
Nicholas has received praise for these performances but now he's explained that he's felt "uncertainty" over doing them.
Speaking to GQ about whether people conflate him with his characters, Nick admitted that they do. He said: "I am Nick, and I’m not my role."
He then added: "I identify as a straight man, but I have been a part of some incredible queer stories. I felt a sense of uncertainty sometimes about whether I’m taking up someone’s space, and perhaps guilt."
However, Nick also defended his decision to play so many queer characters. He continued: "At the same time, I see those characters as not solely their sexuality."
As for why he enjoys taking on LGBTQ+ roles, Nicholas recently told The Huffington Post UK: "There’s sort of a plethora of reasons for this. One, I have so many friends within the community, and I know so many of them didn’t feel like they had these stories growing up."
Highlighting Red, White & Royal Blue, he said: "My gay friends were like 'Wow, to have something cheesy and broad and wholesome is like really, really important', and I think the resonance of that means a lot to me."
Speaking more broadly about the queer roles he's played, Nicholas said: "I think with all of these characters, the thing that I find really intriguing as an actor is that underbelly of vulnerability and having to hide oneself."
He ended the interview by saying: "I think they’ve all just been really rich characters in of themselves. You know, you read that in the script it just becomes a bit of a no-brainer."
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