Amandla Stenberg Comes Out
Tuesday, June 19, 2018 at 12:48PM by Nathaniel R
Here's some sweet news for Pride Month, y'all, since it's not every day that a young rising star comes out of the closet. 19 year-old Amandla Stenberg, who first came to fame playing little Rue in The Hunger Games (2012), has just declared that she's gay in Wonderland magazine and on her own Instagram.
While she's not quite a household name, she is inarguably on the rise so this is a wonderful progressive move. Stenberg is headlining this summer's sci-fi young-people-with-powers flick The Darkest Minds (co-starring Beach Rats hottie Harris Dickinson). What's more she'd already delivered her first film-carrying hit with Everything Everything (reviewed). (Everything Everything was the fourth biggest success last year among films directed by women, just after the Oscar nominated Lady Bird)...
Quite a few 30something white male actors came out of the closet in the past decade, finally decimating that annoying myth that your career would end if you came out. Among the younger generation, though, it's the women of color who are leading the charge of queer visibility. We now have three rising actresses who've come out quite recently. The others are Kiersey Clemons (who broke through with Dope and is co-starring in the sleeper hit Heart Beats Loud in theaters right this moment) and Sasha Lane (American Honey, The Miseducation of Cameron Post).
Here's the trailer to Sternberg's new film Darkest Minds...
Reader Comments (9)
Good for her for coming out!
Like her - I don't know if she's a good actress (she's still got time to grow and it's hard to shine in teen fare like Everything Everything) but she's incredibly cute and is a likable screen presence.
And being a Dane, I find it cool she's half-Danish - on her fathers side.
Denmark was the first country in world to allow registered partnerships for gay people, by the way.
It's great that actresses can come out as gay and still net lead roles. Sadly, things are still working quite differently for young actors.
By the way, didn't know Clemons was gay! - when did she come out?
I've been crushing on her for some time!
I loved the love story on Easy between her and Jacqueline Toboni - they were so sweet together.
And her character in Dope was also gay, wasn't she?
It's really brave for young actresses to come out.
Will they still be cast as love interests in straight movies and so on...
But I applaud them and hope that the changing times will be in their favor.
Plus Janelle Monae and Tessa Thompson! Makin movesss for queer folk
Quite a few 30something white male actors came out of the closet in the past decade, finally decimating that annoying myth that your career would end if you came out.
You know being closeted was a necessity. Character performers who were never a threat to become leading men and women could disclose without worry they'd lose too much work unless sexuality was part of their public persona specifically the men.
/3rtful -- none of that is demonstrably true. People stayed closeted out of fear that they would lose work.Yes, but since so few tested it there was no way to disprove that theory and the closet perpetuated itself. The only way to ever break the prison of the closet for future generations is to step out of it.. Those men (Bomer, Jackson, Parsons, Miller, Quinto, etc...) and a few before them (McKellen, Everett, etc...) and some women here and there (Ellen Page, Miriam Margoyles, Fiona Shaw, Portia de Rossi, Ellen DeGeneres, Cynthia Nixon, etc) and now these young actresses are doing it. Things are getting better for gay actors. Still much work to do.
don't try to dampen their bravery by acting like it wasn't brave. It's brave even for character actors because of this stupid myth that your career will die which thankfully lots of people are now disproving with their bravery.
/3rtful -- none of that is demonstrably true. People stayed closeted out of fear that they would lose work.Yes, but since so few tested it there was no way to disprove that theory and the closet perpetuated itself. The only way to ever break the prison of the closet for future generations is to step out of it.. Those men (Bomer, Jackson, Parsons, Miller, Quinto, etc...) and a few before them (McKellen, Everett, etc...) and some women here and there (Ellen Page, Miriam Margoyles, Fiona Shaw, Portia de Rossi, Ellen DeGeneres, Cynthia Nixon, etc) and now these young actresses are doing it. Things are getting better for gay actors. Still much work to do.
don't try to dampen their bravery by acting like it wasn't brave. It's brave even for character actors because of this stupid myth that your career will die which thankfully lots of people are now disproving with their bravery.
Rupert Everett exploded onto the scene in the late 1990s, including some leading roles. Since then... not much.
Ellen Page was getting leading roles and Oscar nominations. Since she came out, her most high profile role is... Flatliners?
Who knows what would've happened to Jim Parsons or Zach Quinto if they weren't already part of major cultural institutions when they came out. Certainly they should be getting more leading roles than they are now.
I think the point still stands. What they all did was certainly brave. But bravery and viability aren't the same thing. Let's not insist that all of their careers kept soaring after the fact.
Guestguestguest... Rupert Everett came out long before the time when he exploded in the late 90s and had plenty of high profile roles before and since. His career troubles were his own making entirely. (notoriously difficult plus indecisive and all that)
While it's true that gay actors will meet some resistance (just as all oppressed minorities meet resistance from the powers that be) I think most actors would kill for the careers these out actors have. The reality is that most actors dont get work. If you're famous and weatlhy and getting parts (even if they aren't romantic leading roles) you're in the top 5 percent of your profession!