Movies

Singer, Songwriter & Actor

b. December 1, 1985

“I’ve never lived my life in a binary way.”

Janelle Monáe is an eight-time Grammy-nominated singer and songwriter and an award-winning actor and activist. Known for her bold fashion choices and music videos, which she calls her “emotion pictures,” Monáe describes herself as a nerdy polymath, Afrofuturist storyteller and pansexual android.

Janelle Monáe Robinson was born to working-class parents in Kansas City, Kansas. Her father struggled with addiction. Her mother devoted herself to God and family and, along with her grandmother, supported Monáe’s participation in musicals, talent shows and playwriting groups. Monáe credits her family with her intense work ethic.

By age 16, Monáe had established her own record label. When the American Musical and Dramatic Academy awarded her a college scholarship, she moved to New York City. As the only Black woman in her drama classes, she felt typecast and grew frustrated. She dropped out and moved to Atlanta.

In Atlanta, Monáe established an artist’s collective, the Wondaland Arts Society. In 2005 she made her professional debut as a featured artist on several OutKast tracks. Two years later, she released a solo concept EP, “Metropolis: Suite 1,” on which she introduced herself as an android. She received her first Grammy nomination for the album.

Monáe carried the android persona into her next two albums, “The ArchAndroid” (2010) and “The Electric Lady” (2013). In 2013 she made her first appearance as a musical guest on “Saturday Night Live.” When asked about her signature black-and-white tuxedo, she explained, “My mother was a janitor and my father collected trash, so I wear a uniform too.”

In 2016 Monáe made her film debut in “Moonlight” and played Mary Jackson, one of the starring roles, in “Hidden Figures.” Monáe received Critics Choice Award nominations for both. She won for “Moonlight,” as part of the ensemble cast.

In 2018 Monáe came out publicly as a “queer Black woman.” She founded Fem The Future, a mentoring organization and movement for women, and released the radical, critically acclaimed album, “Dirty Computer.” She said she wanted “young girls, young boys, nonbinary, gay, straight, [and] queer people who are having a hard time dealing with their sexuality …” to know she saw them. “This album is for you,” she said. “Be proud.”

In 2019 Monáe appeared as Marie in “Harriet,” a biopic about the abolitionist Harriet Tubman. In 2020 she starred in the horror film “Antebellum.”

Among countless awards and nominations for her music, videos and acting, Monáe has also received a GLAAD Media Award, an NAACP Image Award and two Council of Fashion Designers of America Awards. Monáe resides in Atlanta and Los Angeles.

Actor

b. October 19, 1945
d. March 7, 1988

“They can call me whatever they want … I don't care. You always change your name when you're in the show business.”

Harris Glenn Milstead was an American actor and musical performer best known as Divine. A muse of the gay independent filmmaker John Waters, Milstead, as Divine, played female characters in the director’s often shocking comedies, including the cult classics "Pink Flamingos" (1972), "Female Trouble" (1974) and "Polyester" (1981).

Milstead was born in Baltimore, Maryland, the only child of a middle-class, conservative Baptist couple. His parents met at the diner where his mother worked.

A high school outcast, Milstead was severely bullied by his classmates. Troubled by their son’s attraction to both women and men, Milstead’s parents sent him to a psychiatrist when he was 17. At 18, Milstead enrolled at Marinella Beauty School, then worked for a time as a hairdresser. He threw extravagant parties and began performing in drag.

Milstead and John Waters, a fellow high school outsider, began a lifelong friendship and professional collaboration as teenagers. Waters helped launch Milstead’s career, dubbing him "Divine," and designating him "the most beautiful woman in the world, almost."

Milstead appeared in roughly 20 films, most of which were made by Waters. In the majority of his roles, Milstead starred as bawdy, outrageous women. Between films, he performed live drag shows. He had a successful cabaret career in Europe and recorded several disco singles in the 1980s that hit the Billboard U.S. Dance Club charts.

A few weeks before he died, Milstead reached the apex of his career with the release of Waters’s first PG-rated movie, "Hairspray" (1988). In the beloved comedy-drama, Milstead played a more sympathetic and realistic female character, Edna Turnblad, opposite Ricki Lake as Turnblad’s daughter. In 2002 "Hairspray" was adapted into a Tony-winning musical. A 2007 remake of the film starred John Travolta in the role Milstead originated.

Both lauded and reviled as a "drag queen," Milstead saw his career differently. As early as 1976, he told The New York Times, "I'm not a female impersonator; I'm an actor." Later in life, he landed a few male roles, including a gangster in "Trouble in Mind" (1985), starring Kris Kristofferson. In addition to his part as Edna Turnblad, he also played a man in "Hairspray."

Milstead died at 42 of an enlarged heart. The New York Times published his obituary. A 12-foot statue of Divine, created by acclaimed sculptor Andrew Logan, stands on permanent display in Baltimore's American Visionary Art Museum. "I Am Divine" (2013), a documentary about Milstead, received widespread critical acclaim.

SNL Comedian

b. January 6, 1984

“One of my favorite things is to try and make an unlikable person endearing.”

Kate McKinnon is an American comedian, writer and Emmy Award-winning actor. She is best known for her work on the sketch comedy series “Saturday Night Live” (SNL).

McKinnon grew up on Long Island, New York. A self-professed “theater kid,” she showed a knack for mimicry and impersonations as early as fifth grade, when she convincingly imitated a British accent while auditioning to play the “queen of reading week.” After high school, McKinnon studied theater at Columbia University. In her senior year, she beat thousands of competitors for a spot on Rosie O’Donnell’s television series “The Big Gay Sketch Show.” McKinnon joined the cast in 2006, where she remained for the run of the program.

In 2008 McKinnon began regularly performing live sketch comedy at the Upright Citizens’ Brigade Theater. When “SNL” called her to audition, she realized a longtime dream. McKinnon joined “SNL” as a featured player in April 2012. She became the show’s first openly gay cast member and the second known gay cast member since Danitra Vance in the 1980s.

On “SNL” McKinnon quickly became a breakout star with her off-the-wall yet eerily accurate impressions of celebrities and politicians, such as Justin Bieber, Ellen DeGeneres, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Jeff Sessions and Hillary Clinton. She has created a host of iconic characters—from a crass mermaid to an alien abductee. McKinnon’s uncanny ability to make unlikable characters relatable won the hearts of viewers.

Since she joined “SNL,” McKinnon has appeared in a number of screen productions. She starred in the all-female reboot of “Ghostbusters” and in “Office Christmas Party” (both in 2016) and in “Rough Night” (2017) and “The Spy Who Dumped Me” (2018). She has also performed as a voice actor for animated films such as “The Angry Birds Movie” and “Finding Dory.”

Among other comedy awards, McKinnon received two consecutive Emmys (2016 and 2017) for her work on “SNL.” She delivered a heartfelt acceptance speech thanking fellow lesbian comedian Ellen DeGeneres for “making it less scary to be gay” and for encouraging her to pursue her dreams. McKinnon has credited her gay identity for informing her unique comedic voice. “As minorities, we’re on the fringe,” she said, “and there’s just something so wonderful about that perspective, something so inspiring.”

Oscar-Winning Filmmaker

b. June 7, 1928

“[‘Call Me by Your Name’] is a story familiar to most of us, whether we’re straight or gay.”

James Ivory is an award-winning film director, producer and screenwriter. Along with film producer Ismail Merchant, his life partner, he founded the highly successful movie-making enterprise Merchant Ivory Productions. Ivory won the Academy Award for “Call Me by Your Name” (2017), a gay coming-of-age romantic drama set in 1980s Italy.

Ivory was born in Berkeley, California. He studied fine arts at the University of Oregon before attending the USC School for Cinematic Arts. The documentary he created for his master’s thesis, “Venice: Theme and Variations,” was selected by The New York Times as one of the 10 best nontheatrical films of the year.

In 1959 Ivory met Ismail Merchant at a film screening in New York. The two fell in love, and in 1961 they founded Merchant Ivory Productions. Though they initially intended to make English language films in India for the international market, they made many films set in England and the United States. For the most part, Ivory directed and Merchant produced the company’s 44 movies.

Best known for their intelligent themes and superb casting, Merchant Ivory films have garnered countless nominations and awards in the United States and Europe. The company’s most iconic pictures are based on literary works dealing with social issues. “Maurice” (1987), directed by Ivory, was one of the first movies to affirmatively depict gay relationships and became a life-changing film for many young gay men in the ’80s and ’90s. Ivory received the Academy Award nomination for Best Director for “A Room with a View” (1985), “Howards End (1992) and “The Remains of the Day” (1993).
 
Until Merchant’s death in 2015, Ivory and Merchant shared a professional and romantic relationship. Because Merchant came from a deeply conservative Indian Muslim family, the couple kept their 44-year love affair quiet. References to their personal life were made only discreetly by the press.

In 2018 at age 89, Ivory won the Academy Award and the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for “Call Me by Your Name,” making him the oldest recipient in the history of either award. In his acceptance speech, he described the film as “a story familiar to most of us; whether we’re straight or gay, or somewhere in between, we’ve all gone through first love, I hope, and come out on the other side mostly intact.”

Award-Winning Actor

b. June 7, 1928
d. October 2, 1985

“I can at least know my misfortune has had some positive worth.”

Rock Hudson was an award-winning actor of Hollywood’s Golden Age. A handsome leading man who appeared in nearly 70 films, he became the face of the early AIDS epidemic at a time when the virus and its victims were demonized. In coming out with his diagnosis—and his homosexuality—he helped raise public awareness and humanize the disease.
 
Born Leroy Harold Scherer Jr. in Winnetka, Illinois, Hudson served as an aircraft mechanic in the Navy during World War II. After his discharge, he moved to Hollywood to pursue an acting career. In 1947 a talent scout took him on as his protégé, crafting the stage name “Rock Hudson.” Despite Hudson’s lack of experience, he landed a bit part in the 1948 feature film “Fire Squadron.”

Hudson played minor roles in a number of films before he scored the lead in “Magnificent Obsession” (1954). The film established Hudson as a star and his career skyrocketed.

He made five more movies in two years, before appearing in the critically acclaimed “Giant” (1956), alongside Elizabeth Taylor and James Dean. The performance earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor in a Leading Role.

In 1959 Hudson’s career took another positive turn when he was cast opposite Doris Day in the romantic comedy “Pillow Talk.” The charismatic actor quickly became a Hollywood heartthrob, starring in two more comedies with Day. The couple’s on-screen chemistry made box office magic and ignited a lifelong friendship. In the late 1960s, Hudson turned his talent to television, most notable starring in “McMillan & Wife,” a popular police drama that ran through the 1970s.

Despite his public success, Hudson’s private life was shrouded in secrecy. Fear of social stigma and professional disaster kept him, and other gay actors of the day, closeted. In 1955, to keep up appearances, Hudson entered a short-lived marriage to Phyllis Gates, arranged by his agent.

Hudson was diagnosed with AIDS in June 1984. In 1985 Doris Day asked him to guest on her television talk-show premiere. He appeared in July for the taping and post-show press conference looking shockingly ill and gaunt. Shortly thereafter, he publicly acknowledged his health status.

He was one of the first major celebrities to disclose his homosexuality and his battle with AIDS. The revelation helped catalyze awareness and change public perceptions about the disease.

Hudson died in Beverly Hills just a few days after the program with Day aired. He was 59.

Filmmaker

b. May 13, 1966

“… There are other people with stories to tell.”

Cheryl Dunye is a Liberian-born American lesbian filmmaker, actor and educator. Her films highlight social and cultural issues surrounding African-Americans and the LGBT community, most notably, black lesbians.
 
Dunye grew up in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She earned her bachelor’s degree from Temple University and her Master of Fine Arts from Rutgers Mason Gross School of the Arts. In 1992 Art Matters Inc. awarded her a fellowship. The following year, her work appeared in the Biennial Exhibition at the Whitney Museum of American Art.

Dunye has made more than 15 films whose themes explore the intersection of race, sexuality and personal identity. Emerging as part of the Queer New Cinema movement of the 1990s, she began her career producing short film narratives. A compilation of her work from 1990 to 1994, “Early Works of Cheryl Dunye,” is available on DVD.

In 1996 Dunye wrote, directed, edited and starred in the romantic comedy-drama “The Watermelon Woman,” her first feature film and the first full-length narrative made by and about a black lesbian. It won the Teddy Award for Best Feature Film at the Berlin International Film Festival and the Audience Award for Outstanding Narrative Feature at L.A. Outfest. Her next project, “Stranger Inside” (2001), an HBO drama about black lesbian prison inmates, earned her an Independent Spirit Award nomination for best director.

Dunye’s other films include “My Baby’s Daddy (2004),” a comedy that grossed $18.5 million against a $12 million budget; “The Owls” (2010); “Mommy is Coming” (2012); and “Black is Blue” (2014), a sci-fi film set in a futuristic Oakland, California, that explores black queer transgender love.

Dunye cites American film directors Woody Allen and Spike Lee as her artistic influences and Charles Burnett’s “Killer of Sheep” (1978) as a significant source of inspiration. Her distinctive style often breaks the fourth wall: characters directly address the camera, blurring the line between the actors and the audience. Industry insiders have labeled her creative mix of fact and fiction “Dunyementary.”

In addition to filmmaking, Dunye is a professor at San Francisco State University School of Cinema. She has taught at universities from coast to coast, including UCLA and Temple University. She is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Among other honors, Dunye received the Community Vision Award from the National Center for Lesbian Rights in 2004 and a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2016.

She lives in Oakland, California, with her two children.

Actor & Singer

b. July 11, 1931
d. July 8, 2018

“In life we have to be contributors. It's very, very important. And I look up there and I think I've contributed.”

Tab Hunter was an American actor and singer. A star during Hollywood’s Golden Age, he was officially Warner Bros. most popular actor from 1955 to 1959. He appeared in more than 40 films.

Hunter was born Arthur Gelien in New York City and grew up in California. He figured skated competitively from childhood into his early teens. At 15 he enlisted in the U.S. Coast Guard but was discharged when the military discovered his true age. 

While still a teenager, the handsome blue-eyed blonde turned to acting. He signed with an agent and was given the stage name Tab Hunter. 

Dubbed the “Sigh Guy,” Hunter became a 1950s teen heartthrob. He made his Hollywood debut with a minor role in the 1950 film “The Lawless.” Thereafter, Warner Bros. Pictures offered him a contract. One of his first movies was the 1955 box office hit “The Sea Chase,” starring John Wayne and Lana Turner. The same year, Hunter secured his breakthrough role as Danny, the young Marine in the hit World War II drama “Battle Cry.” 

Hunter’s most popular motion pictures included the Academy Award-nominated musical “Damn Yankees!” (1958), “Gunman’s Walk” (1958), “The Pleasure of His Company” (1961), and “The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean” (1972). 

With the emergence of rock and roll, Hunter became a well-known singer. His 1957 record, “Young Love,” rose to the top of the Billboard Hot 100 charts and remained at No. 1 for six weeks. The movie studio established Warner Bros. Records specifically to support him. 

In 1960 Hunter had his own television series. Although it lasted only one season, he went on to act in more than 200 TV shows and was nominated for an Emmy for his performance in an episode of  “Playhouse 90.” In the 1980s, he appeared in “Grease 2” and the John Waters cult classic “Polyester.” 

Hunter came out in his 2005 autobiography, “Tab Hunter Confidential: The Making of a Movie Star,” after years of public speculation about his sexuality. The memoir became a New York Times best seller in 2007 and again in 2015 when a documentary film based on the book was released. 

Hunter received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and the Palm Springs Walk of Stars. From 1982 until his death, Hunter lived with his partner, Allan Glaser, a Hollywood producer. Glaser produced the documentary based on Hunter’s memoir. 

Award-Winning Actor

b. June 26, 1970 

“I know I should've come out sooner and I'm sorry for that. Especially when I think about the possibility that I might have made a difference in someone's life.”

Sean Patrick Hayes is an actor, singer, comedian and producer best known for his role as Jack McFarland on NBC’s award-winning sitcom “Will and Grace.” The role has earned him an Emmy, an American Comedy Award, four Screen Actors Guild Awards and numerous nominations.

Hayes was raised Roman Catholic by his single mother in the Chicago suburb of Glen Ellyn. He studied piano performance at Illinois State University but left before graduating. He became the music director of a theater in St. Charles, Illinois, and worked as a classical pianist.

Hayes practiced improvisation at The Second City in Chicago, the renowned comedy enterprise that launched many of the industry’s top talents. In 1995 he moved to Los Angeles to work as a stand-up comedian. 

Hayes made his film debut in “Billy’s Hollywood Screen Kiss” in July 1998. Later that year, he was cast as the flamboyant, humorously self-obsessed gay character, Jack, in the new television comedy series, “Will and Grace.” The groundbreaking sitcom was one of the first widely broadcast programs to feature LGBT characters consistently and portray them positively.

“Will and Grace” ran for eight seasons (188 episodes) and garnered numerous awards and accolades. The series was revived in 2017 with its original core cast. 

In 2001 Hayes’s performance on “Will and Grace” earned him an Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series. Between 2001 and 2006 he earned seven consecutive Primetime Emmy Award nominations for the role. He also received six Golden Globe Award nominations for Best Supporting Actor, an American Comedy Award for Funniest Supporting Male in a Television Series, four SAG Awards and multiple Satellite Award nominations for his work on the show.

In 2004 Hayes founded his own television production company, Hazy Mills Productions, which has produced popular NBC shows such as “Grimm” and “Hollywood Game Night.”

Hayes’s Broadway credits include “An Act of God” and “Promises, Promises,” for which he received the 2010 Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical. He hosted the live Tony Awards show that same year.

Although Hayes portrays a gay character on “Will and Grace,” he did not come out until he was interviewed by The Advocate in 2010. In 2018 he told the Hollywood Reporter, “I didn't have the DNA or the ability to be one spokesperson for an entire group of people.”
 
In 2013 Hayes received an honorary Ph.D. from Illinois State University. In 2014 he married his longtime partner, Scott Icenogle.

Documentary Filmmaker

b. October 12, 1957
d. November 7, 2017

“We all know plenty of gay people who have won Academy Awards, but we’re all just quiet about it. I couldn’t imagine having that profound of an honor and not acknowledging my partner.” 

Debra Hill Chasnoff was an American documentary filmmaker and activist. She won the 1992 Academy Award for Best Documentary Short Subject for “Deadly Deception.” In her acceptance speech, Chasnoff became the first Academy Award recipient to acknowledge a same-sex partner during the ceremony’s live national telecast. She came out in doing so. 

Chasnoff was born in Philadelphia and grew up in the Washington, D.C., suburbs. Her father, Joel Chasnoff, was a Maryland state legislator and her mother, Selina Sue Prosen, was a psychologist. In 1978 Chasnoff graduated with a degree in economics from Wellesley College.

Chasnoff made 12 documentary films. With her production company, GroundSpark, she produced and distributed documentaries covering social issues such as income inequality, environmental rights and LGBT rights. The company’s mission was to “create films and dynamic education campaigns that move individuals and communities to take action for a more just world.” Films like “That’s a Family” (2000) exposed students nationwide to diverse households of multiracial families and same-sex parents. 

Chasnoff’s influential first film, “Choosing Children” (1984), showcased six same-sex American couples raising children through adoption, biological donors or fostering. It won Best Short Documentary at the New York Gay and Lesbian Film Festival and First Prize from the National Educational Film Festival. The New York Times reported that the film “inspired many gay and lesbian couples to start raising families of their own.” 

In 1991 Chasnoff directed and produced “Deadly Deception: General Electric, Nuclear Weapons and Our Environment.” The exposé earned her the 1992 Academy Award for Best Documentary Short Subject. In accepting the award, Chasnoff thanked her then partner, Kim Klausner.  

In addition to filmmaking, Chasnoff was a visiting scholar in public policy at Mills College in California. Mayor Art Agnos of San Francisco appointed her vice chair of the city’s Film and Video Arts Commission. She also served on the advisory boards of the San Francisco International Lesbian and Gay Film Festival and the Jewish Voices for Peace organization. 

At age 60, Chasnoff died of breast cancer. She was survived by her spouse Nancy Otto, an artist and nonprofit fundraiser, and two sons from her relationship with Klausner. The New York Times published Chasnoff’s obituary.

Actor
Please Note: *Ellen* Page was celebrated during LGBT History Month 2016, as is reflected in this biography. In December 2020, Page came out as trangender on Instagram. Page underwent top surgery and took the name Elliot. He gave his first interview on the subject in March 2021 in TIME, becoming the first transgender person to appear on the magazine's cover.

b: February 21, 1987

“I’m tired of hiding and I’m tired of lying by omission.”

Ellen Page is an Academy Award-nominated Canadian actor who has starred in “Juno,” “Inception,” “To Rome With Love” and the X-Men series. She has won nominations from BAFTA, the Golden Globes and the Screen Actors Guild, as well as a Teen Choice Award. 

Page was born and raised in Halifax, Nova Scotia, the daughter of a teacher and a graphic designer. Her first acting role was at the age of 10 in a Canadian television movie called “Pit Pony.” She earned work in Canadian films and television, including a breakout role in the 2005 film “Hard Candy.” 

Page is most famous for  her title role in the offbeat Canadian-American dramedy “Juno” (2007), about an unplanned teen pregnancy. The independent film won an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay and earned Page a nomination for Best Actress.  

Page caught the attention of mainstream media. She was counted among FHM magazine’s “Sexiest Women in the World” and named to Entertainment Weekly’s future stars list. 

In 2014 Page came out publicly during a speech at the Human Rights Campaign’s Time to Thrive conference benefiting LGBT youth. The same year she was named to The Advocate’s 40 Under 40 list.

Page has become an outspoken advocate for LGBT rights, producing a docu-series for Viceland called “Gaycation” in which she travels the world to discuss LGBT experiences. She has also called for an end to military dictatorship in Burma and describes herself as a pro-choice feminist, an atheist and a vegan. 

In 2015 she played opposite Julianne Moore in the film “Freeheld,” a true story about a lesbian police officer with terminal cancer who fought the Ocean County (N.J.) Board of Freeholders to allow her pension benefits to be transferred to her domestic partner. The role was the first in which Page played a lesbian onscreen. She has said that the film and her coming out have liberated her.

“I’m on Twitter and I’m gay,” Page said, “and I talk about gay rights … As a gay person living in Los Angeles, I get to do a job that I love that’s given me — let’s just be honest — money. I think it really is easy to forget what a lot of LGBT people face."