Zachary Quinto was on The Jonathan Ross Show with his Trekkie co-star Zoe Saldana, promoting the Star Trek sequel Star Trek: Into Darkness, and the host asked Quinto what his career has been like since coming out in 2011.
Quinto was inspired to come out after teenager Jamey Rodemeyer killed himself because he was being bullied for being gay. Quinto says the decision has only helped his career, putting to bed Rupert Everett’s theory that coming out is damaging for a Hollywood actor:
“For me I felt like it was the right time and the right way,” Quinto said. ”If people don’t want to work with me because of my sexual orientation, then I have no interest in working with them to begin with. It doesn’t really put me in a position where I feel like I’m limited.”
A steady stream of work has come Quinto’s way since he came out, and he has been cast as both gay and straight characters. He’s set to play Tom Wingfield in a Broadway revival of The Glass Menagerie, a character modelled after gay icon and playwright Tennessee Williams, and he stars as straight sci-fi sex symbol Spock in the Star Trek films. Although I have a Trekkie friend who showed me this clip, and so maybe the original Spock and Captain Kirk weren’t so straight after all? Dig it in there, Mr Spock!