Gay fans of True Blood (and there are thousands) are usually disheartened to learn that series star Nelsan Ellis is straight as a pair of fangs in real life. The bootylicious black actor who plays gay medium Lafayette Reynolds on the HBO serial says in order to get into character he simply imitates his mother’s mannerisms.
Reynolds comes from an extremely religious household. His father is a deacon, a “super-duper-deacon” as Ellis says; the kind of African-American pastor who leads a flock of singing parishioners.
However, Ellis says playing the role of Lafayette allowed him to meet gay and lesbian fans who changed his opinion on the plight of queers. After meeting so many young queer fans, Ellis created and produced the I Am Damn Wonderful documentary which profiles six young gay and lesbian poets and encourages all young queers to live with no regrets.
“We give them a platform to tell the world that they are relevant, they don’t have to deal with being bullied and suicide is not an option,” Ellis said on a recent episode of Chelsea Lately.
Fangbangers rejoice. He may not be one of us, but he’s on our side.
Check out I Am Damn Wonderful, here.
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