Attitude 101 2025: Here are the 10 influential figures who made our TV, Music & Film list
The entertainment visionaries of Attitude 101, empowered by Bentley are lighting up screens and soundwaves, making 2025 a landmark year for LGBTQ+ representation.
The selection spans 10 sectors: Media & Broadcast; Film, TV, and Music; Science, Technology, Engineering, & Mathematics; Third Sector & Community; Financial & Legal; Fashion, Art & Design; Sport; Travel; Business; and The Future, supported by Clifford Chance.
Below are the LGBTQ+ creatives who are helping shape the cultural landscape through performances, productions and musical achievements.
Category leader: Olly Alexander
Actor and singer
Olly Alexander, formerly lead singer of the band Years & Years – known for hits like ‘King’ and ‘If You’re Over Me’, and their million-selling debut Communion – has just released his warmly-received new album Polari. His first LP under his own name, which it was preceded by the singles like ‘Dizzy’ and ‘When We Kiss’. The 34-year-old is also known for his acting career, including a starring role in Russell T Davies smash hit for Channel 4, It’s a Sin, and memorable roles in the likes of Skins and Penny Dreadful.
Amrou Al-Kadhi
Drag artist, writer and director
British-Iraqi drag superstar and Attitude columnist Al-Kadhi has been charting their steady rise as filmmaker in these hallowed pages for a number of years now. Last year, they wrote, directed and released their debut feature, the critically acclaimed romance Layla, about a British-Palestinian drag queen living in London. Starring Bilal Hasna, it premiered in the World Cinema Dramatic Competition at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival, and Attitude named it one of our top films of the year. Al-Kadhi is also a stage veteran, whose show Glamrou: Drag Mother recently played at Soho Theatre.
Jade Anouka
Actor
Anouka is known first and foremost for her illustrious stage career: at Shakespeare’s Globe, for example, she’s played Ophelia in Hamlet, and Juliet in Romeo and Juliet; she also appeared opposite Taron Egerton and Jonathan Bailey in 2022 West End hit Cock. Anouka’s TV career reached new heights with her performance in the BBC’s His Dark Materials from 2019 to 2022. Then, last year, her role as Sister Theodosia in the blockbuster prequel series Dune: Prophecy introduced her to a new audience. Jade’s other screen credits include Doctor Who, Chewing Gum and Fisherman’s Friends: One and All.
Colman Domingo
Actor
At 55, Domingo is an acting veteran, but in recent years, his career has been turbocharged. In 2023, he appeared in no fewer than five feature films, one of which earned him an Oscar nomination for Best Actor, for portraying civil rights activist Bayard Rustin in Netflix biopic Rustin. He’s an Oscar contender again this year for Sing Sing. His other must-see movies that we can’t recommend enough include Selma (2014), If Beale Street Could Talk (2018), Candyman (2021) and The Colour Purple (2023). On TV, he’s been seen in HBO hit Euphoria (2019–2022), and Fear the Walking Dead (2015–2023).
Phil Dunning
Writer, actor and comedian
Originally from Teesside, Dunning recently starred in Smoggie Queens, a BBC series about a group of LGBTQ+ friends in Middlesbrough, which he also wrote and created. Other TV credits include appearances in Feel Good, The Other One, and Am I Being Unreasonable? As a comedian, Dunning has written and performed three solo shows at the Edinburgh Fringe, featured on Harry Hill’s Clubnite on Channel 4, and currently hosts a monthly live comedy and cabaret night at London’s MOTH Club with Knock2Bag.
Cynthia Erivo
Singer and actor
Powerhouse vocalist Erivo earned her stripes on the West End and Broadway in the likes of The Colour Purple and Sister Act, and last year starred alongside Ariana Grande in the film adaptation of Wicked. Erivo, who identifies as queer and bisexual, has been nominated for a slew of awards for the film, and will return for the follow-up, Wicked: For Good, due in late 2025. Our pick of the two-time Oscar nominee’s other screen roles include 2018 mystery thriller Bad Times at the El Royale, 2019 Harriet Tubman biopic Harriet, and 2023 drama Drift, which tells the story of a Liberian refugee in Greece.
JASMINE.4.T
Musician
A Manchester-based artist known for her lo-fi, DIY sound, Jasmine4.t’s music delves into themes of love, community and life as a trans woman. Her debut album, You Are The Morning, captures her journey through her transition, relationships and resilience. Driven by a commitment to visibility and advocacy for the trans community, she uses her music to effect joy, solidarity and political action. As she told Rolling Stone UK, she’s “fighting for trans visibility and antifascist action,” creating space for both expression and change.
Cooper Koch
Actor
Koch previously worked as a model with Wilhelmina Models, before building a film career with roles in 2022 body-horror film Swallowed, and in the same year, the slasher movie They/Them, which co-starred Kevin Bacon and was produced by Jason Blum. Last year, his fame reached new heights as he starred in Ryan Murphy’s latest viral true crime hit for Netflix — Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, for which he was nominated for a Golden Globe for his turn as Erik Menendez. As for future roles, the 28-year-old told The Hollywood Reporter last year: “I haven’t played a serial killer yet so I think I could do it!”
Mikko Mäkelä
Director
Finnish filmmaker Mäkelä made his directorial debut with 2017’s gay-themed A Moment in the Reeds. Last year, two short films later, he returned to feature film with the critical hit Sebastian, about an aspiring author and sex worker whose two worlds of work collide when he begins writing his first novel. (The film stars Ruaridh Mollica — read our interview with him about the movie on page 60.) Last year, Mäkelä was included in IndieWire’s list of 25 LGBTQ filmmakers on the rise. He is also known for directing the short films Hard to Lose, Palvelus and Nothing Special.
Jason Patel
Actor and singer
Patel burst onto the scene with his breakout role in Netflix’s critically acclaimed film Unicorns. Co-starring Ben Hardy, the film premiered at TIFF 2023 and BFI London Film Festival. Patel’s powerful acting earned him two British Independent Film Awards nominations, including Breakthrough Performance. His music was also used in Unicorns, and includes standout tracks ‘One Last Dance’ and ‘Somewhere Special’ from his EP Delicious. Named a 2024 Screen Star of Tomorrow by Screen Daily, Patel’s next role is in the BBC crime drama Virdee.
The 101 list appears in issue 363 of Attitude magazine, available to order here or alongside 15 years of back issues on the Attitude app.