‘Love, Simon’ star Clark Moore: ‘I’ve never had the privilege of passing as straight’
The US actor talks sexuality and diversity in our new May issue.
By Will Stroude
After weeks of hype, Love, Simon has finally arrived in UK cinemas, propelling not only a sweet gay love story into the mainstream, but a host of rising LGBT actors who’ve landed roles in Greg Berlanti’s high school comedy drama.
One of those is Clark Moore, an Atlanta-born actor whose role as out-and proud Ethan marks his first major big screen role. The difficulty of breaking Hollywood as a young openly gay actor is well-documented, but Clark is hopeful that his sexuality be a barrier to tackling different types of roles in 2018.
“Unlike Simon, I’ve never had the privilege of passing as straight” he tells Attitude’s May Issue, available to download and in shops now.
“Because of my mannerisms, my body type, and I was blessed with my mother’s face and a higher voice, people always think I’m a woman anyway!”
(Image: Luka Fontana)
He continues: “I’ve never really been able to hide that aspect of my identity, it’s always been there and I worry that I won’t get the opportunity to break beyond gay roles.
“But I think the other thing that’s really important is that we have to use this opportunity, we have to tell all these different stories.
“Not every story has to come back to love, not every story depends on a person’s sexuality. I just hope that there are future roles where I’m able to play a variety of characters regardless of sexual orientation.”
Ethan’s natural flamboyance provides a foil to Simon’s more straight-passing high school student in Love, Simon, and Clark is keen to point out that there’s room for all different types of LGBT experiences on screen.
“I think that’s the privilege that we now have — the gay experience is no longer taboo, it’s out there”, he explains.
“We have Call Me By Your Name, Moonlight and all these films that are exploring gay identity in many different ways. So we can now lean into those stereotypes a little bit more.
“Every stereotype has a kernel of truth to and that’s OK. I think that we run away from our stereotypes because we want to show that we aren’t monolithic, we have these other experiences.
“People get that now, they see that gay people are everywhere, so we can relax and laugh at ourselves a little bit more.”
Read Clark’s full interview in Attitude’s May Issue. Buy now in print, subscribe or download.
