Though 2009’s Star Trek made headlines for featuring a Mr. Spock who was no stranger to romance with Zoe Saldana‘s Uhura, Zachary Quinto, who played the Vulcan hero, came out as gay in real-life two years afterward. While appearing on The Jonathan Ross show to promote the Star Trek sequel, Quinto spoke about coming out and its effect on his career.
He points out, “I haven’t stopped working, I’ve only worked more since I came out.”
Quinto came out in 2011 after his Star Trek success and because of reports of gay teenagers committing suicide in the United States. He explains, “I just felt like it was a convergence for me where I was in a position, and am in a position, for young people to look at the experience that I’ve had, to look at the opportunities that have been presented to me and to recognize in themselves that there is no limitation and that we live in a time where the tide is changing. For me I felt like it was the right time and the right way.”
Of course, Quinto came out after his star-making performance in Star Trek and works in an industry in which sexual orientation is generally not an issue among his fellow actors. However, he still believes that there are people out there that wouldn’t want to work with him because of his sexual orientation — and as far as Quinto is concerned, he’d rather not work with them either. He says, “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.”
via Entertainment Wise
