Eric McCormack – a straight actor who found fame playing a gay character on NBC’s Will & Grace – has chimed in on the debate about gay roles.
The 60-year-old Toronto native played gay lawyer Will Truman for 11 seasons, the first eight in its original run from 1998 to 2006 and an additional three seasons from 2017 to 2020.
Will & Grace was a landmark series for the LGBTQ community, becoming one of the first successful network sitcoms with gay cast members.
Now there has been much debate over wheter straight actors should be playing gay roles, which McCormack chimed in on during a Good Morning Britain interview.
‘That’s a tough one for me because I didn’t become an actor so that I could play an actor,’ McCormack said on the show, weeks after appearing at an Oscar viewing party with estranged wife Janet Holden.
Eric McCormack – a straight actor who found fame playing a gay character on NBC’s Will & Grace – has chimed in on the debate about gay roles.
The 60-year-old Toronto native played gay lawyer Will Truman for 11 seasons, the first eight in its original run from 1998 to 2006 and an additional three seasons from 2017 to 2020
Now there has been much debate over wheter straight actors should be playing gay roles, which McCormack chimed in on during a Good Morning Britain interview
‘There’s no part I’ve ever played where I wasn’t playing something I’m not. It’s part of the gig. If gay actors weren’t allowed to play straight actors, Broadway would be over. So this is what we do,’ he continued.
McCormack added, So this is what we do. I’d like to think that I represent it well. I came from the theater, and one of my best friends was a gay man.’
‘So I think I took their spirit and their message in what was otherwise just a sitcom and, represented it, I hope,’ he continued.
The actor was also asked if the sitcom was being cast today, if he would get the part, and he had this to say.
‘Well, I guess the answer would be, they’d have to say in the casting room, “And you’re gay, right?” which I don’t think they can say,’ he began.
‘I would like to think in general that the best person for the role, the one that comes in and knocks it out of the park, is the one that gets the part,’ he said.
The interview comes nearly four months after the actor’s wife of 26 years – Janet Holden – filed for divorce.
She cited, ‘irreconcilable differences,’ for the reason for the split, though no date of separation that was listed in the documents.
‘There’s no part I’ve ever played where I wasn’t playing something I’m not. It’s part of the gig. If gay actors weren’t allowed to play straight actors, Broadway would be over. So this is what we do,’ he continued
‘Well, I guess the answer would be, they’d have to say in the casting room, “And you’re gay, right?” which I don’t think they can say,’ he began
Janet is seeking spousal support and reportedly wants to ‘end the court’s ability to award Eric spousal support’ as per the report from TMZ.
The Canadian actor and Janet share one child together, 21-year-old son Finnigan Holden McCormack.
Last week, though, they attended the Elton John AIDS Foundation 2024 Oscars viewing party on Sunday night.
Though there has been no update over the divorce filing, the couple seemed to be in good spirts as they hung out at the gala event together.
