Story summary
Luke Evans, a Welsh actor known for his roles in Hollywood films, recently commented on the debate surrounding whether only LGBTQ+ actors should portray LGBTQ+ characters. He starred as Martin Gilmour in the ITV series *The Party*, a political drama where he plays a married, secretly gay journalist tormented by his feelings for his former schoolmate turned right-wing politician.
During interviews promoting the show, Evans argued that an individual's sexuality does not dictate their political views or activism. "Just because you are gay doesn't mean you have to be woke," Evans stated. He emphasized that while being LGBTQ+ is part of one’s identity, personal beliefs and opinions vary widely among individuals regardless of sexual orientation.
Evans, who identifies as gay himself, lives with his partner of six years in Lisbon, Portugal, where he finds life simpler compared to the UK. His comments reflect broader discussions within Hollywood about inclusivity and representation on screen.
Written for “LGBTQ Casting Controversy” on 2026-10-05,
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Luke Evans weighed in on the gay actor debate while discussing the stereotypes of LGBTQ characters on screen.
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Evans → weigh → screen
In his latest project, ITV series The Party, he plays Martin Gilmour, a married, secretly gay political journalist tormented by his love of former schoolfriend and now Right-wing politician Ben Fitzmaurice (Tom Cullen).
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he → play → schoolfriend
While discussing the various themes of the show, Luke was asked if prejudicial assumption remains that gay people, even privately gay people such as Ben, will vote Left.
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people → discuss → Left
'Just because you are gay yourself doesn't mean you have to be woke,' Luke mused.
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Luke → mean → ?
'Your sexuality is one part of who you are, but our opinions on society and life differ in every single person.
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opinions → differ → person
'I've got very woke gay friends and very unwoke gay friends.
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I → get → friends
We don't all agree on the same thing.'
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We → agree → thing
Luke, who is gay and lives in Lisbon with his partner of six years, Fran Tomas, added that he was grateful to have moved away from the UK, saying: 'I love it there.
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That resonates with me.'
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That → resonate → me
Luke Evans weighed in on LGBT stereotypes and why he disagrees that only gay actors should play gay characters, saying 'Just because you are gay doesn't mean you have to be woke'
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you → weigh → characters
In ITV series The Party, he plays Martin Gilmour, a married, secretly gay political journalist tormented by his love of former schoolfriend turned Right-wing politician
Talk then turned to the ongoing debate in Hollywood as to whether gay roles on screen should exclusively be played by gay people.
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roles → play → people
While Luke, 47, has played gay characters over the years, he told The Telegraph: 'I’ve played mostly straight macho roles my whole career, and I’ve loved it.'
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I → play → it
He added: 'If gay people only played gay characters, then I'd have had no career.
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But I understand there's also not enough opportunities for gay actors to play gay characters, or for trans actors to play trans characters.
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actors → understand → characters
'And I do think the time is over for famous big Hollywood actors to play a trans character.
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actors → think → character
That shouldn't happen any more.
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'Or straight actors playing a gay character by amping up all the clichés, which I think is offensive.
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I → play → clichés
But some of the most compelling, profound performances I've ever seen have been straight actors playing gay characters.'
When asked if that also applied to non-Welsh actors taking on Welsh parts, the Pontypool native replied: 'Yes, of course.
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native → see → course
The problem is a lot of people who think they can do Welsh accents do very bad Welsh accents.'
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they → think → accents
Luke was previously said to be in the running to be the next James Bond and at the time he shared his delight at 'breaking boundaries' by being included in the actors as a gay Welsh actor from the Valleys.
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he → say → Valleys
He said: 'Nobody knows – that's part of the fun of it all …
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that → say → it
For a Welsh boy, from the valleys – a gay kid from the valleys - is in that small group of actors that's up for playing Bond.
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that → play → Bond
'That in itself is boundary-breaking [sends] a message to the youth of my country [that] anything can happen.'
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anything → break → country
He also joked about those who have already taken bets on him becoming the new action hero.
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him → joke → bets
Luke said: 'You may win some money, but don't come to me when you lose it.'
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you → say → it
Luke, who is gay and lives in Lisbon with his partner of six years, Fran Tomas (pictured) mused 'Your sexuality is one part of who you are, but our opinions on society and life differ in every single person'
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opinions → live → person
Luke knew his sexuality from a very young age but was too afraid to come out to his parents Yvonne and David in case they 'disowned him' because of their religion.
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they → know → religion
He admitted he suffered an 'extremely painful' childhood, having been bullied in school for being Jehovah's Witness and gay.
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he → admit → school
Speaking on the Queerphoria podcast, Luke described the trauma he endured after suffering for years in silence about his sexuality.
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he → speak → sexuality
He said: 'When I was born in 1979, I was born to very young parents.
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'I knew from such a young age that if I was going to have any happy life I had to leave and I knew that I would have to lose people and start again,' he added.
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he → know → people
Luke spoke about the time he sought help from the Samaritans one night after school at the age of 14.
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he → speak → 14
He said: 'I'd been into the yellow pages at age 14 and I had enough money to go to have one consultation with this psychologist.
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I → say → psychologist
My friend at the time drove me there, I confided in her that I had these feelings.
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I → drive → feelings
I went to the Samaritans office and this very nice gay man opened the door and I sat with him.
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I → go → him
And he said very few words, he said "You are not alone, I am a gay man and I am very happy, I have lots of friends, I have a good life and you will too.
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you → say → life
You will just have to get through".
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You → have → ?
'I went home and somehow got through the next two years, knowing there were people out there like me.
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I → go → me
I just knew I needed to leave home and not hurt my parents.
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I → know → parents
I knew by 13 or 14 I was clearly gay.
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I → know → 13
…and 27 more, not listed.
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