Straight ‘Succession’ Star Jeremy Strong Says Concerns About His Playing A Gay Man Are ‘Absolutely Valid’

Succession star Jeremy Strong has weighed in on the long-time debated topic of whether heterosexual actors should be allowed to play LGBTQ characters onscreen.

The controversy is accentuated by the fact that LGBTQ actors are very rarely awarded the same respect for their roles, LGBTQ or not.

Strong, who is straight and plays a closeted gay lawyer/political fixer in the biopic, The Apprentice, shared his opinion on the subject with The Los Angeles Times. 

Asked what he thought of critics who argued straight actors should not play LGBTQ roles, Strong replied that the concerns were “absolutely valid.”

“I’m sort of old fashioned, maybe, in the belief that fundamentally, it’s about a person’s artistry and that great artists, historically, have been able to, as it were, change the stamp of their nature,” Strong said. “That’s your job as an actor. The task, in a way, is to render something that is not necessarily your native habitat.”

He continued, “While I don’t think that it’s necessary [for gay roles to be performed by gay actors], I think that it would be good if that were given more weight.”

Strong shared further, “What I do feel, whoever plays any part ever, is that you have to take these things as seriously as you take your own life, and it is not a game and that these people and their struggles and the experiences you’re trying to render are not a plaything.” 

Strong has previously been scrutinized for his acting approaches, as his Succession co-star Brian Cox declared his infamous method acting to be “f—-ing annoying.”

Strong followed up, “If I didn’t believe that I could understand on some deep level [his character in The Apprentice], if I didn’t believe that I could understand it or connect to it in a way that is faithful or voracious, I wouldn’t have done it. I certainly don’t do these things just for my own self-aggrandizement.”

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