Heroes actor Zachary Quinto has confirmed he is gay in a magazine interview, saying the recent suicide of a 14-year-old boy who was bullied prompted his decision to come out. The 34-year-old has played a number of gay roles on both stage and screen but has never publicly spoken about his sexuality before. Talking about his part in Angels In America, a story about the AIDS epidemic in the 1980s, he told New York magazine it was the most challenging and rewarding of his career. He said: "As a gay man, it made me feel like there's still so much work to be done, and there's still so many things that need to be looked at and addressed." Quinto rose to fame playing Sylar in superhero series Heroes before playing the iconic Spock in J.J. Abrams' Star Trek movie. As well as Angels In America, he has also played a gay man in Tori Spelling's US sitcom So NoTORIous and in new FX series American Horror Story. Posting on his personal blog, the actor said that 14-year-old Jamey Rodemeyer's death had made him realise it was time to come out and that he wished he had done it sooner. "It became clear to me in an instant that living a gay life without publicly acknowledging it is simply not enough to make any significant contribution to the immense work that lies ahead on the road to complete equality," wrote Quinto. "Gay kids need to stop killing themselves because they are made to feel worthless by cruel and relentless bullying. "Parents need to teach their children principles of respect and acceptance."
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Tuesday, 18th October 2011 - 2:36pm