One of my favorite actors, Sean Maher, has publicly come out as a gay man by giving a touching interview with Entertainment Weekly detailing what it was like for him as a young Hollywood actor deciding to stay closeted for the business. By the way, if you're asking yourself who is he and where is from then we're not friends since it means you haven't seen him play Dr. Simon Tam in Joss Whedon's canceled-way-too-soon show Firefly and made-too-little-money cult-hit Serenity. Simon was my favorite character and I'm sure at least some of that is due to Maher.
Since Serenity, he's done a few bit guest roles on TV more notably in Drop Dead Diva, The Mentalist, and Warehouse 13, which I all saw. Most recently, he stars in NBC's new show Playboy Club which I didn't really like, but his storyline as a closeted gay actor was one of the highlights of the pilot. He also starred in the TV movie Wedding Wars with John Stamos where they played a gay couple.
A few choice quotes from his talk with Entertainment Weekly:
“I’m thinking, What is the potential that if they caught wind that they had cast a gay lead actor that they would fire me? I was young, I was 22. I didn’t know anything. So that sort of started the idea of, okay, well, I’m working a lot, I guess I’ll just keep that gay part of my life on the back burner for now. I went so far as to sleep with women a couple times. It was a very confusing time for me.”
“I didn’t really have any life other than work and this façade I was putting on. So I kept my friends from college [where he was out] separate from my work friends, and that was very confusing. I just kept going on and on painting this picture of somebody I wasn’t. I didn’t have time for a personal relationship anyway. And you just don’t realize that it’s eating away at your soul.”
“Looking back, on Firefly for instance, I do wish on day one I had told them because these are some of the most amazing people who are still like family to me. I am so grateful for that show because they saved me. I was so unhappy and lonely and to come to work everyday with that group was wonderful. It really was all I had at that point in my life.”
Click through for the entire article which is highly recommended. I'm suddenly feeling protective over Playboy Club just to see where his character's story goes, but if/when the show is canceled I hope Maher will be given more opportunities to appear on screen.
He's sooo incredibly good looking. Yum.
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