When it comes to raking in the cash, one woman is making all the cash. Kristen Stewart who IDs as bisexual has been crowned Netflix’s biggest earner – with a net worth of over $70m, according to a survey by OnBuy.
Next in line is the ever-present RuPaul, who seems to be churning out content for Netflix left, right and centre.
In the top 20 earners, six ID as gay, five ID as Bisexual, five as Lesbian, three as transgender and 1 as Queer.
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Netflix fast became everyone’s go-to to get their TV fix in 2020, and turns out the streaming service is killing it in terms of diversity – we love to see it!
But who is on track to earn the most in their careers? OnBuy.com Movies and TV department wanted to ascertain the 20 highest earning LGBT+ actors on Netflix, by looking at the earnings and net worth of top stars, and the results are finally in…
Coming out on top is the star of Twilight Kristen Stewart, with a huge 70 million dollar net worth.
She is followed closely by RuPaul at 60 million dollars and Gillian Anderson smashing it with a net worth of 40 million dollars.
Last on the list is Mj Rodriguez from Netflix’s 2020 hit show Pose; she has a reported net worth of 1 million dollars currently, however, we predict even bigger things from her in the future!
Which members of the community are the most successful?
Orange Is The New Black Season 5
Onbuy.com can reveal that 3 out of the top 5 earners are bisexual women, making them the top earners in 2020 with a combined net worth of 152 million dollars. This is compared to gay men whose combined net worth comes to 111 million dollars.
Lesbians came in third place with a combined net worth of 55.5 million dollars, followed by the transgender community at 16.5 million dollars and finally queer at 3 million dollars.
Where are they most successful?
LGBT+ actors earnt a combined 139 million dollars in films compared with a whopping 198.5 million dollars from TV shows, making the TV industry a more successful one so far for the LGBT+ community.
Which Netflix Show is Most Inclusive?
The show on Netflix with the highest concentration of LGBT+ actors is Pose, with 140 trans actors and crew members and 35 non-trans LGBT+ characters – this is the highest number of any TV show in history!
Orange is the New Black comes in second with 17 LGBT+ actors and crew.
In third place is Ratched, with 11 LGBT+ actors and crew.
Methodology: In order to work out if LGBT+ actors earn more in TV or Film, OnBuy took the top 20 earners (based on net worth) and researched the earnings for their most-watched (in terms of viewing figures) projects. OnBuy then added up all the top-earning films and top-earning TV shows and found that the top-earning LGBT+ actors on our list earned more from TV shows than they have from films.
The streaming platform has announced a date for its new film, The Boys In The Band and yep, it’s another Ryan Murphy production for Netflix.
First look images
So what is The Boys In The Band all about?
More than fifty years after Mart Crowley’s play became an unexpected smash hit for putting gay men’s lives centre stage with honesty and humour, THE BOYS IN THE BAND returns to the screen in a new adaptation that reunites acclaimed director Joe Mantello with the all-star cast of the Tony-winning, 2018 Broadway production. In 1968 New York City – when being gay was still considered to be best kept behind closed doors – a group of friends gather for a raucous birthday party hosted by Michael (Jim Parsons), a screenwriter who spends and drinks too much, in honour of the sharp-dressed and sharp-tongued Harold (Zachary Quinto). Other partygoers include Donald (Matt Bomer), Michael’s former flame, now mired in self-analysis; Larry (Andrew Rannells), a randy commercial artist living with Hank (Tuc Watkins), a school teacher who has just left his wife; Bernard (Michael Benjamin Washington), a librarian tiptoeing around fraught codes of friendship alongside Emory (Robin de Jesús), a decorator who never holds back; and a guileless hustler (Charlie Carver), hired to be Harold’s gift for the night.
What begins as an evening of drinks and laughs gets upended when Alan (Brian Hutchison), Michael’s straight-laced college roommate, shows up unexpectedly and each man is challenged to confront long-buried truths that threaten the foundation of the group’s tight bond.
When is The Boys In The Band streaming on Netflix?
The Netflix film, produced by Ryan Murphy, reunites the entire cast of the Tony-winning Broadway revival. Premiering globally on Netflix on 30 September.
Some of the most memorable trans characters have been played by cis-gender actors… here are 25 of the most famous roles.
Here are just some of the mainstream films and television shows where a trans character wasn’t played by a trans actor. The argument against non-trans actors taking these parts have made headlines once again after a clip of Matt Bomer in his forthcoming film, Anything was released.
Warning this article may contain spoilers to various films.
Glen or Glenda was released in 1953 starring Ed Wood – who was actually credited as Daniel Davis in this film. It’s a semi-autobiographical film, considered one of the worst films of all time. However, it is considered a plea for tolerance.
Dog Day Afternoon is based on a real-life story, where a bank robber (Al Pacino) holds up a bank in New York’s Manhattan to pay for his girlfriend’s (Chris Sarandon) gender confirmation surgery. Chris Sarandon’s portrayal of a trans woman was applauded for its consideration of dysphoria.
Probably one of the most famous films to feature a “sweet transsexual”. TRHPS has gone on to become a cult hit and recently had a remake filmed and it starred Laverne Cox in Tim Curry’s part of Dr Frank N. Furter.
In 1980 Michael Caine played a murderous trans woman in this erotic thriller. For his part in the film, Mr Caine was nominated for a Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Actor.
A drama which explores themes of race, gender, nationality and sexuality with the troubles of early 80s Northern Ireland as a backdrop. The trans character in this film is actually one of its great surprises, which is considered a “shocking twist”. Jaye Davidson was nominated for a Best Supporting Actor for the role.
The World According to Garp based on the book of the same name by John Irving which is the story of T.S. Garp. In the book his mother, who runs a home for abused women gives shelter to a former footballer, now a transgender woman, Roberta Muldoon.
Ted Levin played a trans serial killer who skins his female victims. In the story, Ted’s character, Jame Gumb, applied for a sex-reassignment operation but was unsuccessful in gaining in their cause.
Terrence Stamp in Priscilla Queen of the Desert, 1994
One of the most successful LGBT films of all times was released in 1994 is in the top 40 grossing gay and lesbian films of all times. Terrence Stamp’s Bernadette Bassinger is a carefully studied character, played respectfully.
Mary Sean Young, Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, 1994
Possibly one of the most offensive portrayals of a trans person in film – which uses the trans character as a comedy mimic.
Coronation Street made history in 1998 when they introduced the first trans character to a British soap. It wasn’t until 2015 that EastEnders made further history by having a trans actor play a trans character. Julie Hesmondhalgh has been praised for her portrayal of a trans person and she is a huge advocate for the LGBT community. In 2017 she called on TV companies to employ trans people in trans roles.
One of the most tear-jerking LGBT films of all time. Hillary Swank was truly remarkable in the film which was based on the true story of murdered trans man Brandon Teena. The film was nominated for 57 awards and won 37 of them including, Best Actress (Oscars and BAFTAs) for Swank.
The 00s to 10s
John Cameron Mitchell in Hedwig and the Angry Inch, 2001
One of the only musical films featuring a trans character in the central role. John Cameron Mitchell wrote and directed this film. It features in the top 100 LGBT films.
Felicity Huffman was widely praised for her role in TransAmercia as a pre-operative male to female transgender person. This was an unusual casting decision as usually male to female trans parts are played by males rather than females.
When Daniela joined The L word in 2006 she had the role of Moira Sweeney, an androgynous computer technician who moves from the Midwest with Jenny (Mia Kirshner). Over the course of the season, Moira comes out as a trans man, adopting the name Max Sweeney.
Rebecca Romijn was another female who was cast in an M2F role in the comedy TV series, Ugly Betty. She appeared midway through the first season and left in season 3.
The 10s to 20s
Seth MacFarlane, Family Guy, 2010
Derided by Glaad for the way in which Family Guy deals with transgender issues, Seth MacFarlane voices the character of Quagmire’s parent, Ida who goes through sex-reassignment surgery in the episode, “Quagmire’s Father”.
Jared was awarded an Oscar for his role in Dallas Buyers Club, however, his casting in this film and subsequent acceptance of the Oscar with a full beard was criticised by some in the trans community. Laverne Cox recently said, “as brilliant as Jared Leto is, and all these actors who play trans women, when people who don’t know anything about trans folks and trans women see the very sexy Jared Leto and his beard accepting an Oscar for playing a trans woman, the message that it sends is that trans women are really men”
Amazon was praised for the production of Transparent starring Jeff Tambor who plays a trans person coming out as trans later in life. The show has won awards and much love from the critics for its sensitive portrayal of a family dealing with and accepting transition.
Eddie Redmayne played the part of Lili Elbe, acknowledged as the first trans woman to go through sex reassignment surgery. Despite it being widely praised there was only one Oscar win out of four nominations. The film was banned in a number of countries including Qatar, the UAE, Oman, Kuwait and Malaysia.
Stonewall was much derided when it was released in 2015. It also stars two actors in trans roles who are not trans. Otoja Abit who played Marsha P Johnson and Jonny Beachamp who played the fictional character, Ray/Ramona.
Although it can still be seen as a risk to their careers, even in 2018, there are some incredibly brave, talented and inspiring guys who decided to come out, giving hope to the next generation of actors that they too can be their true selves.
Here are some of the hottest openly gay, bi or queer identifying actors.
Andrew Hayden-Smith
Born: 5th November 1983, Gateshead, England, UK.
Best Known ForByker Grove, Doctor Who.
Came out in 2005 in an interview with a magazine. Andrew is an actor best known for his role as Jake Simmonds in Doctor Who and is set to star in a new drama commissioned by Channel 4 called Cucumber from Queer As Folk writer, Russell T Davies.
Charlie Carver
Born: 31st July 1988 Best Known For: Being one of the twins on Desperate Housewives & Teen Wolf Came Out:On Instagram in 2016. After Desperate Housewives Charlie went on to star in Teen Wolf as Ethan, a gay character who made headlines when MTV aired the first gay kiss, between his character and Danny played by Keahu Kahuanui.
The 27-year-old explained his worries about coming out in the entertainment industry a series of posts on Instagram.
Charlie David
Born: 9th August 1980, Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada Best Known For: His sexy role in the gay horror series: Dante’s Cove. Since his role on the series Dante’s Cove Charlie has become a film producer and director including titles such as I’m A Porn Star and I’m A Stripper. In 2012 TheGayUK interviewed Charlie along with Elvira The Mistress Of Darkness for their Halloween Special edition.
Chris Crocker
Born: 7th December 1987 Best Known For: “Leave Britney Alone” a viral YouTube video. Came Out: Has always been out. In 2012 he starred in a gay porn film. He made more films with Maverick Men and Lucas Entertainment.
Dan Amboyer
Born: 28th December 1985 Best Known For: Best known for his starring role as Prince William of Wales in the 2011 Hallmark Channel original film William & Catherine: A Royal Romance Came Out: In October 2017. He also announced that he had married his partner, Eric P. Berger.
Daniel Newman
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Born: 14th June 1981 Best Known For: staring in the Walking Dead. Came Out: in March 2017, speaking to People he said, “I don’t want to be hidden and have to dodge the question,” he tells PEOPLE of publicly revealing his sexuality. “I’m proud of who I am.”
David Ames
Born: 10th August 1983 Best Known For: British medical soap drama Holby City Came Out: Has always been “out”, although he has appeared in both Attitude magazine in 2009 and Gay Times magazine in 2011.
Jeffery Bowyer-Chapman
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Born: 21st October 1984 Best Known For: Playing Jay in UnREAL. Came Out: Has always been open about his sexuality and has played mainly gay/bi-identified characters.
Jim Verraros
Born: 8th February 1983, Crystal Lake, Illinois, USA
Best Known For: American Idol and Eating Out Came out: in 2003 with The Advocate Jim appeared in the first season of American Idol and has appeared in a number of gay movies including, Eating Out, Another Gay Sequel: Gays Gone Wild.
Jonathan Groff
CREDIT: Joe-Seer-bigstock-
Born: 21st October 1984 Best Known For: Actor who has starred numerous TV shows and films including, Mindhunter for Netflix and Frozen for Disney. Came Out: Jonathan Groff came out as gay in 2009. He was rumoured to have dated Zachary Quinto from September 2012, until July 2013. He now stars in Looking, along with Russell Tovey and he recently lent his voice for the part of Kristoff Bjorgman in the Disney hit Frozen. He also starred in The Normal Heart.
Jonathan Bennett
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Born: 10th June 1981, Rossford, Ohio, USA Best Known For: Actor who starred in Mean Girls Came Out: Jonathan played Aaron Samuels in one of the ultimate gay cult films, Mean Girls. He appeared in the US version of Dancing With The Stars, three months before he lost his father to brain cancer. He was outed by Julianne Hough during an interview with Extra. He told the Toledo Blade newspaper: “This was his favourite show on television, and when he was sick in hospice the only show he wanted to watch was Dancing with the Stars because he said this show made him feel good. So I’m doing this performance not just for myself but for my father because I know how badly he loved the show and how thrilled he would be that I’m on it. I’m also doing this dance for my mother because she passed away a year before that and they both were huge fans of the show.”
Matt Dallas
Born: 21st October 1982, Phoenix, Arizona, USA Best Known For:Kyle XY Came Out: Came out in 2013, Via a tweet announcing his engagement to Blue Hamilton. Matt Dallas is known for his no bellybutton character Kyle in Kyle XY
Matt Bomer
Born: 11th October 1977, Webster Groves, Greater St. Louis, Missouri, USA Best Known For:Magic Mike Came Out: Came out in 2012 In a speech for his Steve Chase Humanitarian Award, thanking his husband and their children.
Emmy nominated actor, Matt made his television debut in Guiding Light in 2001. He starred alongside Jodie Foster in the 2005 thriller Flightplan. He is married to publicist Simon Halls and the pair have three children together.
Kieron Richardson
Born: 12th January 1986, Eccles, Greater Manchester, England, UK Best KnownFor:Hollyoaks Came out in 2010 September, during an interview with This Morning. Kieron is best known for his role as Ste Hay in the Channel 4 television series Hollyoaks. In 2014 he will make history by playing the first gay character in a British soap to contract HIV, to highlight the growing issue of new HIV Infections in gay and bisexual men. He also hosts a radio show on the World’s largest gay radio station Gaydio.
Luke Macfarlane
Born: 19th January 1980, London, Ontario, Canada Best Known For:Brothers and Sisters. Came out in 2008 during an interview with The Globe And Mail He currently plays the lead role of Jason Howell in the Canadian sitcom Satisfaction.
Nick Adams
Born: 10th June 1983 Best Known For: Theatre actor and starring in the web series Go-Go Boy Interrupted. Came Out: In 2009 He and his boyfriend were denied entry to a nightclub in Manhattan, he says, because of his sexuality. He was holding his boyfriend’s hand when the bouncer denied him entry. Taking to his blog and Twitter Nick caused a huge outcry, which led to the further recognition of him as a personality and, his sexuality.
Michael Urie
Born: 8th August 1980 Best Known For:Ugly Betty Came Out: Michael Urie came to the public’s attention with his fabulously camp character Marc in Ugly Betty. He has since become a playwright and touring actor.
P J Brennan
Born: 11th February 1986 Best Known For: Playing Doug Carter in Hollyoaks. Came Out: Has never officially come out in press interviews, but has not hidden his sexuality.
Ross Adams
Born: 5th May 1982 Best Known For:Hollyoaks Came out: In 2016 he became engaged to his partner, Philip Crusham.
Russell Tovey
Born: 14th November 1981, Billericay, Essex, England, UK
Best Known For:One Life To Love, Younger brother to Chris Evans.
Scott also starred in the campy comedy Confessions of a Shopaholic.
Todrick Hall
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Born: 4th April 1985
Best Known For: American Idol / YouTuber
Came Out:
Tituss Burgess
Born: 21st February 1979
Best Known For: Playing Titus in Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt
Came Out: In an interview with Huffington Post, Tituss talked about his comfort in being gay.
Thomas Dekker
Born: 1983
Best Known For:Terminator, the Sarah Connor Chronicles
Came Out: The actor who started his career in the television series of Terminator, the Sarah Connor Chronicles, publicly come out as gay after comments made by entertainment exec Brian Fuller. Fuller made comments that a gay storyline in the hit TV series, Heroes had to be axed following a dispute behind the scenes. The actor’s management allegedly threatened to pull the actor if the storyline went ahead.
Media outlets worldwide immediately went into speculation overdrive, with Thomas centring.
Zachary Booth
Born: 1983 Best Known For:Damages and the gay movie, Keep The Lights On Came Out:
Zachary Quinto
Born: 2nd June 1977, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA Best Known For:Heroes and Star Trek Came Out: Zachary Quinto is probably one of the most famous gay actors under 40 in Hollywood having secured the role of Spock in the Star Trek franchise of films. Before that, he played Sylar in the paranormal television series Heroes.
Yet another film of a transgender person, without its star being transgender…
A clip of Matt Bomer’s new film, Anything has hit YouTube. The film has already received criticism, even before its release for having a cis male actor play the part of a transgender person.
American actor Mark Ruffalo has apologised to the trans community after a backlash against the casting of Matt Bomer in a new transgender movie Anything.
CREDIT: -tanka_v-Depositphotos
The Normal Heart actor Mark Ruffalo has apologised for causing ‘pain’ after casting openly gay actor Matt Bomer in his new movie, Anything, in which he plays a transgender sex-worker.
Trans advocates have criticised the casting decision of a cis-gender actor playing a trans character.
Actor Jen Richards suggested that having a cis-gender male playing a male to female transgender character reinforced the notion that trans women are “still really just men”
When @MattBomer plays a trans sex worker, he is telling the world that underneath it all, trans women like me are still really just men.
Taking to Twitter Ruffalo, who is an executive producer of the film, said that he could “hear” the criticism over casting a CIS male actor and that it was time to have the “conversation”.
To the Trans community. I hear you. It's wrenching to you see you in this pain. I am glad we are having this conversation. It's time.
A petition, by Hannah Howard, has been created calling for the producers not to release the film, saying,
“The practice of using cisgender male actors to portray transgender women and trans femmes isn’t just about erasure, or about depriving transgender actresses of roles they ought to get.
It directly leads to violence against the most vulnerable in our community, particularly transgender women of color and trans femmes of color.”
The petition’s creator has said that if the film is released that the petition will turn into a boycott petition of the film. So far there are 537 supporters.
Not that we’re desperately looking for a gay angle on the new Star Wars movie, but this just happened to land in our laps…
A new site has opened called HotGuysHoldingBB8, and it’s basically hot guys holding BB8 the new android character from the latest film. The premise is sound the result is amazing. It is literally the greatest thing known to man…
After sliced bread, the creation of electricity, the discovery of fire and desalinated water… but it is up there with man’s greatest creations.
The Kings of Tampa are back! The men, strippers from the 2012 film Magic Mike, return with a sequel – Magic Mike XXL – and they are back with a bang!
Magic Mike XXL reunites Channing Tatum, Joe Manganiello, Matt Bomer and the rest of the cast from the hit film about male strippers and picks up the story three years later after Mike has left the world of stripping. He’s got his own furniture business but it’s not doing too well. So when the former Kings of Tampa look him up on the way to a stripper convention in Myrtle Beach, North Carolina, Mike (Tatum) can’t resist the pull to go back to stripping, and to reunite with his buddies. So what takes place is a male stripper road movie with scenes that allow all of the men to display their fine physical goods.
And these scenes are hot. In one, reminiscent of Jennifer Beal’s dance scene in the film Flashdance, with sparks flying all around, Mike does the same in his garage, a freestyle solo that proves he’s still got it. Once on the road, we are treated to the men’s misadventures, to be voyeurs in their exhibitionism, with a front row seat. First stop, a gay bar in Jacksonville where the drag queen emcee asks members of the audience if they want to participate in an amateur strip contest. Of course our men enter and wow the crowd. After, they find themselves at a beach party, where Mike has an encounter with Zoe (Amber Heard), who takes his picture while he is urinating.
Big Dick (Manganiello) get his big showy number when he performs, on the spot, for a shocked but very lucky female gas station attendant. You’ll never look at a bag of Cheetos the same way again.
A stop at private club Domina, Mike’s pre-Tampa stomping ground, transforms the movie into a breathtaking and intensely sexual film. You see, Domina’s female customers are treated to in-your-face male strip shows, and these strip shows are like ones you’ve never ever seen before on film. It’s here that Mike re-encounters Rome (Jada Pinkett Smith) the proprietress, and a woman from his past.
It you’re out of breath at this point (trust me, you will be) there’s lots more. The men wind up at the home of Nancy (Andie MacDowell), a recently divorced sexy and flirtatious woman in her early 50s, and the rapport between Nancy and her female friends and the men is very palpable, very real, you can cut the sexual tension between the men and the women with a knife.
It’s at the Myrtle Beach stripper convention where the film comes to a climax. Each man gets to perform his own unique dance, for a room full of ladies, and perform they do. Tatum strips all the way down to a shiny jockstrap, while the other men do their own special routines, one which includes chocolate sauce and whipped cream, and another one involves a sling. Various ladies from the audience are lucky enough to be chosen as part of the act. And Tatum chooses Zoe to be in his act, performing on her on stage in every position imaginable.
Directed by the same man who directed the campy Liberace film “Behind the Candelabra,” Gregory Jacobs brings a stylised nuance to Magic Mike XXL, where the long dance scenes take a life of their own. And the male stars of this film really put themselves out there, hell, they’ve all got the bodies, so why not? And for the female actresses who were chosen to be performed on in various scenes of this film, we can assume they were not just acting, but were also extremely enjoying themselves. So will you.
