Wentworth Miller has been a huge inspiration for gay actors since coming out in 2013, proving that of course gay actors can play straight characters just as well as straight actors.
And while the Prison Break star is glad to be seen as a pioneer, he exclusively told LAGoss.com that he leaves his personal life at the door when on set.
“On the one hand, I’m deeply honoured and flattered,” he told us at the Paley Center’s season five screening on Wednesday.
“I don’t bring that with me”: Wentworth Miller discussed playing Michael Scofield as a gay actor | FOX
“And on the other, when I go to work as an actor, I don’t bring any of that with me. It’s not my intent to make a statement playing Michael Scofield.”
Wentworth added: “My job is to bring that character to life and fill that pocket of the Prison Break universe as best I can. So, it’s both.”
Amin El Gamal, who plays the villainous Cyclops, told us earlier this week what an inspiration Wentworth has been, and Augustus Prew, who plays Michael’s cellmate Whip, echoed the same sentiments last night.
Group shot: The cast of Prison Break attended a screening for season five | Imeh Bryant for the Paley Center
“As a gay actor, that was a big deal to me,” he said. “It was a real honour to get to know him because of that. When he came out, that was a big deal for me as well.
“You’ll see, there’s a strand in the story that actually indirectly deals with that, and it’s kind of amazing that two of the main central characters in something like Prison Break are played by actors who happen to be gay.
Augustus added: “It’s a changing of the tides, it’s showing how far we’ve come. It’s something that is more normalised and happens more frequently because of people like Wentworth who are brave and did it when it wasn’t OK to do that.”
Prison Break returns to FOX on April 4th, 2017.
