Ellen Page Gives A Moving Statement At SXSW On How Coming Out Affected Her Career

The Samsung Studio At SXSW 2016
Getty Image

Ellen Page has engaged in a lot of projects that deal with LGBT issues since coming out in 2014. She made a movie about government benefits for gay domestic partners. For her new TV series, Gaycation, she confronted Ted Cruz and interviewed a cop who claims to kill gay people.

Now Page is at SXSW, speaking out about how coming out was actually good for her career, in answer to a question about whether she was losing out on roles as a result. From Vulture, here’s the money quote:

You know, truly and honestly, it’s hard for me to know. I’m not in rooms where people are making decisions of who to send what to, and the truth is, I’m absolutely not focusing on it, because being in the closet hurt my career way more than being out and being happy and feeling inspired again, being able to fuse my authentic self with creative interests, and that wasn’t something I could do, and now I can make Gaycation, I can produce something like Freeheld.

The difference that Page does experience is people remarking, “Oh, you’re doing this thing that’s gay and this thing that’s gay,” but the same thing never happens with straight people and with straight roles. As a result, Page wants to change the conversation when it comes to perceptions like that.

(via Vulture)

×