# Actress Ellen Page come out **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 15, 2014, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actress-ellen-page-come-out/681412 "2014-02-15T12:06:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2014, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actress-ellen-page-come-out/681412/61 "2014-02-16T06:39:30Z")
> [@Equipoise](#): > > It shouldn’t matter one way or the other. If she’s not bisexual she shouldn’t position herself as bisexual. That wouldn’t be lying by omission, that would be outright lying. Why should she do that? > > Her career is not going to be hurt. She already has a lot of projects coming up and that will continue. Just because she does small indie movies like [Super](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1512235/reference) and the excellent [The East](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1869716/reference) doesn’t mean her career is hurting. That depends on what your definition of “hurt” is. Page may continue to remain steadily employed but the types of roles she gets might be affected. Before her announcement, she was on the short list of actresses Hollywood would go to if they were looking for a quirky romantic interest. Now, she might be getting “only” secondary character parts rather than leads. I know it’s unfair but Hollywood, for all its talk about being tolerant and open-minded, is all too quick to cave in when the perceived bottom line is involved. Let me put it this way: If they were making **Inception** now, do you think they’d still cast Ellen Page as Ariadne? ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2014, 6:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actress-ellen-page-come-out/681412/62 "2014-02-16T06:52:46Z")
Yes, because Christopher Nolan isn’t a batshit insane bigot. ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2014, 9:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actress-ellen-page-come-out/681412/63 "2014-02-16T09:04:23Z")
> [@Equipoise](#): > > Yes, because Christopher Nolan isn’t a batshit insane bigot. I hope you’re not suggesting that I am. In any case, it’s not so much Nolan I’m worried about as the studio who would’ve greenlighted the casting choice. Also, I’d like to add I’d get a certain degree of satisfaction if Page continues to have a successful career and perhaps even has the type of mainstream success that Sandra Bullock has had. ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2014, 9:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actress-ellen-page-come-out/681412/64 "2014-02-16T09:23:27Z")
I really, really hope she doesn’t get typecast in gay roles. I understand that’s a big fear for gay actors in coming out. Not that I object if she **wants** to do some gay roles, or **doesn’t** want to do straight roles. I just hope the choice isn’t imposed on her by casting jerks. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2014, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actress-ellen-page-come-out/681412/65 "2014-02-16T12:08:30Z")
> [@NDP](#): > > Let me put it this way: If they were making **Inception** now, do you think they’d still cast Ellen Page as Ariadne? Absolutely. Over and above her sexuality, Ellen Page has a ridiculous amount of nerd cred from X-Men, Juno, Hard Candy, Beyond: Two Souls, and a few other things. She is the perfect choice for a movie like Inception. ---
**Author:** ![enomaj](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/59ef9b/32.png) [@enomaj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enomaj)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2014, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actress-ellen-page-come-out/681412/66 "2014-02-16T12:11:52Z")
Time to dust off that ‘people who totally surprised you by coming out’ thread. Ellen Pompeo in 2033? These things come in threes, ya know. ---
**Author:** ![bucketybuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/898d66/32.png) [@bucketybuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bucketybuck)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2014, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actress-ellen-page-come-out/681412/67 "2014-02-16T12:34:29Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > Zachary Quinto, as Spock in _Into Darkness._ I don’t think anybody is saying that gay people won’t get cast in big blockbusters, but will they get cast as the lead in big romantic blockbusters? If Meg Ryan was gay would she have been cast in Sleepless in Seattle? If Ryan Gosling was gay would he have been cast in The Notebook? If Sleepless in Seattle was made today would Ellen Page stand any chance whatsoever of being cast as the lead? ---
**Author:** ![Bellhorn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/898d66/32.png) [@Bellhorn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bellhorn)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2014, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actress-ellen-page-come-out/681412/68 "2014-02-16T13:18:54Z")
> [@bucketybuck](#): > > I don’t think anybody is saying that gay people won’t get cast in big blockbusters, but will they get cast as the lead in big romantic blockbusters? > > If Meg Ryan was gay would she have been cast in Sleepless in Seattle? If Ryan Gosling was gay would he have been cast in The Notebook? If Sleepless in Seattle was made today would Ellen Page stand any chance whatsoever of being cast as the lead? Let’s hope Katherine Heigl announces she’s gay and that finally puts an end to her incessant string of annoying films.🙂 Anne Heche has spoken publicly about producers telling her that her sexuality was the reason she was missing out on specific roles. 1) It could just be rationalization 2) It could have been because of her 2000 breakdown after he career was going down 3) That was 15 years ago. When Heche came out publicly, she was just 1 year older than Ellen Page (who will be 27 next week.) At the time, Heche was considered a break-out star, with “Wag the Dog,” “Psycho,” “6 Days 7 Nights” released in 1998, as well as an Indie flicky with Vince Vaughn. None of the films were a commercial or critical success, and, even though Heche was the best part of those movies, I believe Heche took most of the hits. I love Heche. You could have put her in any of those Heigl moves, even with the same insipid scripts, and those movies would have been 100% more watchable. Hell I could replace Heigl with Ellen Page in a remake of “ **Knocked Up** ,” and I guarantee she’d elevate that film. Opposite Page, maybe Seth Rogen wouldn’t have been able to sleep-walk through the film just to collect a paycheck. I’m sure Ellen Page will have a career. But I don’t want to see her marginalized. This is 2014, and movie audiences are much younger than the population as a whole. But, as Richard Nixon used to say, “Will she play in Peoria?” And don’t just Page’s career won’t be hurt, just because you don’t want it to be hurt or because it’s wrong that her roles will be more limited. Now that the crappy **How I Met Your Mothe** r is ending, I’d like to see NPH steal a romantic lead role from a doof like Ryan Reynolds, but I don’t think that is going to happen. ---
**Author:** ![bienville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@bienville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bienville)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2014, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actress-ellen-page-come-out/681412/69 "2014-02-16T13:56:20Z")
> [@Bellhorn](#): > > “Will she play in Peoria?” Can we quit speculating about kinky lesbian sex acts and limit the discussion to her career and her talent as an actress? ---
**Author:** ![Bellhorn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/898d66/32.png) [@Bellhorn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bellhorn)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2014, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actress-ellen-page-come-out/681412/70 "2014-02-16T14:07:56Z")
> [@bienville](#): > > Can we quit speculating about kinky lesbian sex acts and limit the discussion to her career and her talent as an actress? 1. As far as I know, no one had speculated about “kinky lesbian sex acts” until you just raised the issue. 2. No one, as of yet, has disputed her talent. 3. There has been a discussion about her career prospects in light of her coming out as gay. ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2014, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actress-ellen-page-come-out/681412/71 "2014-02-16T14:42:21Z")
I was confused by that too. My only guess is that either **bienville** misunderstood what the phrase “Will it play in Peoria” means, is aware of some other meaning I’m not, or else is making a joke about the phrase that I am just not getting. ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2014, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actress-ellen-page-come-out/681412/72 "2014-02-16T14:52:15Z")
> [@bienville](#): > > Can we quit speculating about kinky lesbian sex acts and limit the discussion to her career and her talent as an actress? I for one, could not be any less interested in seeing her in any of the above. I know, it’s bad form to come into a topic and say you don’t care about the subject matter but I’m honestly baffled that her sexuality and/or her acting is of interest to anyone at all. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2014, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actress-ellen-page-come-out/681412/73 "2014-02-16T14:56:44Z")
> [@Bellhorn](#): > > Let’s hope Katherine Heigl announces she’s gay and that finally puts an end to her incessant string of annoying films.🙂 She’s doubling down on that. She just finished filming _Jenny’s Wedding_ where she plays a lesbian getting married to the consternation of her family. Her partner in the film is Alexis Bledel who is in a 100% completely non-fake, c’mon we’re serious, relationship with her _Mad Men_ co-star Vincent Kartheiser. (She is also doing an online “fund raiser” to get $150k to finish the film. More PR stunt than anything. That’s pocket change to her. Maybe if we raised $160k we could get it killed?) Of the _Grey’s Anatomy_ actresses, the one doing the worst job of not being gay is Sara Ramirez. I see no problem at all with out actors taking on roles that involve the opposite orientation. In addition to NPH, on TV you also have Jim Parsons on _The Big Bang Theory_ (although his relationship on the show is barely heterosexual). Also, one of the actors who plays a gay man on _Modern Family_ is openly heterosexual. All are believable to me. ---
**Author:** ![LaurenIpsum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7993a0/32.png) [@LaurenIpsum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LaurenIpsum)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2014, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actress-ellen-page-come-out/681412/74 "2014-02-16T15:54:15Z")
> [@Bellhorn](#): > > btw, the only openly gay actress given a lead role (at least semi-lead) in a wide-release picture, was Joey Lauren Adams in **Big Daddy** , with Adam Sandler. Not exactly a romantic comedy, but she does play the romantic interest to Sandler. So it’s close to my criteria. But her career really didn’t blossom. And I think she’s a better actress than, say, Kate Hudson or Renee Zelwegger, and she’s beautiful. What do you think happened with her career? (and not just rhretorical question, since she had a lot of interests?) I always assumed it was due to her voice. Definitely not mainstream-sounding, so could have less appeal in a lead character. I liked her in small doses, but personally, I found her gravelly voice irritating after a while. ---
**Author:** ![enomaj](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/59ef9b/32.png) [@enomaj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enomaj)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2014, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actress-ellen-page-come-out/681412/75 "2014-02-16T17:40:05Z")
Peoria is a girl’s name in that joke. ---
**Author:** ![Bellhorn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/898d66/32.png) [@Bellhorn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bellhorn)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2014, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actress-ellen-page-come-out/681412/76 "2014-02-16T17:59:51Z")
> [@enomaj](#): > > Peoria is a girl’s name in that joke. Never heard that line as a joke? Never heard of a girl named “Peoria.” ---
**Author:** ![enomaj](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/59ef9b/32.png) [@enomaj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enomaj)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2014, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actress-ellen-page-come-out/681412/77 "2014-02-16T18:21:59Z")
I mean that bienville was making a joke that only makes sense if Peoria is a girl’s name and not the name of a city. Will Ellen play in Peoria? 'Cause that would be hot. ---
**Author:** ![bienville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@bienville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bienville)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2014, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actress-ellen-page-come-out/681412/78 "2014-02-17T01:59:49Z")
Ha! Been away from the board all day. What a delight to return to all this speculation! ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2014, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actress-ellen-page-come-out/681412/79 "2014-02-17T03:08:15Z")
> [@NDP](#): > > That depends on what your definition of “hurt” is. Page may continue to remain steadily employed but the types of roles she gets might be affected. Before her announcement, she was on the short list of actresses Hollywood would go to if they were looking for a quirky romantic interest. Now, she might be getting “only” secondary character parts rather than leads. I know it’s unfair but Hollywood, for all its talk about being tolerant and open-minded, is all too quick to cave in when the perceived bottom line is involved. Let me put it this way: If they were making **Inception** now, do you think they’d still cast Ellen Page as Ariadne? Page’s problem is not that she will now be identified as gay. Her problem is that she’s twenty-six. It’s a brutal reality in Hollywood that actresses have a harder time finding roles as they approach their thirtieth birthday. This will certainly be true in Page’s case because she’s often been cast to play younger characters. ---
**Author:** ![Happyasaclam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/7c8e57/32.png) [@Happyasaclam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happyasaclam)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2014, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actress-ellen-page-come-out/681412/80 "2014-02-17T04:15:07Z")
OMG I got my Ellen’s mixed up… I told someone today I read where Ellen Barkin came out. Oops!, [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actress-ellen-page-come-out/681412.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actress-ellen-page-come-out/681412.md?page=5)