--- description: "You’re a better actor the less people know about you" title: Matt Damon Suggests Being Out Hurts Gay Actors' Careers image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt77dadb14d09f2947/698865e0cf40a8bb72c3ff39/matt-damon2.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Entertainment](/section/entertainment/) ## Entertainment Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [celebrities](/tag/celebrities/) ## celebrities Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Matt Damon Suggests Being Out Hurts Gay Actors' Careers  by [Nolan Feeney](/author/nolan-feeney/)  ## Nolan Feeney Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Sep 28, 2015 8:13 PM CUT  Matt Damon arrives for the UK premiere of "The Martian" at Leicester Square in London on Sept. 24, 2015. Matt Damon arrives for the UK premiere of "The Martian" at Leicester Square in London on Sept. 24, 2015.Stefan Wermuth—Reuters  by [Nolan Feeney](/author/nolan-feeney/)  ## Nolan Feeney Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Sep 28, 2015 8:13 PM CUT Matt Damon may have put his foot in his mouth again. After coming under fire for comments he made about [diversity in film](http://time.com/4035842/matt-damon-project-greenlight-films-movies-diversity/ "undefined") earlier this month, the star of _The Martian_ [suggested in a new interview](http://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/sep/27/matt-damon-i-think-you-are-a-better-actor-the-less-people-know-about-you "undefined") that being out hurts gay actors’ careers because “you’re a better actor the less people know about you.” In an interview with _The Guardian_, Damon, who played Liberace’s lover in the television movie _Behind the Candelabra_, said it “must be really hard for actors to be out publicly.” “In terms of actors, I think you’re a better actor the less people know about you period,” he said. “And sexuality is a huge part of that. Whether you’re straight or gay, people shouldn’t know anything about your sexuality because that’s one of the mysteries that you should be able to play.” Damon also pointed to the career of Rupert Everett, the English actor [who told the BBC](http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid%5F9323000/9323285.stm "undefined") that being openly gay made it more difficult for him to get roles and that he “would not advise any actor necessarily, if he was really thinking of his career, to come out.” “I remember thinking and saying, Rupert Everett was openly gay and this guy—more handsome than anybody, a classically trained actor—it’s tough to make the argument that he didn’t take a hit for being out,” Damon said. \[[_The Guardian_](http://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/sep/27/matt-damon-i-think-you-are-a-better-actor-the-less-people-know-about-you "undefined")\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4052886/matt-damon-gay-actors/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4052886/matt-damon-gay-actors/"},"headline":"Matt Damon Suggests Being Out Hurts Gay Actors' Careers","datePublished":"2015-09-28T20:13:22.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T11:19:57.042Z","description":"\"You’re a better actor the less people know about you\"","url":"https://time.com/4052886/matt-damon-gay-actors/","keywords":["celebrities","movies","Matt Damon"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt77dadb14d09f2947/698865e0cf40a8bb72c3ff39/matt-damon2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Nolan Feeney","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/nolan-feeney/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt77dadb14d09f2947/698865e0cf40a8bb72c3ff39/matt-damon2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Actor Damon arrives for the UK premiere of \"The Martian\" at Leicester Square in London","caption":"Actor Damon arrives for the UK premiere of \"The Martian\" at Leicester Square in London","creditText":"Stefan Wermuth—Reuters","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/celebrities/","name":"celebrities"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4052886/matt-damon-gay-actors/","name":"Matt Damon Suggests Being Out Hurts Gay Actors' Careers"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"'The Martian' - Official Trailer #2","description":"'The Martian' - Official Trailer #2","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/wvMr2NzE/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-08-19T15:56:29.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/wvMr2NzE.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4052886/matt-damon-gay-actors/","duration":"PT2M51S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4052886/matt-damon-gay-actors/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```