The actors who play them - Gay or Straight?

[lolaruns]

The latest comments on gaydaytime

Deniz does predictably HORRIBLE at the actual photo shoot, which is TIIC's way of meta-ing that Igor Dolgatschew models professionally in real life, mainly for his girlfriend's fashion operation.

AND

On a rather close 2nd place, Dennis Grabosch (Roman Wild), the man with the hardest nipples in TV land. And, at least at this point in time, the only openly gay man of the bunch. Worth a lot, if you think about it.

Made me think. How many of the guys who play our guys are confirmed gay and confirmed straight? How many are undefined? How many are in a long term relationship? Any other soap actors who are out gay, but don't play gay characters?

Gay
Dennis Grabosch (Roman, AWZ) [talking about anti-gay violence here]
Georg Uecker (Carsten, Lindenstrasse)
Claus Vincon (Kaethe, Lindenstrasse)
David Wilms (Theo, Lindenstrasse)
Luke MacFarlane (Scotty, Brothers&Sisters)

Undefined/Unknown

Likely straight (info not recent)
Andreas Stenschke (Ulli, VL) [this article and interview claims he isn't gay, girlfriend Karo]
Kay Böger (Tom, VL] [this article claims that he was attacked even though he isn't gay] [another interview]
Jo Weil (Oliver, VL) [mentioned he kissed a guy only for the role in VL in this interview and that he put himself in situations he has never been in before]

Straight (to our knowledge)
Igor Dolgatschew (Deniz, AWZ) [girlfriend Stefanie Juling of loccoco.de says wikipedia] [Dennis Grabosch about working with ID: Heterosexual men can be so cute![/url]
Giovanni Arvineh (Sülo, Marienhof) [talks about preparing for the Mischa/Sülo storyline by researching homosexuality] [sounds single]
James Sutton (JP, HO) [talked about girlfriend in an interview]
_____________________

Thore only mentioned he was single in this one youtube ARD interview, but I'm gonna take a stab at it and assume that he is straight. What about Van Hansis and Jake Silbermann? I heard some claim that Van is gay and Jake is straight, but I couldn't find any source for those claims. What about the HO guys? What about "Ulli" and "Tom" from VL? The one article that reported on Kay Böger (Tom) being gaybashed noted that he was gaybashed for his role even though he is straight (which surprised me a lot, is this a sure thing?). What about Matthias Beyer (Mischa, Marienhof)

[heartbreak]

james sutton is definitely straight.. he talked about his girlfriend in a interview for ds.. ("she doesn't like to watch" when james kiss a guy in tv..)

[lolaruns]

heartbreak said:

james sutton is definitely straight.. he talked about his girlfriend in a interview for ds.. ("she doesn't like to watch" when james kiss a guy in tv..)

Thanks for the information. Her loss ;p

[susurrus]

Jo also mentioned that his "dream date" would be Sarah Michelle Gellar. But to be honest, I can't quite imagine Jo being with a woman. He plays gay so convincingly.

Thore also said in a different interview that he would never consider dating his best friend's girlfriend (that was right after Christian got together with Coco, who was Nico's (Christian's ex's) best friend). But one could also interpret his answer as "Eww, his girlfriend? I wanna hook up with him!" ;D

And I read somewhere that both Van Hansis and Jake Silbermann are straight. (it was probably on afterelton.com)

[Bonobochick]

Don't forget Jake Hendriks and Guy Burnet! Both straight.

[lolaruns]

This is starting to get depressing. I'm starting to wonder if I really wanted to know all that

[susurrus]

I googled Kay Böger and I found a message board where someone claimed they had seen Kay walking hand in hand with his boyfriend. Apparently this person also had pictures of them, which they would send via e-mail on request. Don't know if it's true, though.

[lolaruns]

I have to admit that I'm quite sceptical about that if the picture isn't actually posted/shows up somewhere. In the one interview he talks extensively about the first girl he kissed and the girl who was his first love and how glad he is that Stenschke gets most of they gay guy fanmail and he only gets very little.

Of course, it's possible that he was in the closet then/changed his mind since then , but unless that picture actually shows up, I wouldn't consider that counter-evidence.

(though if you can persuade her to send the picture I would be all for it )

ETA: Looks like Igor is one of those young actors who is into older women. Picture of him and his designer girlfriend:


www.rtl.de/alleswaszaehlt/awz_949324.php

Also fashion show LOL

[susurrus]

I'm sceptical about it too, just thought I'd put it up here to add to the speculation.

Oh, and that post was made a couple years ago (when Kay was still on VL) so I probably wouldn't be able to get the picture. But I'm much more interested in Jo and Thore anyway. ;D

[Bonobochick]

lolaruns said:

ETA: Looks like Igor is one of those young actors who is into younger women. Picture of him and his designer girlfriend:


www.rtl.de/alleswaszaehlt/awz_949324.php

Also fashion show LOL

Maybe that's a bad photo of her but she's younger?

[lolaruns]

Let's take this to the Igor thread, if we are gonna gossip about his private life

[Bonobochick]

lolaruns said:

Let's take this to the Igor thread, if we are gonna gossip about his private life

I'm not sure I want to gossip about it, honestly, as I am usually ok with not knowing much about an actor's private life. I've found out the hard way that knowing too much about an actor can be REALLY disillusioning. So can making out with him.

I was just commenting from that photo that she doesn't look young let alone younger.

[lolaruns]

Opps, I meant older. *brainfart*

I was actually go into a long essay about how sometimes these kind of marriages (where an actor marries an older or even much older) woman can be among the long lasting because you know it has be based on something more complex than just having a nice eyecandy. To a smaller extent the same thing goes for young starletts being married to much older managerial types. It might be gross, but compare the career of Celine Dion to the one of Britney Spears.

[harmonium]

susurrus said:

Jo also mentioned that his "dream date" would be Sarah Michelle Gellar. But to be honest, I can't quite imagine Jo being with a woman. He plays gay so convincingly.

Thore also said in a different interview that he would never consider dating his best friend's girlfriend (that was right after Christian got together with Coco, who was Nico's (Christian's ex's) best friend). But one could also interpret his answer as "Eww, his girlfriend? I wanna hook up with him!" ;D

And I read somewhere that both Van Hansis and Jake Silbermann are straight. (it was probably on afterelton.com)

Off-track:
I freaking love this woman! She's great esp her role as Buffy!!

[lolaruns]

Gay Hollywood: The Last Taboo covers this subject, precisely that playing gay has become a cool thing to do while playing straight makes people nervous.

[Bonobochick]

lolaruns said:

Opps, I meant older. *brainfart*

I was actually go into a long essay about how sometimes these kind of marriages (where an actor marries an older or even much older) woman can be among the long lasting because you know it has be based on something more complex than just having a nice eyecandy. To a smaller extent the same thing goes for young starletts being married to much older managerial types. It might be gross, but compare the career of Celine Dion to the one of Britney Spears.

I commented in the Igor thread.

Any in-depth type of discussion on the particulars of the actors off-screen lives should be moved to respective actor threads.

[Simone]

susurrus said:

And I read somewhere that both Van Hansis and Jake Silbermann are straight. (it was probably on afterelton.com)

I'm pretty sure that Van Hansis is gay. I don't know about Jake Silbermann, but some of the Luke and Noah fans suggested that he was gay also during the kissing media blitz.

Also the actor who played Enric, Max's first love on El Cor de la Ciutat is gay or bisexual.

[Bonobochick]

simone said:

susurrus said:

And I read somewhere that both Van Hansis and Jake Silbermann are straight. (it was probably on afterelton.com)

I'm pretty sure that Van Hansis is gay. I don't know about Jake Silbermann, but some of the Luke and Noah fans suggested that he was gay also during the kissing media blitz.

Also the actor who played Enric, Max's first love on El Cor de la Ciutat is gay or bisexual.

Jake S. is straight. He's said that in initial interviews.

Van is a little more up in the air. I've heard rumors of both orientations. I lean more towards believing Van is gay than straight but I don't think it's been confirmed.

[aussie54]

Is there a translation for Jo's interview (link) anywhere?

[lolaruns]

I could have sworn I translated that once before already. But I have no idea where it ended up and whether it was ever posted. Drats.

Wait I found it:

What happens if a cute guy feels comfortable on both sides of the aisle? (German expression for being bi. ) Exactly: Girls and boys throw themselves at his feet on equal measures. However many fans mix up the real life Jo Weil with his role on Forbidden Love. There he plays the bisexual Oliver Sabel.

Eurogay: Jo, we can freely call you a Jungschauspieler (meaning an actor who is just starting out). Is your job just like you always imagined it?

Jo: This job fullfills me, I don't want to do anything else. Sure, it's partially rather stressful. However on the other side you have the excitement to try out new facettes every day and play new stories. That is also what I imaged approximately.

Eurogay: Sounds pretty swell...

Jo: It's not that I don't have to do anythin and get super rich in the process. As an actor you can't always do what you feel like either. I can't go on set and say "Today I want to shoot something funny". Every actor is more or less limited by the scripts. One has to comply and fill one's role. That is hard work.

Eurogay: Jo Weil, different as Oliver: Is Oliver Sabel an exciting character to you?

Jo:; Yes becuase Olli is different from me. He reacts from his gut and does things that make me think : "God, why does the boy does that?" He doens't think ahead, doesn't pay attention to consequences. I on the other hand also like to look ahead into the future. For this difference alone the role is very appealing to me.

Eurogay: Are there moment where you don't feel that comfortable in Oliver's skin?

Jo Weil: That does happen occasionally. At the moment I can think of the scene where Olli sing karaoke for Tom.

Eurogay: Gay and lebsian stories are popular on daily soaps. Can you think of why?

Jo Weil: Lesbian and gays are part of our society. And today we have come that far that the channels dare not to hide their stories away. On the other hand there is also a great interest among the viewers. They want to know what lesbians and gays are like and how they live.

Headline: "I frequently get letters from young gays"

Eurogay: What's it like to be an indentification figure for a whole bunch of young gays men?

Jo Weil: Good. I frequently get letters in which particularly younger gay guys write that it helped them a lot to see that the show deals so naturally with the theme of homosexuality. I'm very happy if I can help young people with my role to stand by themselves. (as you might have noticed the concept of "standing by" something is considered a pretty important concept. It's more along the line of standing up for something, to stand up and be counted, to stand by your desires, your opinionw, to stand by your relationship rather than try to hide it , you stand by your family etc; it's considered brave and honorable to stand by whatever it is; and it exists not just only in a gay context)

Eurogay: Is that a real responsibility or just a positive side effect?

Jo Weil: By now I see it as a real responsibility. [awwwww, Jo! ] There are a lot of people who can't easily distinguish between what is shown and real life. For them in particular we are definitely role models. And that is pure respobsibility, in this area one has to be careful and can't just take things too lightly. In this area I put in the most effort. I take my fanmail very seriously.

Headline: "Address me with my real name!"

Eurogay: Does it bother you if people don't distinguish between the role and the person behind it? After all it's a compliment for the believability of an actor!

Jo Weil: Naturally it is a compliment. And I'm not complaining either. I'm just surprised that I'm addressed as Oliver on the street than as Jo. The people really can barely tell apart what I play and who I am in real life. They assume that I'm automatically just like I am on the show in my private life. Sometimes it is exhausting to have to explains to fans that Jo neither feels nor thinks like Olli [soooo, do you think that that means that somebody hit on him? I wonder...] To make it brief: It's just my job to lend my body to Olli.

Eurogay: Oliver Sabel is bixsexual. What do you think: Is it that bisexuals just can't decide?

Jo Weil: I don't think so. Bisexuality stands on equal footing with hetero and homosexuality. I don't think it's right to talk about making decisions in this area. It's a matter of feelings/emotions. [Jo rocks] If somebody feels capable of loving men and women why should one turn that into a problem and have to decide for just one?

Headline: "The role expanded my horizons!"

Eurogay: On this show no bones are being made about homo and bisexuality [basically they don't try to hide it/no pussyfooting]. What is different about the characters on Forbidden Love?

Jo Weil: For one, Olli isn't just defined through his bisexuality. For the other characters it's much more about Oliver as a person. On the other hand the themes of homo and bisexuality are being dealt with openly. Both are lived naturally without an big deal being made out of it.

Eurogay: Has the role improved your awareness where lesbians and gays are concerned?

Jo Weil: I was a very open minded person even before. Sure: Through the role my horizons have expanded a bit. Now I have kissed a guy too and had to put myself in situations I have never found myself in before.

Eurogay: What's your advice to guys in their coming out phase?

Jo Weil: If they are sure what they feel then they should not feel ashamed because of it and just live their lives. Don't be afraid!

___


Sorry for the typos.

[aussie54]

Thank you, Lolaruns!

Jo's a wonderful man; not only gorgeous to look at, but he has a level head as well.

[jsg03jd]

Well, I saw that clip of Olli singing KILLING ME SOFTLY to Tom, and it was quite uncomfortable to watch as well! Olli would be one of those bad auditions on Germany Idol, if there is such a show...

[cinnamonblue]

that interview of Jo was nice,
thanks for sharing!!
I got to know him better...

Sometimes it is hard to differentiate the character from the person since most of us fans are used to and know him by the role he plays, but of course after the show, Olli becomes or returns back to Jo...

As fans, I think it is also proper to address him by his name in sending mail rather than the name of his famous role even if we are so used to it...

I personally don't care as much as whether the person who's playing a gay character is straight or gay. As long as he's portraying his character finely and making us fans happy then it's ok. But I do admire straight guys who take on gay roles! Now that's a man!

[Jp]

So what about Thore?
Matthew Rhys from Brothers and Sisters, I'm pretty sure that he is straight, even though he has played like a million gay roles.
Which brings me to a new point that I have to make.

I have a theory:

I think that everyone, if not gay or lesbian, is a bit bisexual, or have had a bisexual fantasy, or want.
I'm sure there are guys, and girls, out there who could be the most masculine, or feminie, boy/girl out there, but have seen someone of the same sex and have been atracted to them.
I have talked to some of my friends, who are straight, about this, and they have agreed with me ;D

[lolaruns]

Thore talk a lot about girls, both past relationships and what kind of girls he would like in the future. He has also talked about how about first the thought of doing a gay storyline was really hard on him because it just is easier for him if there is a girl he finds hot getting undressed in front of him. www.youtube.com/watch?v=plNkV9bgZOo

(btw, I don't particularly agree with the translation. I think Thore's uh-oh, mm, tja is closer to "slightly uncomfortable" rather than "nothing special"; Or where the translation says "If I could handle the challenge and people are convinced of my play" what Thore actually says about how he felt about the storyline is "I can't do it. Play affection for a man. For me that is..." and then he goes into the comparison about how a woman undressing for him is "Wow, cool!" and a guy undressing is "uh-oh". There is like three lines in the translation that Thore doesn't say at all. But I guess that that is the Ollian hopeful wishful thinking kind of interpretation/translation)

Of course it is everybody's privilege to think that Thore is lying through his teeth, but either way, he is pretty consistent in constantly making girl references in his interviews (like the Streetwalk interview where he got the choice if Christian should get with a man or a woman again he said woman, he said that the Penthouse booth was his favorite part about IFA, and the famous person he would like to get to know personally is Scarlett Johansson). I do tend to think that maybe he is more talk than action, but I do think that his, eeeerrrr, enthusiasm for girls is pretty believable.

As for straight guys and everybody being a bit bi... one thing that I found interesting is that whenever I have met straight guys who have a crush on another guy or who have a guy they would go gay for, it's always somebody who is even more manly and more straight than they are. Like, when you have fanfiction stories, most people write straight guys as falling in love with a guy because the guy is so soft and feminine but in real life the straight guys I met were into the Jack Bauers and Bruce Willises of the world and not the "pretty" Orlando Blooms. It seems almost more like a ranking order/pack kind of thing, who is the guy who is so awesome and manly I would go gay for him, not who is so sweet and pretty.