Ariana DeBose Wins For West Side Story: A Look at 8 Other Queer, Out Actors Who Won Oscars

While the biggest news from last night’s Oscars was Will Smith’s attack on Chris Rock—not since The Real World: Seattle has a slap been such a big part of the pop culture zeitgeist—the 94th Academy Awards also gave us a first time win from Afro-Latina Queer star Ariana DeBose, a Broadway diva who won every single award for her performance as Anita in Steven Spielberg’s new West Side Story. In her speech, Ari doesn’t shy away from discussing her sexuality and the monumental moment this was for her communities and the next generation of young, queer people of color.

Ariana joins a limited number of Queer Oscar winners (though it should be noted, nearly none of them were out at the time they won their awards and Ari is the only Queer person of color to win).

Marlon Brando

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uBiewQrpBBA

Marlon Brando was pure sex in his breakout role in A Streetcar Named Desire. He became an instant icon and the actor of his generation. The bisexual Brando was nominated for seven Oscars and won two, for 1954’s On the Waterfront and 1972’s The Godfather (although he refused the second).

Joel Grey

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JDWJzKYfdc

Speaking of the 1972 Oscars, the other big film that year was Bob Fosse’s Cabaret, which won Joel Grey his Supporting Actor Oscar. Joel didn’t come out officially until decades later but now lives his life as a gay man. He remains one of only nine actors in history to win the Oscar and Tony Award for the same role.

Jodie Foster

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLBotH5Bki8

The only lesbian to win a Best Actress Oscar (unless you believe those Katharine Hepburn rumors), Jodie Foster took home her Oscars in 1989 for the drama The Accused and in 1991 for the famed thriller Silence of the Lambs. She is a four-time nominee and one of only two people to win multiple Oscars before the age of 30.

Linda Hunt

 
In 1982, character actress Linda Hunt made Oscar history as the first person to win an Academy Award for playing a person of the opposite sex in The Year of Living Dangerously. A true trailblazer, Hunt has been with her wife since 1978!

John Gielgud

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RunNMtpb5Bk

Sir John Gielgud is one the greatest actors to grace the British stage. His prolific career includes major, ground-breaking stage work and over 60 films. He is the only actor on the list to EGOT (win Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony Awards). He won his Oscar late in life for 1981 Liza comedy Arthur, in which he played butler Hobson.

Tilda Swinton

 
Tilda Swinton came out as Queer to Vogue in 2021, nearly 15 years after winner her 2007 Oscar for the film Michael Clayton.

Angelina Jolie

 
The one and only Angelina Jolie has been a bisexual icon since her breakout in HBO’s Gia, finding fans on every stop on the Kinsey Scale. In 1999, Angelina won her Supporting Actress Oscar for her electrifying performance in the mental health drama Girl, Interrupted.

Kevin Spacey

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ED7_y4jETo0

Though his reputation is forever tarnished, Kevin Spacey used to be Hollywood’s most acclaimed character actor. The openly gay actor first won a Supporting Actor Academy Award in 1995 for The Usual Suspects and then won Lead Actor in ‘99 for American Beauty.

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