Making Queer Connections with This Year's Acting Oscar Nominees

Of the 20 Oscar acting nominees this year, it can be argued that more than half are queer-friendly and have portrayed LGBTQ characters in the past. And most have done us proud.

Oscar voting has commenced, and, in the barrage of Award shows, front-runners have been established – ad nauseam. Is it me, or do critics and guilds tend to vote as lemmings, simply checking the same boxes repeatedly? For instance, it's great that Out actor Ariana DeBose is getting recognition for "West Side Story," but there were other terrific supporting female actors: Cate Blanchett, Marlee Matlin, Caitríona Balfe, Kirsten Dunst, Aunjanue Ellis, Jessie Buckley, Milena Smit, Judi Dench, Martha Plimpton and Ann Dowd – to name ten – and that's just ten that were in the mix.

Point: if you're going to have so many award precursors, then at least share the wealth and stop trying to be Oscar predictors – I'm talking to you, Critics Choice voters!

Weaving the queer nominees back into the conversation, the nice news is that this year there are two Out women who identify as a member of the LGBTQ community – and that is two more than usual. Along with DeBose, who seems headed to an Oscar win, Kristen Stewart was nominated for her haunting portrayal of Princess Diana in "Spencer."

Also, of the 20 acting nominees, it can be argued that more than half are queer-friendly and have portrayed LGBTQ characters in the past. And most have done us proud. Let's save the "only queer actors should play queer roles" argument – it's a much more complicated issue than that.

FYI, you will not find Will Smith or Denzel Washington on this list, as this EDGE writer has a long memory and recalls how Washington instructed Smith not to kiss another man onscreen for fear of ruining his image and career back when Smith was making "Six Degrees of Separation" in 1993.

FYI 2, To select 10, I had to whittle, so unfortunately J.K. Simmons, who fearlessly went sort-of gay for "Oz," and Jesse Plemons, who played a gay NY TV writer in "Other People," were excluded, as was Kodi Smit-McPhee, so extraordinary and Oscar-worthy in "The Power of the Dog," as the possibly gay, definitely devious fem boy.

Here are the 10 Queerest Oscar-nominated actors of 2021.

The Queerest

Kristen Stewart

Kristen Stewart's performance in "Spencer" is a game changer for the "Twilight" actor, but she's also never been so out and proud and fearless in both her personal and professional life –�and she seems to be enjoying herself a lot more, especially on the arm of her fiancé, Dylan Meyer. An early critics darling, she struggled to snag a nomination, but surprisingly did. Stewart played gay last year in "The Happiest Season," and next year appears in David Cronenberg's "Crimes of the Future." Her diverse choices are exciting!

Ariana DeBose

One of the most lauded actors of the season, Ariana DeBose splashed as the closeted girlfriend in "The Prom" in 2020, but was already a Broadway vet with a Tony nomination under her belt (for "Summer: The Donna Summer Musical"), so it was no surprise that she would dazzle as Anita in Steven Spielberg's reimagined "West Side Story." Up next for the queer-identifying actor will be a Sony/Marvel movie, "Kraven the Hunter."

The Queer-Friendly

Benedict Cumberbatch

No one plays gay better than Benedict Cumberbatch – even as Doctor Strange! Oh, is he supposed to be straight? What about Sherlock – also straight? Come on! He doesn't have a thing going on with Watson? OK. But as the tortured gay genius Alan Turing in "The Imitation Game," BC gayed his way to his first Oscar nomination. And this year, as repressed ranch owner Phil Burbank in Jane Campion's astonishing "The Power of the Dog," he takes same-sex desire to entirely new levels. He spent time on a ranch doing prep work. I wonder what other kinds of prep – really, Doctor Strange is supposed to be straight?

Penélope Cruz

In Pedro Almodóvar's "Parallel Mothers," Penélope Cruz's character ends up hooking up with a younger woman (Milena Smit), and there is never any discussion about it. Cruz is Almodóvar's muse (they've made seven films together, and counting), which makes her an honorary queer. She also played a fluid artist in Woody Allen's "Vicky Cristina Barcelona," opposite Scarlett Johansson, where they both enjoyed Javier Bardem – as well as one another. And she won an Oscar for it.

Javier Bardem

Speaking of Cruz, her husband, Javier Bardem, has had his share of gay roles throughout his career, beginning with the little-seen "The Ages of Lulu," where he played a male prostitute having sex with... everyone. He landed his first Oscar nomination playing gay Cuban poet Reinaldo Arenas in Julian Schnabel's riveting "Before Night Falls" in 2000. He upper the sexually fluid ante as Bond villain Silva in "Skyfall." Those flirty scenes with Daniel Craig are delicious... and creepy. And while Desi Arnaz, whom he embodies brilliantly in "Being the Ricardos," was heterosexual, Lucy and Ricky will forever be gay icons.

Andrew Garfield

Yet another het dude who keeps things quite gay quite often, both on stage and screen, is the tremendously gifted Andrew Garfield. He played straight(ish) Jonathan Larson in "...tick, tick... Boom!," and delivered one of the year's finest performances. On stage, early in his career, he played gay characters in "The Laramie Project" and "Beautiful Thing," and won a Tony for his astonishing work as Prior Walter in Tony Kushner's "Angels in America," in 2018. Onscreen, this past year, he gave us gay lechy Jim Bakker opposite Jessica Chastain in "The Eyes of Tammy Faye," and slipped back into those tight tights for his surprise appearance in "Spider-man: No Way Home." And – wait! Doctor Strange, is at least, bi, right?

Jessica Chastain

While Tammy Faye Baker wasn't queer, she was a definite friend of the gays and, thanks to the remarkable Jessica Chastain, her tarnished reputation has been slightly restored in "The Eyes of Tammy Faye." As depicted in the film, she pissed off Jerry Falwell by having the audacity to show her love for gay men with AIDS on her then thriving network. Early in her career, Chastain also had a lesbian scene in the underrated indie "Jolene." And her choices, from "The Help" to "Crimson Peak," have made her an instant gay icon.

Nicole Kidman

Speaking of gay icons, Nicole Kidman has played queer, bi, mother of gay, and sexually experimental, and that's just for starters. She won an Oscar for her role as bisexual (although, some would argue, lesbian) author Virginia Woolf in "The Hours." (That hot kiss with Miranda Richardson!) She played a queer feminist in Jane Campion's limited series "Top of the Lake: China Girl." And she was the mother of a gay son undergoing conversion therapy in "Boy Erased." Kidman has had a career filled with eclectic and daring roles – "Dogville," "Birth," "Destroyer" – mixed with great diva parts – "To Die For," "Moulin Rouge," and, this year's tour de force, as Lucy in "Being the Ricardos."

Olivia Colman

She played (probable) lesbian Queen Anne and bitch-slapped Glenn Close by deservedly winning the Oscar for Best Actress for "The Favourite," and quickly went on to attain diva status as another Queen, Elizabeth, in Netflix's "The Crown." Her cornucopia of TV and film work is as eclectic as they get, and she managed to make a complicated mother sympathetic in Maggie Gyllenhaal's "The Lost Daughter." What more could we queer folk want? Perhaps for Doctor Strange to come out already?

Judi Dench

The Grande Dame diva Judi Dench solidified her iconic status with gays and lesbians over half a century ago when she portrayed Sally Bowles on the West End stage in "Cabaret." Her major onscreen work began gaining traction with "Mrs. Brown" and her eight-minute, Oscar-winning turn in "Shakespeare in Love," and there's been no stopping her. In 2006, she played an unscrupulous closeted teacher taking advantage of a younger woman (Cate Blanchett) in the electric, "Notes on a Scandal." "Belfast" marks her eighth Oscar nomination, and, at 87, she's still going strong.