Actor Brian J. Smith, best known for playing Will Gorski in the Netflix series Sense8, has come out as gay. Smith, who also stars in the USA Network’s Treadstone and BBC One’s World On Fire, grew up in rural Texas and told Attitude magazine, “I could never be who I was. I was constantly having to check myself and make sure I wasn’t looking at someone too long or making someone feel uncomfortable.”
Said Smith: “At school I really couldn’t fit in anywhere. I wasn’t a jock or a nerd. Forget about any LGBTQ union or groups. There was absolutely nothing. I was completely alone. I heard all the names: pussy, faggot. … I had to be very, very careful about telling people the truth about myself. It still reverberates. A lot of my work is about that. The things that move me as an actor are those echoes that come up.”
Smith, 38, says he came out to his family eight years ago: “When I came out to my parents they were wonderful. They said they were just waiting for me to say something. They were a lot more advanced than I gave them credit for. I think that’s when I became OK with it, too. Just in terms of being, ‘Oh that’s the world, it’s not as dangerous as I thought it was’.”
Said Smith on Instagram Thursday: “I knew it was time. Hoping there’s other people out there like me (and not like me!) who can relate. Nothin but love! Now let’s go party.”
