1. First off, Sara Ramirez, after playing Callie on Grey’s Anatomy.
Sara Ramirez’s character on Grey’s Anatomy, Callie, came out as bisexual in a storyline back in 2009. At the time, Sara knew they were also bisexual, but wasn’t ready to come out. “I was really afraid it would hurt my career if I came out as bisexual,” they told People in 2021.
The star came out publicly as bisexual in 2016, then in 2020 announced they are non-binary. Sara went on to play the non-binary character, Che Diaz, in the Sex And The City reboot — And Just Like That…
“Che is someone who came out as non-binary later in life and who speaks their truth unapologetically,” they told People. “I thought, ‘This character will teach me a lot about how to embrace the power that you have even against systems that would have you shut down.'”
2. Reneé Rapp after playing Leighton on Sex Lives of College Girls.
The Sex Lives of College Girls star has known she was bisexual since she was a teen, but says that through playing the lesbian character of Leighton, “I feel like I’m being much more openly queer, because it is a public part of who I am, and I’m very proud of that.”
The actor has said that filming the first season of the HBO show was terrible, thanks to her internalized homophobia: “I was just in a panic constantly,” she revealed on the Call Her Daddy podcast in 2023.
Reneé grew up in what she calls a “super a**-backwards and very conservative” area where everyone was “homophobic”, baggage which she carried into her role as Leighton.
Now, she’s in a much better place. “Truly, though, so much of Leighton is me, and so much of Leighton has helped me understand myself,” she told Vogue.
3. Demi Lovato after playing Dani on Glee.
Demi Lovato guest-starred as Santana’s short-lived girlfriend in an episode of Glee in 2013, and has since come out as queer, pansexual, and nonbinary.
Following the tragic death of Naya Rivera – who played Santana – in 2020, Demi reflected on how the show and the character helped her personal journey.
“The character you played was groundbreaking for tons of closeted (at the time) queer girls like me. And your ambition and accomplishments were inspiring to Latina women all over the world,” she wrote on Instagram.
4. Chyler Leigh after playing Alex on Supergirl.
When Chyler Leigh came out in 2020, she credited the coming-out journey of her Supergirl character Alex Danvers for helping her come to terms with her own sexuality.
“What I didn’t realize was how the scene where she finally confessed her truth would leap off the pages of the script and genuinely become a variation of my own,” she wrote in an essay for Creating Change, an LGBTQ+ organization she co-founded.
“My heart felt like it was going to beat out of my chest each take we filmed,” she added. “I’m still told that it was the most realistic coming out scene they’d ever witnessed. And to steal from Alex’s words, that’s because there’s some truth to what she said about me.”
5. Jake Borelli, after playing Schmidt on Grey’s Anatomy.
Another Grey’s Anatomy alum, Jake Borelli came out as gay shortly after his character, Schmidt, did on screen. In 2018, after 15 seasons of Grey’s, Jake was part of the show’s first-ever gay male romance between two doctors.
“As a gay guy myself, tonight’s episode was so special to me,” he wrote on Instagram. “This is exactly the kind of story I craved as a young gay kid growing up in Ohio, and it blows my mind that I’m able to bring life to Dr. Levi Schmitt as he begins to grapple with his own sexuality this season on Grey’s Anatomy.”