Ben Whishaw: I’d like to see more gay actors playing straight roles

Ben Whishaw, who bagged the Golden Globe Award for A Very English Scandal, has batted for more representation of the LGBTQ community in Hollywood. Whishaw was adjudged the Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Limited Series or Motion Picture Made for Television at this year's ceremony for the role of Norman Scott in the BBC One British television miniseries.

The actor plays Scott, an English former stable hand and model who was a key figure in the affair with Jeremy Thorpe (Hugh Grant), a major British political scandal of the 1970s. "I'd like to see more gay actors playing straight roles. That would be my ideal. That's where we should be aiming," he told EW backstage.

This was the actor's first Globe nod and subsequent win. Whishaw thanked the cast and crew of the series. "I had such a wonderful time making this... I want to thank the BBC for continuing to make idiosyncratic and powerful work and for employing me again and again. I have to thank Hugh Grant above all for such an exquisite performance. It was amazing to watch you do that."

He dedicated the award to his reel-life self "queer hero" Scott. "There's one person I want to really, really dedicate this award to, and it's the man who I had the privilege to portray in the show, Norman Scott, who took on the establishment with a courage and a defiance that I find completely inspiring. He's a true queer hero and icon and Norman this is for you," Whishaw said.