10 Fave Actresses Who'll Go Gay for You Again and Again!

This weekend, Kathy Bates and Sandra Oh played a scene-stealing lesbian couple in the film Tammy. But it isn't the first time these ladies have kissed a girl on screen and liked it. In fact, after some very intellectual research, we've discovered that it's actually pretty common for the same actresses to play gay much more than once, so welcome to the club Sandra Oh! You are officially qualified to make our list of Top 10 ladies who have played gay more than once, aka some of our favorite actresses around. Whether they're queer  in real life or just excel at living the LGBT dream on screen, here's a post-holiday weekend celebration to applaud their continuing efforts!

Disclaimer: This list is not comprehensive -- just some of our favorites! Which actresses do you love who've played queer a few times? 

 

 

1. Julianne Moore - Julianne will be playing Ellen Page’s partner in the upcoming Freeheld, based on the true story of a New Jersey couple fighting for equal rights after one of them is diagnosed with a terminal illness. Of course, this isn’t the first time Julianne has played gay. Or the second. Or third. Or fourth. You go, Julianne! In The Hours, Julianne played a closeted 1950s housewife, and in The Private Lives of Pippa Lee she got kinky with Blake Lively’s lead character as an erotic, mulletted, lesbian photographer. In Chloe, Julianne played Catherine, a woman who hires a call girl to seduce her husband, only it isn’t exactly the husband who ends up seduced. The year right after, in The Kids are All Right, Julianne played Jules, the partner of Annette Benning’s character Nic, who has a particularly personal interaction with the sperm donor of their two children after he is re-introduced back into their lives. She got nominated for an Oscar for The Hours and a Golden Globe for The Kids are All Right, so we can be sure extra sure LGBT roles are safe in Julianne’s hands.

2. Evan Rachel Wood - Evan, who came out as bisexual in 2011, has a long history of playing lesbian/bi characters that even stretches more than one medium. As early as 2002 in the TV series Once and Again, she was one half of a teen lesbian couple (with Mischa Barton, who will come up once again later), and in the hit indie film Thirteen, though not a lesbian, she certainly got cozy with co-star Nikki Reed. But Evan’s queer presence in entertainment isn’t limited to angsty teens. In the Oscar-nominated film The Wrestler, Evan co-starred as Mickey Rourke’s character’s lesbian daughter. Follow that up with a role as a lesbian vampire Queen Sophie-Anne on True Blood, and it’s pretty safe to say we may be some of Evan Rachel Wood’s biggest fans.

3. Piper Perabo - Piper hit the queer cinema jackpot by starring in two of the most popular indie LGBT films around. If you’re going to get an education in lesbian cinema, at one point or another you’re going to get pointed to Lost and Delirious and Imagine Me & You, thus creating a double feature of Perabo Perfection that will leave you either blushing with glee or tragically devastated, depending which order you watch them in. Now, Piper's back to playing straight  on USA’s Covert Affairs, but hey, we haven’t lost hope for another round of Piper Perabo living it up with the ladies yet. After all, third time's the charm!

4. Sandra Oh - Sandra Oh may no longer be on Grey’s Anatomy, but she is currently in theaters playing Kathy Bates’ partner Suzanne in Tammy! The couple, though occasionally a wildly kooky, share a genuinely loving relationship that inspires titular character Tammy (played by Melissa McCarthy). In the film, the two even throw a massive all-lesbian Fourth of July party we definitely wish we’d been at this year. Tammy also marks Sandra's second on-screen lesbian experience. In Under the Tuscan Sun, Sandra played Patti, and in a lovely moment of crossover magic, her girlfriend was played by Grey’s/Private Practice star Kate Walsh. Now that’s a couple we’d loved to have seen in Seattle Grace...

5. Kathy Bates - Kathy clocked in her third gay role as Sandra Oh’s other half in Tammy this weekend. She masterfully portrayed Gertrude Stein in Woody Allen’s acclaimed film Midnight in Paris, and in 1998 played aggressive and ill-fated lesbian “Dust Buster” Libby Holden in Primary Colors, which was loosely based off of Clinton’s first presidential campaign. Kathy Bates has never been one to shy away from stealing a scene (American Horror Story: Coven, anyone?) and we’re thrilled to have her on-screen in one of this summer’s cutest couples.

6. Gabrielle Christian & Mandy Musgrave - Why keep these two together, you ask? Because every time these girls play gay, they’re in it to win it together, and they’re as adorable as it gets. The two first made it official as Spencer and Ashley on South of Nowhere, The N’s teen lesbian coming-of-age story where a rocky relationship between the two ended in true love forever. They even came back for a web series confirming the girls are married and expecting. But as if that wasn’t cute enough, the Dream Team also plays a couple on the web series Girltrash!, and then followed that up with an appearance in the full-length Girltrash! musical, All Night Long, where their love for each other is even captured in literal perfect(ish) harmony. In reality, both women are married, but definitely expect to see them together again at some point, potentially regularly for the rest of time.

7. Natasha Lyonne - Thanks to Netflix and Orange is the New Black, we have seen just about every angle of Natasha Lyonne playing queer characters that we can possibly imagine. Her character Nicky Nichols has to consult a diary to keep all her Litchfield flings straight (or gay, rather...), and has also become one of the most charming and well-liked characters on the show! But we always knew Natasha makes a charming and well-liked lesbian! She had us head over heels as the leading role in But I’m a Cheerleader, a cult classic about a cheerleader sent to a rehab camp after her parents suspect her of being a lesbian. Back in the HBO's If These Walls Could Talk 2 Natasha played a lesbian feminist with Michelle Williams and Chloe Sevigny in the 70s segment of the movie about lesbian life over the decades.  In the very recent G.B.F, she plays a teacher who is nothing but encouraging of her students' various sexualities (and we realized all we ever wanted is for Natasha Lyonne to run our past G.S.A’s). And the best possible news? Season 3 of OITNB is currently filming, so there will be lots more Sexcapades of Nicky Nichols to look forward to!

8. Lost Girls’ Anna Silk and Ali Liebert: If you’re looking for queer women on television and you haven’t heard of Lost Girl, you’re welcome. It’s leading lady Bo (Anna Silk) is a bisexual succubus whose partners and co-stars, including Ali Liebert’s guest-role Crystal, are all pretty much to die for. Though the two never actually hooked up on the show itself (Crystal’s turbulent love connection was with our other favorite character Lauren, played by out actress Zoie Palmer) they’ve both played gay in other TV shows. Anna played a lesbian character on Being Erica, and Ali appeared on The L Word and starred in Bomb Girls as passionate, crush-worthy, and closeted factory worker Betty McRae. Bomb Girls ended far too soon, but there will be a TV movie coming out soon that we seriously can’t wait for. Lost Girl will return for season 5 in 2015, so you have plenty of time to catch up! Right now! Go!

9. Clea DuVall - Clea DuVall may not be the most famous person on this list, but if you look carefully, she is in nearly everything. In fact, there’s probably a scientific, percentage-based likelihood that what you are watching right now either features Clea DuVall, or will in the future. Break that down even further, and she’s probably playing a lesbian. Clea won our hearts as punky, ne'er-do-well lesbian Graham in But I’m a Cheerleader, a definite stapel in any queer cinema food chain. In American Horror Story: Asylum, she played Sarah Paulson’s character Lana Winter’s ill-fated partner, and we’re still not over just how little screen time she got. She’s also played gay in the TV series' Carnivale and Saving Grace, and the 2001 sci-fi film Ghosts of Mars. She also had a cameo in Jamie Babbit's lesbian-themed Itty Bitty Titty Committee as a singer. In 1998, she co-starred in The Faculty as a punk outcast who pretended to be a lesbian because she thought it would keep people away from her, which has clearly become ironic since so many of her roles have been of the LGBT persuasion!

There’s no one we’d rather have in nearly every film and TV show ever made than Clea DuVall, and we can’t wait to see where she’ll pop up next!

10. The O.C. Love Connection of Olivia Wilde & Mischa Barton- Olivia Wilde may now be most widely known in the LGBT entertainment community as bisexual doctor “Thirteen” on House, but let us never forget her role as Marissa Cooper’s girlfriend Alex on The O.C. And though Olivia Wilde may be slightly more relevant today, it would be simply unfair not to include Mischa Barton on this list. Along with queer-tastic roles in Once and Again and The O.C., Mischa has also starred in Lost and Delirious alongside Piper Perabo (as a straight character, but she gets some points simply for being around). In 2011, Mischa starred in You & I, a semi-buzzed about film about two girls who fall in love at a t.A.T.u. Despite its somewhat existent level of appeal, that one flew quite under the radar, but Mischa can still list a third LGBT character on her resume. She also has literally 12 upcoming projects listed for the next two years, so who knows what our Mischa Barton-y future may hold?