Actor and director Max Minghella has shared an insight into his childhood, revealing that he was "raised almost entirely by gay men."
The Handmaid's Tale actor, currently on the publicity circuit for Teen Spirit, the feature film he directed, made the confession during an interview with NewNowNext when asked about his taste in music, which includes gay icons like Robyn, Ariana Grande and Tegan and Sara.
Minghella explained that he grew up with two creative parents (his father is a filmmaker and his mother, a dancer/choreographer), which meant being surrounded by members of the LGBTIQ+ community from a young age.
"I was raised almost entirely by gay men, so I’m not surprised we share similar taste in music," he said.
"My godparents - who are actually the choreographers on Teen Spirit, Jonathan Lunn and Amir Hosseinpour - really were as present in my life growing up as both my parents. They were more like co-parents than godparents."
So from a very early age, I’ve been surrounded by and very comfortable with gay people. That’s been a part of my reality since before I can remember.
He continued: "My father’s best friend, Duncan Kenworthy, was also a massive part of my life, and we’d go on every Christmas vacation together. So from a very early age, I’ve been surrounded by and very comfortable with gay people. That’s been a part of my reality since before I can remember."
Minghella also talked about his experience playing gay character Richie Castellano on The Mindy Project.
"What I really cared about with Richie was not making him a stereotype," the actor said.
"I wanted him to be a representation of a young gay male character that I hadn’t seen before, especially on a sitcom where often those characters end up being very broad or played very flamboyantly. I saw it as an opportunity to do something completely antithetical to that, without betraying his orientation and still letting him being true to himself.
"The more we did the show, the more dimensional and real he became."
You can watch the trailer for Teen Spirit below:
The Handmaid's Tale is broadcast on SBS in the 9:30pm time slot from Thursday June 20. All episodes will be available to stream weekly on SBS On Demand. Listen to the award-winning Handmaid's Tale podcast 'Eyes on Gilead' here.
