Actor and comedian Daniel Franzese, who famously played Damian in 2004 teen comedy Mean Girls, has revealed how difficult it was finding work after the well-known role.
“I had become famous for playing one thing, but Hollywood, a very What-Have-You-Done-For-Me-Lately town, just didn’t think my talent could go beyond that,” he revealed in a recent interview with Them.
“As soon as the movie was over, I kept meeting the gay glass ceiling," he added.
'That's why her hair is so big... it's full of secrets." Source: GIPHY
"They wouldn’t let me audition for straight roles.”
Franzese explained that he was offered a number of gay roles, but felt the characters were too one-dimensional to pursue.
“Damian wasn’t made fun of; he was celebrated,” he says of the role that made him famous.
“I prayed about it a bit and if I was going to do a gay role, it was going to be this one. But then, immediately after, I was offered all these other gay parts that were all so stereotypical - just making fun of gays. I was like, ‘You know what? I can’t.’”
Franzese has since found success with a role on HBO's series Looking, as well as through his stand-up comedy and LGBTIQ+ advocacy work.
