This Iconic Queer As Folk Rimming Scene Sparked Russell Tovey's Gay Awakening

Most queer people can point to movies, actors, or pop culture moments that stirred their gay awakening growing up, and out gay actor Russell Tovey is no different.

Talking to W Magazine ahead of the release of his first documentary Life Is Excellent, the 42-year-old actor, who first rose to stardom as a werewolf on the British drama Being Human before playing gay characters on Looking and later American Horror Story, talked about a sex scene in the iconic gay show Queer As Folk that both “terrified” and titillated him.

“I remember the first episode, there was a rimming scene,” he recalled. “I was like, ‘What the fuck is going on?’ I had no idea what that was. It was terrifying, but so ‘wow!’”

Tovey continued, “The show felt like a light shining. I'm going to look at that light. I'm going to head towards there because that seems like a safe ground and it's going to explain all the things that are going on in me.”

He also talked about movies that came out this year that have affected him, including the LGBTQ+ hits Passages and All of Us Strangers, directed by Andrew Haigh, whom he worked with on Looking. “He’s able to show intimacy in such a way that you don't see anything but everything's happening,” Tovey said. “It makes it so universal.”

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Next up for the English actor is a starring role as Truman Capote’s partner in the upcoming season of Feud and continuing his podcast Talk Art.