TV - Movies
The Mature-Rated
TV Movie You Likely
Forgot Starred
Young Sheldon's
Jim Parsons
By SAMANTHA BAMBINO
Sometimes, it's hard to imagine the Emmy-winning Jim Parsons portraying anyone but Sheldon Cooper. However, it was Parson's Broadway debut in 2011 that not only landed him a part in an MA-rated TV movie but also helped him come out publicly as a gay man during the height of his "The Big Bang Theory" fame.
In 2011, Parsons made his Broadway debut in "The Normal Heart," a largely autobiographical story about the rise of the AIDS epidemic in New York City during the early 1980s, written by gay rights activist Larry Kramer. Parsons, who reprised his role for the 2014 TV film, portrayed Tommy Boatwright, who joined what eventually became the Gay Men's Health Crisis.
For Parsons, Tommy Boatwright was a special role. It marked one of the first times he played an openly gay man and, in fact, it was during an interview about the Broadway production that Parsons came out. While he was "scared that it might cause trouble, quote unquote, for our big television show," he stated coming out due the play was “poetically perfect."