Arts & Entertainment
‘Grey’s Anatomy’s Alex Landi weighs in on straight actors playing gay roles
The actor also wants to break racial stereotypes
Alex Landi’s character on “Grey’s Anatomy” is the first gay male surgeon to appear on the medical drama.
Dr. Nico Kim and intern Dr. Levi Schmitt (Jake Borelli) have been enjoying a fling with each other in the middle of saving patients’ lives. Their relationship is the first of its kind on the series. In an interview with Attitude magazine, Landi says that he just wants to do his best when portraying roles regardless of his sexuality or his character’s.
“As an actor, I want to do the best job I can in any role, regardless of my own personal sexuality or the character’s,” Landi says. “I just want to do this role proud for the LGBT+ and the Asian communities. If I put in my two cents, the best actor wins.”
“It comes down to the role breakdown,” he went on. “it just falls into whoever can do it the best and what the producer likes. I don’t think it necessarily has to fall into sexual identity. It falls into who can get the job done. There are discussions about transgender actors playing transgender roles, gay actors playing gay roles, and Asian actors speaking up about whitewashing simply because not all actors have equal opportunities. There isn’t a level playing ground. When roles stop being pre-defined by ethnicity and sexual orientation, that is when these discussions will no longer be at the forefront of casting decisions.”
Landi, who is half Korean and half Italian, also wants to break racial stereotypes.
“I’m trying to break stereotypes,” he says.“Asian men are not seen as masculine in the media and that is something that I am striving to change. Why can’t there be an Asian James Bond? Why can’t there be an Asian Marvel superhero? There are plenty of Asian men who can pull it off. A dream of mine is to become a Marvel superhero.”
Celebrity News
Madonna announces release date for new album
‘Confessions II’ marks return to the dance floor
Pop icon Madonna on Wednesday announced that her 15th studio album will be released on July 3.
Titled “Confessions II,” the new album is a sequel to 2005’s “Confessions on a Dance Floor,” an Abba and disco-infused hit.
The new album reunites Madonna with producer Stuart Price, who also helmed the original “Confessions” album. It’s her first album of new material since 2019’s “Madame X.”
“We must dance, celebrate, and pray with our bodies,” Madonna said in a press release. “These are things that we’ve been doing for thousands of years — they really are spiritual practices. After all, the dance floor is a ritualistic space. It’s a place where you connect — with your wounds, with your fragility. To rave is an art. It’s about pushing your limits and connecting to a community of like-minded people,” continued the statement. “Sound, light, and vibration reshape our perceptions. Pulling us into a trance-like state. The repetition of the bass, we don’t just hear it but we feel it. Altering our consciousness and dissolving ego and time.”
Denali (@denalifoxx) of “RuPaul’s Drag Race” performed at Pitchers DC on April 9 for the Thirst Trap Thursday drag show. Other performers included Cake Pop!, Brooke N Hymen, Stacy Monique-Max and Silver Ware Sidora.
(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)
Arts & Entertainment
In an act of artistic defiance, Baltimore Center Stage stays focused on DEI
‘Maybe it’s a triple-down’
By LESLIE GRAY STREETER | I’m always tickled when people complain about artists “going political.” The inherent nature of art, of creation and free expression, is political. This becomes obvious when entire governments try to threaten it out of existence, like in 2025, when the brand-new presidential administration demanded organizations halt so-called diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programming or risk federal funding.
Baltimore Center Stage’s response? A resounding and hearty “Nah.” A year later, they’re still doubling down on diversity.
“Maybe it’s a triple-down,” said Ken-Matt Martin, the theater’s producing director, chuckling.
The rest of this article can be found on the Baltimore Banner’s website.
Gay D.C. police lieutenant arrested on child porn charges
Demonstrators disrupt OMB director hearing over PEPFAR
HIV/AIDS group NMAC is ‘destabilized’ and in financial crisis: sources
Madonna announces release date for new album
Senegalese court issues first conviction under new anti-LGBTQ law
An effort to increase the number of psychiatrists of color
Comings & Goings
Trump budget targets ‘gender extremism’
Minimal version of ‘Streetcar Named Desire’ heading to Dupont Underground
