Was nelson ellis gay
Nelsan Ellis Wife: Was the &#;True Blood&#; Actor Married?
Elementary actor Nelsan Ellis has died. The former True Blood star was just 39 years antique. The news was confirmed by his manager, Emily Gerson Saines.
&#;Nelsan passed away after complications with heart failure. He was a great talent. And his words and presence will be forever missed,&#; Saines said in a statement, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Ellis was notoriously private when it came to his personal life. Since he played a gay character on the popular vampire fantasy series True Blood, fans contain speculated about the actor&#;s sexuality. In past interviews, Ellis had been asked about this speculation and, back in , Vibe caught up with him and he addressed the topic.
&#;I don’t answer that interrogate, ‘Are you gay or not,’ when it comes down to industry people. But if it’s a regular person asking me, that just says that maybe I’m doing a good job. But when a casting director or an agent asks me that question it takes on a deeper thing that says, ‘I can’t believe you’re doing this unless you are that,'&#; El
Hooker, you left way too soon.
I conceive that’s what True Blood’sLafayette Reynolds would say about the untimely death of Nelsan Ellis, the actor who created him. Ellis, a Juilliard graduate, died of heart blunder at age 39, his manager said Saturday.
On True Blood, which aired on HBO from to , Ellis brought to life one of the most important depictions of queerness on television, in a series that bubbled with crazy camp improbabilities. His short-order fry who moonlighted as a drug and vampire blood dealer was enticing and bawdy, femme and butch, learned and country AF. He was open and unapologetic about his love of sex and the male form while living in the tiny fictional town of Bon Temps, Louisiana — the type of place where it’s not necessarily safe to be gay, or shadowy , and certainly not both at the same time.
As Lafayette, Ellis expanded the country’s collective imagination of what a queer black gentleman could look, sound and act favor, starting just months before California passed Proposition 8, which banned same-sex marriage, and years before President Barack Obama ann
Actor Nelsan Ellis died from complications related to heart shortcoming on Saturday. Finest known for his portrayal of Lafayette Reynolds in HBO&#;s True Blood, the Juilliard graduate brought one of the first authentic portrayals of a gay character of color to the small screen. For me, a gay black boy who grew up in South Carolina, Lafayette&#;s visibility was especially meaningful. His operate shined a illumination on the intersectionality of my have struggles.
Born in Illinois in , Ellis was raised in Alabama by his relatives until age From there he cycled through Chicago, joined and dropped out of the Marines, before finally starting his studies. He attended Illinois State University and Juilliard. While at Juilliard, he wrote Ugly, a semi-autobiographical act that ended up winning him the Lincoln Center&#;s Martin E. Segal Award. That accolade would eventually be joined by two Satellite awards, two NAACP Image Award nominations, and an ensemble SAG Award nomination—all for his seven seasons as Lafayette.
For many, the character of Lafayette Reynolds is leading boiled down to one pivota
SoIwas checking in on social media this weekend and this post about the brother dying from “True Blood”, kept popping up. Good I know they’re always trying to kill off celebrated black folks, so I did not pay it much attention until maybe the next evening when it was confirmed. Nelsan Ellis was dead at a youthful 39 years old from complications of heart failure which was verified by several sources including Variety.
I was like this is not right. I just saw Ellis on a Netflix film the other week, “Little Boxes.” Ellis played a father in an interracial couple as well as other diverse roles including portraying civil rights hero Dr. MLK in “The Butler.” But the role that truly defined Ellis and catapulted him into pop culture status is the irreverent, snapping, colorful and quick witted Lafayette Reynolds on HBO’s, “True Blood.”
Being a big fan of vampire genre I was immediately engrossed in the series “True Blood.” But what made the series widely thriving were the characters and non was more endearing than Lafayette. As much of a fan of vampire genre that I am, it typically is ver