Nearly 20 years ago, Australian actor Murray Bartlett had his first major break committing what many at the time would have considered certain career suicide: An out gay actor playing an out gay role. But for Bartlett, that role—a pretty boy with a Down Under twang on season 4 of Sex and the City—provided just enough of a kick-start for decades-long relevance. Although he appeared in just one episode, it paved the way for an unexpectedly fertile career, including his most recent role as the horny, high-strung resort manager on HBO’s White Lotus.
Unlike SATC — which featured Murray in peak Gay BFF mode — gayness is just one facet of his White Lotus character, the ill-fated Armond. While hardly hidden — particularly during one memorable sex scene — Armond’s brazen sexuality seems almost like an afterthought rather than his full persona.
“One of the things that appealed so much to me about Armond is that it’s not really about how he looks; he has this rich inner life,” Bartlett says. “And at my age these are the kinds of roles I want to be playing—fully-fledged, three-dimensional characters that people can relate to.”
Indeed, Bartlett has taken a similar approach throughout his professional trajectory, which has included high-profile roles like Dom on HBO’s Looking, and Mouse on Netflix’s remake of Tales of the City. True, both men have…yes…been gay. But they’re roles—like Armond—which reflect the comfort and honesty of a life lived far from the closet.
“As a younger actor I thought about being out or not,” Bartlett concedes, “but I just never felt like lying about myself was an option.”
Bartlett emerges from The White Lotus just as the show has been renewed for a second season. Armond, of course, won’t be there. But neither will the rest of the cast, set to be replaced by a new crew of rich people presumably miserably cocooned within some equally-breathtaking White Lotus retreat.
Next up: a meaty role on HBO’s new gaming drama The Last of Us, of which he will reveal almost nothing (though reports have him playing some sort of survivalist). “I can’t tell you much about it yet,” teases Bartlett, of the character and production, “not even if [my role] is gay or straight.”
GQ: Sex and the City is reinventing itself once again with a new series arriving next year. Will you be making a cameo?
Murray Bartlett: They haven’t asked me yet, so I guess not—but I am totally open to it.
Forgive me for starting off shady, but you had a soul patch in that SATC episode—a soul patch!
Oh my god, it’s so embarrassing to look at it today, but I guess it felt cool at the time—or maybe it didn’t! I thought it was cool and was just happy to be on the show.
When that episode aired in 2002, there were almost no out gay actors and very few gay roles. Did you ever think of yourself as a pioneer?
Perhaps at the time it was pioneering because [being out] was still somewhat unusual. But I didn’t feel like I really had an alternative; I just never felt I could ever be anything but myself.
What gave you the confidence to be so visible?
I was fortunate to have an amazing mother who had gay friends and was incredibly supportive of who I was going to be. Unlike so many other [LGBTs], the people closest to me never told me I was bad or called me an abomination. I always had unconditional love and incredible support.
What about your professional team? Did they ever tell you not to play any more gay characters?
No not at all, I always had great representation and great people around me. As an actor you always want to get a range of roles, not stuck in just one type, so we’ve certainly been mindful of that.
Many, many straight actors who made SATC cameos—Justin Theroux, Bobby Canavale, Bradley Cooper—have gone on to pretty heavy duty careers. Do you think you paid a price for all that openness?
I probably missed out on some parts because people knew I was gay. But would I have wanted those roles if they’d left me closeted and miserable? I just had no interest in taking that kind of chance. It takes so much energy to be a person you are not; why waste that energy if you don’t have to? I am sure there were other actors who were out back then and their careers did not happen. But I just thought wouldn’t it be amazing to be one of those people who just sort of goes for it and see what happens. And I’ve had incredible opportunities to play incredible gay roles.
Sex and the City, at least for a moment, turned you into a gay heartthrob of sorts. How did that feel?
SATC was my first acting job in the States, so it was amazing and fantastic, but also totally surreal. Especially in New York, I was always made aware of the fact that I had been on the show; it was sort of this fantasy come true. But it was also an odd time because we shot the episode just before 9/11 and then the world just sort of fell apart.
Did the show yet you laid?
The show definitely got me lots of attention, which was lovely, but I’ve always been in relationships. So yeah, it got me a lot more laid in my relationship.
You’re one of few out Gay men we’ve seen age in the public eye. Do you feel a lot of pressure to maintain the hotness?
I don’t think of myself as intensely vain but I am definitely vain. I like to take care of myself to feel good. But I also know that I’m probably going to have to take my clothes off at some point on camera and I want to feel confident and comfortable if that’s called for. So I am aware of how I look, but I’m not a slave to it. I mean, I’m not sure if you’ve seen me recently, but I definitely don’t have abs—well maybe I do, in the right light.
We definitely saw your abs — and a lot more—in that coked-out sex scene between Armond and his young employee.
One of the things I like so much about the show is how many of the characters have this fluidity to them that I think reflects what people that age are into right now and it is so cool. And weirdly, I think that Armond kind of feels like he is that age, too.
What felt harder for you in this scene, the crazy sex or the crazy drugs?
There is always awkwardness to sex scenes; taking your clothes off in front of lots of people always feels like a weird situation. So taking drugs on camera doesn’t leave me feeling so self aware. But [White Lotus director and writer] Mike White is just so awesome and easy going. The set felt like the kind of place where anything was possible, where we were totally free to hash out the scene.
You’ve played both gay and hetero characters. Is there much difference between doing gay sex scene and straight sex scene?
Intimacy is intimacy, but the truth is I ask more questions with straight sex scenes because I have a lot more experience with gay sex scenes. I mean if there are particular things in straight sex scenes I am not really familiar with I’ll ask questions. I want to…you know…make it seem real.
The White Lotus is a hit, you’re about to film The Last of Us and you still look pretty good. Do you finally feel like you can exhale?
Uhm…..no. But do you ever feel like that as an actor? I’ve sort of felt glimpses of exhaling along the way, but you never really know how it’s going to turn out. There does seem to be a bit of a moment happening right now— and I am just happy to love this moment and see how it rolls.
David Kaufman is the Global Digital Director of Architectural Digest.