Miles Heizer is stepping into a new era of his career, but the journey getting here wasn’t always easy.
In a recent interview, the Boots star opened up about the deep anxieties he carried as a young gay actor navigating an industry that often pushed queer people into the shadows.
Heizer began acting at just 10 years old, long before Hollywood started embracing the kind of LGBTQ+ visibility we’re seeing today. “I was aware I was gay so early,” he said. “Growing up, I saw how the landscape was sort of, ‘If you’re gay, you need to move somewhere else you’re never going to work again.’”
That message stuck with him.
So did the fear.
“I was terrified of becoming too ‘clockable’”
As Heizer grew into his teen years and early adulthood, he worried that simply being himself would lead to fewer opportunities.
“I had such fear surrounding this,” he admitted. “I’m like, ‘It’s going to get to a point where I’m very clockable as a gay person, and they’re going to start being like, we can’t hire him.’”
It wasn’t paranoia — it was the reality for many queer actors at the time.
Hollywood long treated being openly gay as a liability, especially for young performers who didn’t fit the industry’s rigid standards for masculinity. Even worse, actors who did come out were often automatically boxed into stereotypical queer roles.
The “gay box” actors were trapped in
Heizer remembers how risky it felt to take on queer characters early in his career.
“There was this trope that once you play a gay character, that’s it — you’re in this box,” he said. “And there weren’t a lot of gay projects, or a lot of times there wasn’t funding behind them.”
It was a catch-22:
Play gay and risk being typecast.
Don’t play gay and hide a massive part of yourself.
Yet today, Heizer is watching that old narrative crumble — and he’s proud to be part of the generation creating the shift.
A new era: high-quality queer stories are finally here
To Heizer, starring in Netflix’s Boots isn’t just another role it’s a milestone he never imagined possible when he was a closeted kid in the industry.
“It’s so crazy to be in a time where there’s high-quality, good content about gay people,” he said. “For me to be on this show is just so crazy thinking back to how afraid I was of being an out gay person in entertainment.”
He doesn’t take any of it for granted.
“I know how wild it is and what a special opportunity it is. I’m just very grateful.”
Hollywood still has work to do but change is real
Heizer acknowledges that the fight for representation and equality is far from over.
But he also sees something he didn’t see growing up: momentum.
“Obviously, there’s still plenty of progress to be made,” he said. “As of now, it’s exciting that there seem to be more and more opportunities for people.”
For Heizer and for LGBTQ+ performers everywhere visibility isn’t just about landing roles.
It’s about rewriting old narratives, creating new pathways, and making sure the next generation of queer kids doesn’t grow up with the same fears he did.