Wednesday Star Hunter Doohan Says He Once “Hid” Photos to Conceal Sexuality

The 31-year-old actor says he faced a particularly “scrutinizing” audition.

By Abby Monteil / August 12, 2025

Wednesday star Hunter Doohan is opening up about the pressure he once felt to hide his sexuality in Hollywood.

During a recent appearance on the Zach Sang Show, the 31-year-old actor — who’s best-known for playing barista Tyler on the hit Netflix series — recounted the process of auditioning for the Showtime series Your Honor in 2019. Although Doohan was openly gay and already in a relationship with his now-husband, Fielder Jewett, he noted that the audition marked “the first time I’d done a network test and they were really scrutinizing.”

“I really was trying to hide it,” he said. “I went and hid pictures of us on Instagram, archived them.”

After Doohan booked the role, he found himself coming out once again to his co-star Bryan Cranston at 26.

“I was at lunch one time with Bryan and I said, ‘Grace called again,’ and I was like, ‘Oh, she’s my friend Grace,’” the actor recalled. “And he’s like, ‘Oh, just a friend?’ And I thought, ‘Oh God… I’ve been out for eight years and I have to come out of the closet again.’ It was so unsettling and awful. I was like, ‘I’m never going to do that for a role again.’”

Sang asked Doohan why he felt the need to hide his sexuality, he replied, “[My partner] was like, ‘Oh yeah, are you worried about this?’ But yeah, I don’t know.”

“I’ve never played a gay role and I’ve auditioned for them,” Doohan added. “But all the characters I’ve played have been straight.”

The Wednesday star pointed to openly gay star Jonathan Bailey as an example. “I read this Jonathan Bailey interview the other day that was so inspiring, like, the way he talks about [his sexuality] and just how he’s totally released all perceived limitations around it,” Doohan said. “We’re lucky to be living in a different time where we can [play non-gay roles] and people can watch it and suspend their disbelief like that.”

These days, the actor has other concerns — namely, the fact that he missed out on meeting Wednesday guest star Lady Gaga on set.

“I’m the one gay guy on the show, and I didn’t get to meet Gaga,” Doohan joked during a recent appearance on the Just for Variety podcast with Marc Malkin. “It might be a hate crime.”