Keiynan Lonsdale
Keiynan Lonsdale

You can live your dreams and wear dresses. You can live your dreams and kiss the one that you love no matter what gender they are.

Keiynan Lonsdale
Keiynan Lonsdale

If you really are passionate about it, you're just going to find a way to make it happen.

Keiynan Lonsdale
Keiynan Lonsdale

Spent way too many years hating myself, thinking I was less valuable because I was different... which is just untrue.

Keiynan Lonsdale
Keiynan Lonsdale

I think, in general, straight actors should be able to play queer roles just as much as queer actors should be able to play straight roles. I think the reason why the debate is there is because we haven't had enough queer actors being cast in anything. People are in need of that representation in general.

Keiynan Lonsdale
Keiynan Lonsdale

I started writing when I was, like, eleven. We couldn't afford private lessons, so I had to teach myself how to sing through recording songs on GarageBand.

Keiynan Lonsdale
Keiynan Lonsdale

I reckon my fear landscape would be me having to jump out of a plane or having to skydive. I would see that as one of the scariest things ever. And then also, I'm really not a fan of spiders and bugs.

Keiynan Lonsdale
Keiynan Lonsdale

I actually don't label myself, but... Some people call me queer; some people call me bisexual, whatever it is now. I'm happy with all of it 'cause it all sort of represents me, in a way. I spent a majority of my life in the closet.

Keiynan Lonsdale
Keiynan Lonsdale

I originally went up for a role on the spinoff show, 'Legends of Tomorrow,' and that led me to audition for Wally West in 'The Flash'. I enjoy auditioning in general, but this was a particularly fun process because it was so unexpected.

Keiynan Lonsdale
Keiynan Lonsdale

'The Flash' comics are visually amazing and so well done. I wish I had been introduced to them when I was growing up.

Keiynan Lonsdale
Keiynan Lonsdale

I just pack up my pantry with lots of Oreos and other chocolate treats to disguise the fact that I don't have Tim Tams.

Keiynan Lonsdale
Keiynan Lonsdale

I think what's really important is valuing friendships and family a lot.

Keiynan Lonsdale
Keiynan Lonsdale

As much as I think that in the future we won't need labels, at the moment they're really important. So I'm making myself embrace that. I truly am proud to be queer. Even watching 'Queer Eye' is something that inspired me to say that. So that's the power of representation.

Keiynan Lonsdale
Keiynan Lonsdale

Some people think 'Higher' is about literally getting high, and other people think it's more in a spiritual sense. To me, it's all that. To me, it was like I need to escape from this down state - emotionally, spiritually, mentally, everything. I want to be above this. Wherever we are now. I need to go up.

Keiynan Lonsdale
Keiynan Lonsdale

I was the youngest of the house that I grew up in, so I feel like, as the youngest, you have it pretty good. At the same time, I guess I required a lot of attention, being afraid of so many different things. So I was never seeking attention; I wanted the opposite.

Keiynan Lonsdale
Keiynan Lonsdale

I'd only been out for, like, six months before I booked 'Insurgent'. It was my first role in America, and it was a huge movie franchise. All I'd ever hear at the time was how Hollywood treated gay men or queer men, so I was, like, 'Well, I'm not going to shoot myself in the foot before I've even started life here,' you know?

Keiynan Lonsdale
Keiynan Lonsdale

Once I wrapped 'Insurgent', I went to Boston and shot a film called 'The Finest Hours.' It's based on a real story in 1952 about a Coast Guard mission to rescue these sinking ships that are caught in a blizzard.

Keiynan Lonsdale
Keiynan Lonsdale

At some point, I came out to a lot of friends and some family, but then I went back in the closet when I started working as an actor in America.

Keiynan Lonsdale
Keiynan Lonsdale

It's important that I work with people where they know why they're hiring me and that they're looking to create art without fear. Anyone who uses those excuses to not cast people or to create extremely stereotypical characters, they're creating out of fear, and to me that's really boring.

Keiynan Lonsdale
Keiynan Lonsdale

I'd be really honored to do more LGBTQ stories.

Keiynan Lonsdale
Keiynan Lonsdale

There's a lot to the story. And there are a lot of things I've learned about myself and about love, and I'm really grateful for the lessons, and I hope I can share that through art. I look for projects that allow me to do that, whether it's music or acting.