McKinley Belcher III dishes on the queer themes of Netflix’s ‘Eric’ & the Broadway legend who officiated his wedding
Netflix.On Ozark, he played Agent Trevor Evans, investigating the criminal Byrde family in central Missouri. In One Piece, he was the fearsome, fish-faced Arlong, leading a gang of pirates on a race for hidden treasure.
He even had a small role in the streamer’s Oscar nominated drama, Marriage Story!But the actor gets his finest showcase yet in Netflix’s Eric, the 1985-set psychological thriller from veteran screenwriter Abi Morgan (Shame, The Hour).
When the son of esteemed-yet-troubled puppeteer Vincent (Benedict Cumberbatch) goes missing in the middle of New York City, Belcher’s Michael Ledroit is on the case, a closeted detective doggedly pursuing answers in the face of corruption and bigotry within his own police force.Subscribe to our newsletter for your front-row seat to all things entertainment with a sprinkle of everything else queer.It’s a fascinatingly complex role, but the just the latest in an impressive career for the 40-year-old star of stage and screen.
Born in Atlanta, Belcher went to Belmont University—where he was an award-winner on the Speech & Debate Team—then got his MFA in acting at USC before making his home in New York City, where he’s been a regular on and off-Broadway in the theater scene.As Belcher tells Queerty, NYC has long been a “special place” for him, so it was an immense privilege for the actor to be able to step back in time to a different era of the city with Eric, and to be able to shed light on a story from our queer community’s not-too-distant past.We got into all of that an more when Belcher joined us for another round of our rapid-fire Q&A series, Dishin’ It.
