‘Real Friends of WeHo’ star Curtis Hamilton kept it real by coming out on national TV
This profile is part of Queerty’s 2023 Out For Good series, recognizing public figures who’ve had the courage to come out and make a difference in the past year.Name: Curtis Hamilton, 37Bio: Hamilton is a rising Hollywood star who in the span of a few years has portrayed a major music icon, a close confidant of Martin Luther King Jr., worked with Oprah, and appeared in both a critically-acclaimed HBO comedy and one of the most polarizing reality shows in recent history.Born in Pordenone, Italy but raised in Paducah, Kentucky, Hamilton grew up the youngest of five children.
He attended Western Kentucky University, where he was an All-American wider receiver on the football team. After graduation, Hamilton had a brief NFL career playing for the New Orleans Saints and Chicago Bears.Soon the acting bug hit and he moved to Los Angeles, securing small parts on TV shows like Rizzoli & Isles and Castle.
In 2016, Hamilton landed his breakout role playing rap legend Dr. Dre in the Lifetime biopic Surviving Compton: Dre, Suge, & Michel’le.He rode the heels of that success by portraying civil rights activist Andrew Young in the 2021 historical romantic drama Charming the Hearts Men, joining the ensemble cast of the OWN primetime soap The Kings of Napa, which was executive produced by the one and only Oprah Winfrey.
He also landed a recurring role on HBO’s Insecure during the show’s final season.It was after wrapping Insecure that Hamilton did some soul searching and decided he wanted to stop hiding who he was from the world.
