Why Darryl Stephens refused to address his sexuality while he was on ‘Noah’s Arc’
Noah’s Arc premiered on Logo, quite literally changing the TV landscape just by daring to put the stories of Black, queer men front and center.And it changed star Darryl Stephens’ life, too.In a new Black History Month interview with Buzzfeed, the groundbreaking 49-year-old actor looks back on his journey with Noah’s Arc and opens up about his reticent to publicly discuss his sexuality at the time.Subscribe to our daily newsletter for your front-row seat to all things entertainment with a sprinkle of everything else queer.In the early 2000s, Stephens was a working actor with a few credits to his name—including MTV’s steamy anthology, Undressed, which also featured future stars like Pedro Pascal and Chad Michael Murray—but when he signed on the the lead role in Noah’s Arc in 2005, he knew he’d be introducing himself to a whole new audience.Stephens says he was immediately excited about the project as a fan of creator Patrik-Ian Polk’s landmark film Punks and was eager for the opportunity to a bring story of Black, queer friendship to the TV screen.
The only issue was: He had truly never seen it be done before and would have to figure out how to play this character for himself.“My biggest focus was figuring out who Noah was,” he tells Buzzfeed. “I’d never seen a character like him on screen.
I wasn’t sure how I was supposed to be playing him. If you look at earlier iterations of Noah, [I played] boyish and sex kitten versions of him… for a long time, I was wondering, ‘Who is this guy?'”But Stephens would also have to figure out who he was—at least, the version of him he’d want to share with the public.
While the show was on the air, the actor was very clear that he would not be discussing his own sexuality.The new live episode will act as a sequel to the TV series, and find the characters more than 10 years after we last saw them.Even as he racked up credits playing other openly gay characters in notable queer projects—including the sex worker drama Boy Culture and.
