British actor Oliver Stark has opened up about wanting to be “representative in a positive way” when playing bisexual firefighter in American procedural drama 9-1-1.
The 9-1-1 actor’s on-screen character came out as bisexual last year and Oliver recently explained how he approaches the role.
Oliver, 33, mentioned he enjoyed being described as a “bicon” – a portmanteau word combining the words “bisexual” and “icon” to describe a well-regarded bisexual celebrity, role model or fictional character.
“There’s pride and there’s a want to do good, obviously, and for (Buck) to be representative in a positive way. But I don’t put too much pressure on myself,” Oliver explained. “Somebody called me a ‘bisexual bicon’ in an interview last year, which I kind of loved.”
Instead of worrying about misrepresenting the LGBTQ+ community, Oliver added his biggest priority is focusing on how to portray his firefighting character, Buck, as authentically as possible.
“When I’m in my day-to-day at work, I don’t think of it in those regards. I just think of it as, ‘Let me just play Buck, and this is what he’s going through and this is what he’s dealing with at the moment.’
And that in itself, I think, is better representation – a bisexual character “So I don’t feel too much pressure in that regard, not no more so than I have ever playing him. I just play him truthfully.”
