Actor Charlie Carver talks about his decision to come out

Charlie Carver recently sat down with ET and reflected on his decision a year ago to reveal publicly that he’s gay. Already out to family for 10 years and having played many gay roles, working on a recent film made the decision feel right.

While talking about his latest movie, I Am Michael, Charlie told ET why he felt compelled to make the announcement on social media. “I’ve always been proud of who I am — I came out to my family when I was 17 — but the movie, that process did awaken something in me.”

I Am Michael stars fellow out actor Zachary Quinto (Star Trek) and James Franco (no stranger to gay roles), and is based on the true story of XY Magazine journalist and gay activist Michael Glatze, who renounced his homosexuality, married a woman and became a Christian minister.

Discussing future roles, Charlie mentioned he’d become more mindful since his public coming out.

“One thing I warned myself to do is never to be afraid to take another gay part, especially a well-written one. I just think, How can I create? How can I have the career I want, but also, how can I contribute to expanding the narrative available to LGBT people and the narrative for people to see? I think there are a lot of stories that happen to include LGBT voices that aren’t told.”

His latest project proves his words true. Charlie signed onto the Dustin Lance Black docudrama series We Will Rise which will trace the rise of the LGBT rights movement since the 1969 Stonewall riot. The series will debut February 27 on ABC with the first two-hour instalment directed by Gus Van Sant (who directed Milk, which Black wrote the screenplay).

Charlie has a twin brother, fellow actor Max. They’ve starred together several times, famously on Desperate Housewives as twins Porter and Preston Scavo. More recently Charlie & Max joined the cast of Teen Wolf as twin werewolves who transformed together as one wolf; the role Charlie played was that of Ethan, a gay werewolf.

Read Charlie’s series of Instagram messages for his coming out.