Gay For Pay: How Desperate Housewife Eva Longoria’s Lesbian Kiss Might Finally Earn Her Some Respect

Eva Longoria and Teri Hatcher are set to kiss on “Desperate Housewives.” Which is shocking, given we had no idea this show was still on the air. But playing “gay for pay” is par for the course for any actor who wants to be taken seriously in Hollywood. 

Short of wearing a prosthetic nose, it’s the one move guaranteed to earn you critical praise for being so “brave” and/or “gritty,” if not garner you an Oscar for your skill in feigning enthusiasm for kissing a member (chortle!) of the same gender. No more Hustler’s Instinct or Carlita’s Secret (In which she also, incidentally, kissed a lady. Fail?) for Eva - we see art house flicks and Jane Austen dramas in her future. 

With that in mind, here’s our list of actors and actresses who’ve played gay for a huge pay off:

• If Heath Ledger’s death wasn’t enough to convince you he was an amazing actor, simply take a look at his work in the heartwrenching Brokeback Mountain. Manly grunting, sex in a tent, cowboy hats, and desolate mountain landscapes? Oscar gold. 
• Sean Penn, when not doing his utmost to respect his daughter’s issue with the marginalization of homosexuals by Fidel Castro, is kicking ass and earning Oscars for his role as gay politician and activist Harvey Milk. 
• Penn’s co-star in Milk, the lovely and vivacious Diego Luna made out with bonified (heh!) star Gael Garcia Bernal, and the two had their names firmly yet lovingly thrust onto Hollywood’s radar thanks to their sexually-charged performances in Y Tu Mama Tambien.

• Javier Bardem proved to Hollywood that he was leading man material in Julian Schnabel’s Before Night Falls, in which he played gay Cuban writer Reinaldo Arenas. The film also marked Johnny Depp as a “brave” actor, for playing a transvestite with a built-in fannypack. So to speak.
• Tom Hanks won an Oscar for his role as gay, AIDS-stricken corporate lawyer Andrew Beckett in Philadelphia. Proving that, even when you’re oozing talent, it takes a really special kind of role to make people forget “Bosom Buddies.” The movie also helped raise the profile of one Antonio Banderas. Everybody wins.
• Charlize Theron was famous for being gorgeous, but it wasn’t until her turn as serial killer Aileen Wuornos in Monster - a role for which Charlize gained substantial weight and wore heavy prosthetics - that she began to be taken seriously as an actress. 

• Salma Hayek is another actress who was always heralded - and cast - for her beauty. But in Frida, Salma got hairy, got handsy with co-star Ashley Judd, and got an Oscar nom for her efforts.
• Penelope Cruz recently took home an Oscar for her role in Vicky Cristina Barcelona, a role that required her to get all sorts of (tastefully shot) nasty with Scarlett Johansson in a dark room.
• Hilary Swank may have played a young transgender boy in Boys Don’t Cry, but it was her same-sex kiss with co-star Chloe Sevigny that drew attention offscreen and catapulted her into “super serious actress” territory. And instead of merely getting a hipstertastic spandex-induced rash from making out with Sevingy, Swank got an Oscar. Not bad for a Karate Kid.

And on the questionably fauxmosexual end of things…

• And who can forget Anne Heche? Playing a lesbian in real life helped put the formerly little-known actress on the map. How cute were Anne and Ellen in their matching haircuts before Anne went apeshit in the dessert and claimed to be the sister of Jesus? Adorable.
• Lindsay Lohan might be designing leggings and self-tanners instead of acting, but her real life romance with fellow ladyperson Samantha Ronson has at least kept her out of travel - and out of strangers’ coke-filled pants. Way to go, LiLo.

Click Below for Our Gallery of Actors Who Were “Gay for Pay” …Or Just for Publicity