Nick Robinson on playing gay, and how it helped a brother

Nick Robinson in “Love, Simon”

Actor Nick Robinson, who stars in “Love, Simon” as the titular teen protagonist, recently told Ellen DeGeneres in her talk show that playing a gay character wasn’t a problem.

“It was a conversation with Greg [Berlanti], our director … we talked about it,” said the 23-year-old actor, who was also in 2015’s “Jurassic World.” “With a project like this, and especially today—there’s been so much progress in the last 20 years, a lot of which is thanks to you and what you’ve done. If you hadn’t come out when you did, we might not be having this movie now,” Robinson said, referring to DeGeneres’ admission of her sexual identity in 1997, and her contributions to LGBT causes since.

Robinson, the eldest of seven siblings, related that one of his brothers came out as gay around the start of filming. “He had been dealing with this for a long time … The timing was coincidental, but one of the best things that came out of this movie is just being able to talk to him,” said Robinson of his sibling, who wasn’t named in the segment or other interviews. “A film like this starts conversations … I hope that it can do that for more people.” —OLIVER PULUMBARIT