Email Share 187 Shares

British actor Russell Tovey got candid about discovering his sexuality as a teenager and how being gay has opened up his career in an interview with the Evening Standard.

Tovey, who stars in the upcoming gay soccer drama “The Pass,” says he first realized he was gay at 14.

“I was watching the film of ‘Beautiful Thing’ on TV. My mum came in and I turned it off and when she went to bed I turned it back on. I remember thinking ‘OK, that’s it,'” Tovey, 35, told the Evening Standard. “It’s like someone had put their hand on mine and said, ‘There you go’. It’s a love story with a happy ending. It’s good to have role models and now there are so many more.”

“Honestly, it’s the best thing that ever happened to me, being gay,’ Tovey continued. ‘It’s made my career.”

“The Pass” tells the story of soccer player Jason (Tovey) who finds himself struggling with his sexuality after kissing his teammate Ade (Arinze Kene.) It’s expected to hit theaters in the U.S. in early 2017.

Tovey has also starred in HBO’s “Looking” and currently appears as Harry Doyle in “Quantico” on ABC.