Heartstopper’s Nima Taleghani and Fisayo Akinade say the show ‘helps people connect’
"Having queerness represented in such a joyful, bold, brave way emboldens you to then be bold about your own queerness or whatever it may be."
Heartstopper stars, Nima Taleghani and Fisayo Akinade, have touched on why they think the show is important.
The two actors play Truham Grammar teachers Mr Farouk and Mr Ajayi respectively, with Taleghani being a new addition in season 2.
Along with others in the supporting cast, they have appeared on the cover of Attitude’s September/October issue, out now.
Speaking to Attitude, Fisayo, who memorably burst onto TV screens in Russell T Davies’ Banana, said having the show when he was growing up “would have enabled me to come out much sooner.”
Continuing, the actor who identifies as gay said: “It wouldn’t have been a scary thing. It would have been like ‘I’m this thing too,’ rather than ‘I’m this thing and I’m really sorry about it.'”
He also said that “having queerness represented in such a joyful, bold, brave way emboldens you to then be bold about your own queerness or whatever it may be.”
“The more representation we see, the better it becomes for everybody” – Heartstopper‘s Fisayo Akinade
Nima, who has won legions of fans with his portrayal of Farouk, celebrated the show’s focus on positive queer stories.
“It’s all psychological pain one after another, but there’s a happiness in it,” he opined.
And rather focusing on trauma, which often happens in queer stories, Heartstopper shows queer characters being content.
“I think it helps people connect to the humanity of it,” Nima concluded.
Picking up on this thread, Fisayo added that he doesn’t think being gay is “particularly interesting.”
But he went on to say that “what Heartstopper does really well is that it just goes, ‘Here’s some teenagers who are relatively happy. There are some adults who are relatively happy. Isn’t that nice to see?’
“The more representation we see, the better it becomes for everybody.”
Read the full interview in Attitude’s September/October issue which is available now. All interviews were completed before the SAG-AFTRA strike.
Heartstopper is streaming now.