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Nathan Lane has been an esteemed star of stage and screen for many years now. That should mean he would at least be in contention for any role he set his eyes on, but things haven’t always been that easy. As an out gay man, Lane has faced rampant homophobia throughout his career, leading him to believe that “Hollywood figured out nothing when it co*es to me,” as he shared in a new interview with Vanity Fair. “I’ve been able to, I think, shift the perception a bit about me, but there’s always going to be that ‘He’s from the theater’ thing. It’s either homophobia or it’s just, ‘He gives big performances because he co*es from the theater,'” the Gilded Age actor continued. “If they give me a chance, I seem to do well—but you have to get the part. You need a part to prove that. I gave up long ago trying to pursue it.”

Even after his exemplary performance in The Birdcage, Lane’s phone didn’t ring. When the actor expressed his disappointment to his agent at the time, an “old queen” himself, as Lane characterized, he recalls the agent responding that roles might have co*e if he “weren’t so open about [his] lifestyle.” Even after he left that agent, the line stayed quiet.

“I don’t know what goes on behind closed doors, but I can’t help but think that [homophobia] played a part,” Lane continued, sharing that it explicitly impacted Space Jam, a movie he courteously said he “didn’t really care about.” Lane was up for the part of Michael Jordan’s assistant, Stan, which eventually went to Seinfeld actor Wayne Knight. “Apparently the director [Joe Pytka] saw me hosting the Tony Awards and thought that suggested I was too gay to play the part,” he shared. At least he has a good sense of humor about the whole affair; “So thank God, I didn’t have to do Space Jam,” he said.

While that was decades ago, in Lane’s experience, “homophobia is alive and well still.” He doesn’t “want it to seem like I don’t have a really terrific, enviable career,” but “before I die, it would be lovely to get to play a juicy, serious supporting role in some film.” Hopefully we all get to see that soon, but for now, you can find Lane in new multicamera sitco* Mid-Century Modern, which begins streaming Friday on Hulu.