The mothers are mothering!
There’s nothing better than an iconic performance by an iconic actress – except perhaps an iconic performance by an iconic actress playing a mother!
Many movies about the queer experience include the family of the queer person, and if there’s a mom involved, we love it when she’s played by a great actress who has range, talent, charisma, and the it factor. That’s where these actresses come in!
Some of these moms are great, some of them are terrible, but all of them are iconic. Here are 20 times iconic actresses have played the mother of an LGBTQ+ child i some of our favorite movies and TV shows.
1. Renée Elise Goldsberry in 'Anything's Possible'
Anything’s Possible is a cute and uplifting story about a trans teen falling in love, but much of the movie’s heart comes from Tony-winner Goldsberry as Selene, the mom of trans teen Kelsa. Her love for her daughter is strong and fierce, and nothing can stop it.
2. Jennifer Jason Leigh in 'Aytpical'
In Atypical on Netflix, Academy Award nominee Jennifer Jason Leigh played Elsa Gardner, the overprotective mother of Sam and Casey. Later in the show, Casey comes out as being queer.
3. Lisa Kudrow in 'Booksmart'
Sometimes, an iconic actress comes in to play the small role of a supportive parent, like Lisa Kudrow did as Charmaine, the mom of lesbian high school student Amy Antsler. While a lot of her lines are embarrassing to her daughter, at least she’s got the right spirit!
4. Nicole Kidman in 'Boy Erased'
Nicole Kidman became all of our mothers when she reminded us of the magic of movie theaters, and in this film, she played the Christian mother of a teen who enters gay conversion therapy at the behest of his parents. While Kidman’s Nancy Eamons doesn’t quite know how to be supportive of her gay son (Lucas Hedges) early on, she comes around and her love for him wins out.
5. Megan Mullally in 'Crush'
In this 2022 rom-com, Mullally played Angie Evans, the over-the-top mother of lesbian high school student Paige (Rowan Blanchard). Angie is definitely a “cool mom” and isn’t above making lesbian sex jokes to her daughter.
6. Andie McDowell in 'Dashing in December'
Dashing in December is a Paramount+ movie that takes the traditional story of someone who’s moved to the city returning home to try to convince his mom (McDowell) not to sell the family ranch when he meets charming ranch hand Heath and falls in love.
7. Michelle Yeoh in 'Everything Everywhere All At Once'
Yeoh won her first Academy Award for playing the mother of a queer daughter in this movie about three generations of a Chinese-American family. She’s not just a hardworking mom who comes to understand her queer daughter, she’s also an action star, a hot-dog-fingered lesbian, and a billion other things.
8. Gloria Estefan in 'Glee'
Santana Lopez was an iconic character, so when it came time to cast her mom, Glee needed to find an icon, and they did in singer Gloria Estefan. There are few people badass enough to have given birth to Santana, and Estefan was the perfect choice.
9. Mary Steenburgen in 'Happiest Season'
One of the most iconic actresses of the last four decades, Steenburgen played Tipper Caldwell, the conservative mother of closeted lesbian Harper (Mackenzie Davis). Typical family holiday shenanigans ensue, but this time, with the added fun of a queer daughter!
10. Olivia Colman in 'Heartstopper'
The Oscar winner plays Sarah Nelson, the mother of popular rugby player Nick Nelson in the hit Netflix show Heartstopper. The scene where Nick comes out to her is one of the most beautiful you’ll see on TV.
11. Gabrielle Union in 'The Inspection'
Sometimes when an iconic actress plays the mother of a gay child, the character isn’t exactly supportive. One such performance is real-life mother-of-a-queer-child Gabrielle Union as the homophobic Inez French in The Inspection. Based on writer and director Elegance Bratton’s real life, Union plays the unsupportive mother of Ellis French (Jeremy Pope), a young gay man who is nearly killed during hazing while in the Marine Corps.
12. Jennifer Garner in 'Love, Simon'
Garner is an iconic actress, and her role as a loving and supportive mother in the coming-of-age movie Love, Simon has been making us cry since it first came out. Of course she’s perfect in the whole movie, but in the scene where she has a heart-to-heart with Simon after he came out to the family, she’s maybe the best mom ever in a movie.
13. Naomie Harris in 'Moonlight'
Iconic British actress Naomie Harris is known for huge movies like Pirates of the Caribbean, the James Bond franchise, and 28 Days Later, but her Oscar-nominated performance as a drug-addicted mother of a young, Black, gay son is one of her most powerful performances ever.
14. Molly Shannon in 'The Other Two'
Pat Dubek is a lot more than the mother of a gay son. She’s also the billionaire head of her own network, star of her own daytime TV show, and the mother to two other children. Shannon is always perfect in the role, and although she’s not one of the show’s title characters, she’s just as much one of it’s leads.
15. Kerry Washington in 'The Prom'
We all love Kerry Washington, but in The Prom, she got the chance to play a homophobe and mother to a closeted lesbian (played by another icon, Ariana DeBose). As Mrs. Greene, Washington is the homophobic leader of the PTA that tries to keep gay students out of the prom, not knowing her own daughter is one of them.
16. Uma Thurman in 'Red, White & Royal Blue'
In the new hit movie from Amazon Prime Video, Uma Thurman not only plays the mother of a bisexual son, but also the first woman president of the United States of America. Thurman delivers a southern accent, support for her bisexual son, and just about everything else you’d want from a mom in this one.
17. Bryce Dallas Howard in 'Rocketman'
Bryce Dallas Howard played Sheila Eileen, the real-life mother of Elton John in this Taron Egerton-starring biopic. While she wasn’t the best mom ever, especially when it came to her son’s coming out, she’s far from the worst on this list.
18. Catherine O'Hara in 'Schitt's Creek'
One of the most iconic mothers of a gay character has to be thee Moira Rose, played by legendary comedian Catherine O’Hara.
O’Hara had already been a comedic legend for her performances in everything from Beetlejuice, to Best in Show, to For Your Consideration, and when she put on the many wigs of Moira Rose, a soap opera star far past her prime and the matriarch of the Rose family, she showed us once again why she’s the best at what she does.
19. Kathy Najimi in 'Single All the Way'
Netflix’s first-ever gay holiday rom-com was this Christmas movie about a gay man coming home for the holidays only to be set up on a blind date by his mother (Najimy). It stars Michael Urie, Philemon Chambers, and Luke Macfarlane.
20. Judith Light in 'Transparent'
While the most famous queer family member in Transparent is Maura Pfefferman, there are two other queer Pfeffermans in the family, and both of them had a mother played by iconic actress Judith Light. As Shelly Pfefferman, Light was the strongest member of the family, and as everyone around her came out, she kept the family together.