Taylor Zakhar Perez plays Alex Claremont-Diaz, the son of a female American president, in Red, White & Royal Blue, an Amazon Prime film based on an immensely popular Casey McQuinston novel. Alex is forced to make friends with Henry, a British royal in line for the throne, to maintain the appearance of cordiality between England and the U.S. Alex and Henry gradually fall in love.
Taylor Zakhar Perez’s sexuality is a secret; he supports the LGBTQ+ community
Taylor Zakhar Perez’s sexuality is a mystery. He hasn’t addressed it in interviews or on social media. Nevertheless, he supports the LGBTQ+ community. “Going from trans rights to gay rights to people of color’s rights to all of it, I’m here for it, however they need it,” Perez told Sharp Magazine. “As I’m meeting more and more people, my only intention is to bring love, kindness, and support.”
Perez told Newsweek that he felt a responsibility to the queer community to portray Alex’s bisexuality as accurately as possible. “I mean, that was the community that I was thinking about the entire time filming,” he said. Perez continued:
“From the beginning, there was an enormous weight on my shoulders, making sure that we were accurate with representation and accurate with character portrayal. Because I think it’s so easy for an actor to phone it in, I’ve seen it. So I think that’s why I took it upon myself, knowing how important this film is for many communities.”
Perez said that he, his co-star Nicholas Galitzine, and the director Matthew Lopez tweaked the script where necessary to guarantee its accuracy. “We were just hypersensitive to making sure everything was properly represented and properly accurate,” he said. Perez viewed Alex’s intimacy with Henry as integral to his character’s arc:
“The intimacy part is so important because Alex’s arc as a character as somebody that has only dated women in the past, maybe a couple guy hookups, to not liking Henry to getting kissed by Henry, and then having a relationship. It’s just like the different degrees of comfort that Alex starts to have, this needs to be represented in a proper way.”
The actor seems single in real life. He’s been linked to several women, including his co-star Joey King. Perez said on the Chicks in the Office podcast that he loves King, but the pair aren’t dating. “I mean, hey, I would love to be dating Joey King. She’s dope. I love her. I love her dearly. I’d do anything for her. We’re not dating. I’ll end it with that,” he explained.