e @ = z OUT FOR 0SCAR: Nicole Kidman as Virginia Wooll in "The Hours"; Felicity Hutfman in "Transamerica" (inset).</p><p> T role All of a sudden, out is in at the Academy Awards tion Other nominations follow - like Robert Preston's hililious turn in 1982's "Victor/Victoria" - but it will be another decade before Best Acror €(oes ro a por- trayal of arr openly gay chuacrer.</p><p> Kiss of the Spiderwoman (1986) William Hurt is the first actor in history to win an Academy Award for a gay character, when he I urns flamboyantly delusional prisoner Luis Molina into a man of dignity and strength.</p><p> Philadelphia (1994) As Andrew Beckett, Tom Hanks barely touched his lover (Antonio Banderas), but he wins Best Actor for playing a noble take on a man dying of AIDSBy MICHAEL GILTZ I F you want ro win an Oscar, I playing a real person is always I in fashion: Think Ben Kings- I ley as Gandhi or )amie Foxx as Ray Charles Another good tip is incorporating some kind of a physical or mental handicap, like Geoflfrey Rush in "Shine" or Daniel-Day Lcwis in "My Left Foot " Now that gay characters are more open than ever in the movies especially with "Brokeback Mountain" and "Capote" Ieading this ycar's field - it looks Iike gay is the new black for actors and actresses irr search of Oscar But Ennis and Truman are hardly the first gay- themed characters to catch the Academy's eye Some notable highJighrs, including the year the filnr com- peted for an Academy Award: Midnight Cowboy (1970) The same yeil John Wayne wins an Oscar for "True Grir," "Mid- night Cowboy" brerks down bar- riers It becomes the first (and only) X-rated movic to win Besr Picture.</p><p> And Jon Voight and Dustin Hoffman are borh Besr Actor nominees for playing, respectively, a male hustler and the street rat who loves him Cabaret (1973) Joel Grey rvins Best Supporting Actor for celebrating Weimar-era decadence with his Master of Ceremonies Dog Day Afternoon (1976) Al Pacino scores a Best Actor nomination for playing a banl robber trying to pay for his hoyfriend's sex-change opera-|'od'.'oio"* to Hilary SwankTeena/Teena Brandon, a girl who passed as a boy and cven Jated uother girl before meeting a tragic end In Hollyvood's eyes, "transgendered" erluals 'Bay' - sec this year's upsrart nominee Felicity Huffman in "Transamcri- The Hours (2003) Nicole Kidman wins for play- ing writer Virginia Woolf - who dallied morc in real life with Vita Sackville-West than her dutiful husband - with a notable nose and fierce intelligence.</p><p> Monster (2004) Charlize Theron (left) is unstoppable as an exceptionally attractive star who dirtied herself uo lrrlleo nersetl up to play a real-life figure, a serial killer ond a les- bian.</p><p> That killer combination ma-kes her a lock for the Oscr wins Best Actress for Brandon
