Alia Shawkat casually revealed details about her sexuality in a new interview with Out magazine. The Search Party star shared that she identifies as bisexual.
"I was a tomboy growing up, and I remember my mom asking me when I was 10, 'Are you attracted to boys or girls?' I said,'I don't know,'" Shawkat told the magazine. "Now, I consider myself bisexual, and I think balancing my male and female energies has been a big part of me growing as an actor."
Out's R. Kurt Osenlund then asked Shawkat if starring alongside Portia de Rossi on Arrested Development had an impact on her identity.
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"Portia started dating Ellen DeGeneres during the show's first three seasons, and I'd met her previous girlfriend, but I think my influences are more from growing up in Los Angeles and being exposed to lots of gay artists," Shawkat told Out.
Shawkat appears in Amber Tamblyn's Paint It Black, which hit theaters today. The film focuses on Shawkat's character, Josie, and her relationship with her late boyfriend's mother after his suicide.
"With any part, you don't want to think, Oh, I could do this with my eyes closed. But with this part, it was like, I don't know if I can do this with my eyes open," the actress told Out of Paint It Black. "There aren't many female roles that are both campy and very real. I appreciated the risks of this movie."
Shawkat is also starring in a new movie later this year that she co-wrote, Duck Butter, which focuses on a same-sex couple.
"I love that it was written for a man and a woman, but we couldn't find the right guy, so now it happens to star two women," Shawkat told Out of Duck Butter. "I used to be less outspoken. But as a woman, an Arab-American, and a member of the LGBTQ community, I have to use whatever voice I have. There's no more delicacy in being quiet."
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