Andrew Scott is considered a frontrunner to win the best actor Oscar for his role as Ian Charleson in Elsinore, which would make him the first out gay man to win the award in the Academy's nearly 100-year history. The film, a passion project for Scott, chronicles the life of Scottish actor Charleson, who secretly had AIDS while performing in Hamlet at the National Theatre in 1989 before dying six weeks later. Scott's career demonstrates that openly gay actors can successfully play diverse roles, challenging longstanding industry assumptions about casting.