Prison Break star Wentworth Miller has revealed he is gay - after turning down an invite to attend a Russian Film Festival.
The 41-year-old actor came out in a bid to tackle homophobia in the country, saying he was "deeply troubled by the current attitude" by the Russian government.
He wrote to organisers of the St. Petersburg International Film Festival saying: "As a gay man I must decline."
"I am deeply troubled by the current attitude toward and treatment of gay men and women by the Russian government," Wentworth added in his letter.
'The situation is in no way acceptable, and I cannot in good conscience participate in a celebratory occasion hosted by a country where people like myself are being systematically denied their basic right to live and love openly,' he said.
Wentworth's, who played Michael Scofield in Prison Break (scroll down for a reminder), letter was made public by campaigning group GLAAD.
He is the latest high profile celebrity to hit out at Russian anti-gay laws, joining Stephen Fry and Lady Gaga in protest. The controversy in Russia was sparked after politicians in its lower house of parliament, the Duma, passed a law imposing heavy fines for providing information about homosexuality to people under 18.
Comedian Stephen called for Russia to be banned from hosting next year's Winter Olympics – and compared Vladimir Putin to Hitler.
He said the authorities in Russia regularly turn a blind eye to gay people being abused, raped and murdered.
He added that President Putin's country is victimising homosexuals in the same way that Jews were in Hitler's Germany.
Stephen begged sports chiefs and political leaders to cancel the Games in the Russian city of Sochi so that Putin is not rewarded for his actions such as approving "barbaric" anti-gay laws.
In an open letter to David Cameron and the International Olympic Committee today, Stephen said: "I am gay. I am a Jew.
"My mother lost over a dozen of her family to Hitler's anti-Semitism.
"Every time in Russia (and it is constantly) a gay teenager is forced into suicide, a lesbian 'correctively' raped, gay men and women beaten to death by neo-Nazi thugs while the Russian police stand idly by, the world is diminished and I for one weep anew at seeing history repeat itself.
The Russian government is criminal. Oppression will be met with revolution. Russian LGBTs you are not alone. We will fight for your freedom.
— Lady Gaga (@ladygaga) August 5, 2013
Lady Gaga wrote on Twitter the Russian government was "criminal"
She added: "Sending bravery to LGBTs in Russia.
"The rise in government abuse is archaic. Hosing teenagers with pepper spray? Beatings? Mother Russia?"
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