'Bridgerton' star Jonathan Bailey is Redefining the Hollywood Heartthrob

In the first season of “Bridgerton,” Jonathan Bailey (who plays Anthony Bridgerton in the Netflix series) was just one member of a large ensemble. But in the second season, which premiered in March 2022 and smashed streaming records, Bailey’s Anthony took center stage. "When you’re working with a genre like romance, which is about something fundamental which connects all humans, it’s so important that we can allow everyone to see themselves in that story,” he says. “And that wasn’t necessarily there for me growing up, being able to fill the space playing a straight character, but as an openly gay actor.” Read more about why Jonathan Bailey is part of TIME's newest class of Next Generation Leaders: https://ti.me/3surcei Subscribe to TIME’s YouTube channel ►► http://ti.me/subscribe-time Subscribe to TIME: https://ti.me/3L7b5Kf Get the day’s top headlines to your inbox, curated by TIME editors: http://ti.me/the-brief Follow us: Twitter: https://ti.me/3yvTDfK Facebook: https://ti.me/3ssA2JK Instagram: https://ti.me/38hDZtW