RG Beefcake and Boyfriends: Nyle DiMarco and Chella Mann: Deaf queer actors with sitcoms, superheroes, butts, and baskets. Plus Ryan's butt and Mustafa's dick

Having dated (or hooked up with) several guys who were disabled or had visual differences, I am deeply invested in promoting their on-screen representation and aesthetic beauty But my profile of the deaf actor Mustafa Alabbsi has only 60 pageviews to date, far fewer than James Stockdale (190), Gavin McHugh (230), Lenny Rush (260), Noah Matthews Matofsky (300), or Knox Gibson (320). Is there something about being deaf that viewers find unappealing?

So I searched for another deaf actor with a physique, preferable queer, and found Nyle DiMarco. Born in 1989, Nyle graduated from Gallaudet University in 2013, and sprang into the public eye in 2015 on America's Next Top Model. He was the second man and the first deaf person to win the season. Soon he was represented by the prestigious Wilhelmina Models, he had a book contract, and he was performing on Dancing with the Stars.

"Nyle takes his shirt off so you'll pay attention to deaf rights." That may have backfired, buddy -- we're too distracted by your pecs.

He has seven acting credits listed on the IMDB:

Switched at Birth (2011-17), a teen drama about two girls who were literally switched at birth. Daphne is deaf, and there are several other gay characters, such as best friend Emmett (Sean Berdy), and the other girl's boyfriend Garrett (Nyle).

On a 2016 episode of Difficult People, about a gay man/Jewish woman friendship (hey, that's Will and Grace), Billy (Billy Eichner) goes on a date with Doug (Nyle) and his ASL interpreter, who tries to sabotage the relationship.

I always thought that Station 19 was post-apocalyptic, but it's about firefighters. In a 2019 episode, "openly" gay Travis ( Jay Hayden) is surprised to discover that the firefighter who saved the day (Nyle) is deaf. They kiss, but the guy never appears again.

This Close (2018-19) is about two best friends, a straight woman and a gay man (hey, that's Will and Grace again). They are both deaf, as are many of their friends and associates, such as Ben (Nyle), who dates the woman in four episodes.

But he goes back to playing a gay character on a 2022 episode of the new Queer as Folk, when gay couple Marvin (Eric Graise) and Ali (Sachin Bhatt, right) throw a party for disabled queer people. He doesn't appear in the plot synopsis, but AZ Men has a video of him topping Ryan O'Connell (star of Special, who has cerebral palsy).

Nyle is also the producer/director of Deaf President Now! (2025), about the students at Gallaudet University struggling to get a deaf president in 1988: "a pivotal moment in deaf rights and representation."

More after the break

Nyle explains that his sexuality is "fluid": he's attracted to both men and women. I would probably just call that bi or pan. Here he poses with deaf queer actor Chella Mann to promote awareness of sudden hearing loss. You don't have to be born that way: "there's no one right way to be deaf."

Chella grew up in ultra-red Mechanicsburg in an Asian-Jewish household. They started out transmasculine, using he/him pronouns, but then decided that their identity could better be described as nonbinary, with they/them pronouns. Plus they lost their hearing abruptly during adolescence. That's a lot of minority groups. They began their career in 2017 with youtube videos about their experience as Asian, Jewish, deaf, trans, and nonbinary. This led to modeling for Calvin Klein, the Gap, American Eagle, and Yves St. Laurent; a book, Continuum; a jewelry collection; and, in 2019, a four-episode acting gig on Titans, playing the superhero Jericho.

Jericho, mute son of the assassin Slade, can control people by making eye contact, or by jumping into their bodies. After he joins the team, he tries to defend Dick Grayson from the evil Slade, but ends up trapped in his father's body (now played by Esai Morales). Later he jumps into the body of his sister, Rose Wilson (now played by Chelsea Zhang). He also jumps into the bodies of a rude customer at a record store, a truck driver, and the Hawk (Alan Ritchson).

Left: Esai Morales' butt

Chella has also produced and starred in The Device that Made Me a Cyborg Was Born the Same Year I Was (2023), an exploration of "the freedom and constraints of cochlear implants."

Two deaf queer actor/models. Maybe they will draw more interest than poor Mustafa.

See also: Noah Matthews Matofsky: Head Lost Boy, model, disability advocate, Oscar Wilde fan, boyfriend. With bonus n*de Matthews and Captain Hook's hook

Gavin McHugh: The gay-vague kid from 9-1-1 is now a teenager, with male friends and risque comments. Bonus Tyler cock and costar butts

Knox Gibson: Australian swimmer, model, "Hunger Games" baddie, disability advocate. With some n*de co-stars and random twinks

"Best Foot Forward": Boy negotiates middle school with a prosthetic leg, a hung dad, a bodybuilder brother, a gay buddy, and no annoying girl-craziness