Australian sportsman, actor and activist Ian Roberts was BOTD in 1965. Born in London, his parents emigrated to Australia when he was two, and he was raised in Sydney. A professional rugby league football player since his late teens, he became one of Australia’s most successful and well-paid sportsmen. In 1995, he became one of the first professional sportsmen in the world to come out as gay, ending years of speculation and public abuse about his sexuality. He used his platform to speak out about homophobia in sport and wider society, describing his experiences of child sexual abuse, gay bashing and depression. To the delight of his fans, he also posed naked in a number of gay publications. As his sports career wound down in the 1990s, he studied acting at the National Institute of Dramatic Art, taking small roles in Star Wars, Little Fish and Superman Returns and landing his first starring role in the 2012 film Saltwater. In 2016, he played a homophobic father who rejects his gay son in the indie film Teenage Kicks and its 2022 sequel Lonesome. His most recent appearance was in Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, released in 2024. After coming out, Roberts had a brief relationship with Ben Prideaux, which became a tabloid sensation when Prideaux accused Roberts of assault. Roberts was later acquitted, a d avoided Evil Twinks from then on. A member of the Australian Labour Party, he was a vocal supporter of Australia’s gay marriage plebiscite, and has spoken publicly about his long-term struggle with illiteracy. He is a co-founder and director of Qtopia Sydney, a museum dedicated to Australian LGBTQ history. Roberts lives in Sydney, and is in a long-term relationship with a kindergarten teacher named Dan.