Grammy Award winner and Girls star Andrew Rannells has confirmed he is gay.

The singer/actor, who scooped a Tony Award nomination for The Book of Mormon, came out as homosexual while chatting candidly with Vulture about his role as a newly 'outed' gay men in hit TV comedy Girls.

In the sitcom, Rannells' character Elijah devastates an ex-girlfriend by informing her he is gay - but he admits the plotline doesn't reflect his own experience of 'coming out'.

He says, "I am gay in real life, so I definitely get it. But it's not my story - I wasn't closeted for any amount of time. I never had a girlfriend who I had that experience with...

"Coming out can be super, super complicated, especially when it comes to families and friends - and if you already have a girlfriend, what does that mean for her? I hope that changes over time, but coming out is very personal and everybody obviously has to do it in their own time."