Brad Pitt enjoyed a stroll down memory lane Tuesday (11 January) when he took the stage to accept the best actor prize at the New York Film Critics Circle Awards.

The superstar, honored for his performances in the films Tree of Life and Moneyball, told the crowd about the very first time he came to New York in 1989 to audition for a soap opera.

Pitt was staying with a friend in the West Village and didn't find the city to be an unfriendly place at all.

He remembered thinking, as he was walking down predominately gay Christopher Street, 'My God, there’s a lot of guys in New York. But they’re so nice!''

Even though Pitt didn't get the soap role, just two years later he would become a huge star with his memorable turn in the 1991 film Thelma and Louise.

The actor, now 48 and raising six children with partner Angelina Jolie, has  emerged as a staunch straight ally in the fight for LGBT equality in recent years.

When same-sex marriage was passed in New York last year, Pitt spoke out in favor of federal legislation.

'It is encouraging that New York has joined the movement to grant equal marriage rights to its citizens,' he said in a statement. 'But it is each American’s Constitutional right to marry the person they love, no matter what state they inhabit. No state should decide who can marry and who cannot. Thanks to the tireless work of so many, someday soon this discrimination will end and every American will be able to enjoy their equal right to marriage.'