LATINO AND ASIAN MALE ACTORS HAVE SUFFERED A DECLINE IN
LEAD ROLE CASTING
Los Angeles – New employment statistics strongly indicate that actors are bearing the
brunt of today’s trend towards more reality programming and runaway production.
This is what members of the Commission-sponsored Media Image Coalition learned
when they attended a recent Academy of Television Arts and Sciences event, held in
October, 2004.
“Although we have certainly seen more encouraging signs in this latest data, particularly
for Native Americans and African-Americans, for many other performers the news is not
as good,” stated Melissa Gilbert, Screen Actors Guild president. “We are particularly
concerned to note the decline in lead roles for Latino and Asian male actors. It’s been
clear for some time that reality television and runaway production are having an adverse
impact on the number of opportunities available to working actors. Overall, this data
ought to be a wake-up call for the industry. There still is significant work left to do to
increase the opportunities for many groups.”
This is welcome news for the Media Image Coalition, an organization established by the
Los Angeles County Commission on Human Relations, and representing the first
multiracial, multi-cultural, inter-religious media advocacy and education organization in
the United States.
The employment data was compiled by producers working under the Screen Actors
Guild’s television and theatrical contacts, and while the data is not comprehensive, it is
collected by gender, age group and ethnicity of cast performers for the purpose of
spotting trends and opportunities for improvement.
Specifically, the data collected indicates that the percentage of roles awarded to
Caucasian performers largely held steady at 73.5 percent from 2002 to 2003, while the
percentage of roles that went to performers of color decreased from 24.2 percent to 23.5
percent. However, these overall numbers tell only one part of the story:
•
African-American performers secured three percent fewer roles in 2003 compared
to 2002. However, their 15.3 percent share of roles exceeds their census reported
12.8 percent representation in the U.S. population.
•
Latino performers were cast in 10.5 percent less roles in 2003. This 5.4 percent
share of all roles is far below the Latino community’s 13.7 percent representation
in the U.S. population. The most notable drop was among Latino male leads,
which declined 31 per cent in 2003. One bright spot was a 2.4% increase in
supporting roles for Latinas.
•
Asian/Pacific Islanders represent 3.8 percent of the American population, yet
continue to secure only 2.5 percent of all TV/theatrical roles. Male Asians leads
cast in episodic television were hardest hit – declining from 104 lead roles in the
2002 data to 61 in 2003.
•
Overall, Native Americans were the only category of minority performers who
actually gained ground in 2003. They were cast in 128 roles – a 40.7 percent
increase over 2002 – with gains in male and female lead and supporting roles.
Ms. Gilbert was quoted as saying: “This is compelling evidence that what we see on
television is simply not in the America we live in today,” and she concludes by saying:
“We are deeply committed to reflecting the diversity of our country and its working
actors on television and movies. I am also disappointed that the data provided to us by
producers does not include information on performers with disabilities. It is imperative
that the industry recognize this important group, and I intend to be relentless in
continuing to fight for their cause.”
-30Editors’ Note: for more information on this study, contact the Screen Actors Guild at
(323) 549-6872. For information on the work of the Media Image Coalition, contact Ava
Gutierrez at agutierrez@hrc.co.la.ca.us