Although America has come a long way in diversity and providing equal rights to all people regardless of their race or gender, as a society we’re still not perfect. Hollywood is a great example of that.

This board contains interesting questions and statistics regarding diversity in Hollywood and the film/media industry.

Submitted by Breanna Bang, Resident Assistant, University of Denver

Diversity In

Hollywood

Screen Actor's Guild Report on Diversity in Hollywood

The Screen Actor's Guild released statistics of the breakdown of film and TV roles for 2008 :

72.5% Caucasian13.3% African-American6.4% Latino-Hispanic3.8% Asian-Pacific Islander0.3% Native American3.8% other-unknown

The report also noted that male roles outnumber female roles two to one.

Actors who are disabled are also greatly underrepresented.

These numbers also do not reflect the greater reality which is that while actors of color do play 27% of the roles in Hollywood, their roles are usually smaller and sometimes still stereotyped.

This industry-wide casting breakdown is especially discouraging given the casting breakdown of The Last Airbender, where lead roles for East Asian and Inuit characters were given to white actors.

Why were minority’s only given roles as villains and extras?

“While we'd like to think celeb bible Vanity Fair puts a great deal of thought and planning into its annual "New Hollywood" issue, this year the editors really limited their scope when it came to choosing the next big stars. (Or perhaps they overemphasized the "Fair"?) Every woman on its new cover is extremely thin and very, very white.” –

Yahoo Shine’s, Joanna Douglas

Some would say that their aren’t any up and

coming female minority stars, or that they aren’t as talented at Vanity Fair’s choices. Could that because they have less opportunity than their white peers?

If the characters are east Asian and Inuit origin in the cartoon, why didn’t they ask for that in the casting calls?

Roles for black, Asian, and Latin actors are scarce in Hollywood, but surely Sidibe, Zoe Saldana of "Avatar" and "Star Trek," and Freida Pinto of "Slumdog Millionaire" are having their moment.”

–Yahoo Shine’s, Joanna Douglas

Is Hollywood afraid that it’s audience will shrink away from what they aren’t used to? The movie Slumdog Millionaire proves otherwise.

How come in romantic comedies, the couple is almost always two people of the same race?

How many non-white super heroes can you name in comparison to white ones?

How many non-white female super heroes can you name in comparison to white ones?

Look at all the magazines you’ve read in the last year, how many minorities are on the cover?