History of racial inequality in Hollywood The first films to come out of Hollywood that included non-white characters were played by white actors through blackface, brown-face, and yellow face in a derogatory, intellectually demeaning manner. In America, during the 1830s and 1840s,
Minstrel Shows gained popularity. These shows cast white actors to represent other ethnicities. By the 1940s and 1950s, many ethnically white actors and actresses got into the spotlight by swapping out their culturally ethnic names for more widely used industry names. Oppositely this left non-white actors out of work and cast aside. Once people of color made it onto the big screens of Hollywood by the early twentieth century, they were only granted small background roles or forced to stereotype their character to get the role. Through self-imposed restrictive laws, like "
The Motion Picture Production Code, Hays code", no interracial marriage or relationship-like statutes could be portrayed on camera. This helped exclude actors of color from getting lead roles, even if their female counterpart was a character of color, because it would typically be a white actress in blackface. The
Georgetown Law Journal of Modern Critical Race Perspectives published an article stating that "typically, breakdowns reserve leading roles for white actors, leaving only a small number of remaining roles for non-white actors." A 2006 study by
UCLA Chicano Studies stated that "from June 1st to August 31st of that year...only 0.5% to 8.1% of roles were available for actors of color, compared to 69% of roles 'reserved' for white actors. Moreover, only 8.5% of roles did not designate race or ethnicity, pitting white actors against actors of color". According to the
Writers Guild of America's 2016 Hollywood Writer's Report, race is a bigger factor in pay disparity than gender, putting minority women—even at the top levels—at the greatest disadvantage. The report also states that white men earned a median of $133,500 in 2014, whereas women collectively made a median of $118,293 and non-white writers even less: $100,649. Although the Guild declined to provide specific data for women of color, Asian writers collectively earned a median of $115,817; black writers $99,440 and Latino writers $84,200. The median earnings for Native American writers was $152,500, but there were only five employed Native scribes in 2014.
African-American inequality As Hollywood grew slowly at the beginning of the twentieth century, few roles were available for African-American actors. In 1915, the film
Birth of a Nation was released, which has become known as "the most controversial film ever made in the United States." The film featured white actors in blackface, and it also portrayed the
Ku Klux Klan as the saviors of society.
The Jazz Singer, which was released in 1927, is another example of white actors using blackface instead of hiring black actors and actresses. Recognition for African American performances throughout the history of motion pictures is awarded less often. Hattie McDaniel was the first ever African American to win an Oscar, which was in 1939 for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for the film
Gone with the Wind.
Steve McQueen is the only black director to win an
Academy Award for Best Picture, which was for the film
12 Years a Slave. Only 4 African American actors have won Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role, and
Halle Berry is the only black actress to have won an Oscar for Best Actress in a Leading Role.
Jordan Peele and
Geoffrey Fletcher are the only black men to have Oscars for in the Best Writing categories, respectively. In 2010, Fletcher won for Adapted Screenplay for
Precious; Peele won for Original Screenplay for the film
Get Out in 2018. There is also a disparity in the budgets and box office grosses between films with white and non-white directors, with white directors' budgets being higher on average. at the world premiere of
Ghost in the Shell; the actress received backlash for portraying a Japanese female protagonist.
Asian inequality There have been many instances where white actors are used in place of Asian actors. In the Marvel movie
Doctor Strange,
Tilda Swinton, a white actress, was cast to play the role of "the Ancient One", a character that is presented as a Tibetan male mystic in the comics.
Scarlett Johansson also received major backlash after playing the role of cyborg Motoko Kusanagi in the adaptation of the Japanese anime classic
Ghost in the Shell. Of the top 100 films from 2015, 70 of the films had cast no female Asian actresses, and 49 of the films cast no Asian American actors at all. In addition, Asian characters have 3%-4% of roles in scripted broadcast and cable shows in the 2014–15 season. Notable celebrities have spoken on this issue.
Michelle Yeoh recalls that someone said, "If we cast an African-American lead, there's no way we can cast you because we can't have two minorities". Famous action star
Jackie Chan also stated in an interview with Steve Harvey that, "For the last 20 years I'm looking for some other things, but in the U.S it's difficult. Always police from Hong Kong, police from China". Constance Wu reflected on the importance of
Crazy Rich Asians, the first Hollywood Studio film centered on an Asian American Character's story in over 25 years: "Our amazing director Jon M. Chu says…this is more than a movie, it's a movement". A
wage gap also exists between white actors and actors of color, seen in the potential reboot of
Hawaii Five-0 where actors
Daniel Dae Kim and
Grace Park quit because their contracts offered 10% to 15% less pay than those of their white co-stars.
Latino inequality According to
Nancy Wang Yuen in her book
Reel Inequality: Hollywood Actors and Racism, the population of Latino people in the US does not reflect their representation within Hollywood. There is a huge disproportion when looking at their population in the US versus their population in major motion films and programs on TV. Although Hispanics make up 17% of the total population and are the largest population of non-whites in the US, their representation within the industry is nowhere near that. "Latinas/os were severely underrepresented in film and television in 2013. Specifically, Latinas/os represented only 5% of film speaking roles, 3% of cable television regulars, and 2% of broadcast television regulars. Latinas/os were underrepresented by a factor of more than eight to one in broadcast television. In 2014–2015, Latinas/os played only 5.8% of all speaking/named characters in film, TV, and streaming services. Chris Rock wrote, "But forget whether Hollywood is black enough. A better question is: Is Hollywood Mexican enough? You're in L.A, you've got to try not to hire Mexicans." In 2015, Gina Rodriguez became the second Latina actor to win a lead actress Golden Globe Award when she won for
Jane the Virgin. In her acceptance speech, Rodriguez said her win "represents a culture that wants to see themselves as heroes." Even with Rodriguez's win, Latinas/os remain the lowest represented racial group compared with their percentage in the population. The academy received backlash from online communities, such as Twitter, along with Hollywood celebrities of every ethnicity. The hashtag has encouraged reconstruction in Academy membership, casting decisions, and behind-the-scenes staff diversity. In a research article, Caty Chattoo noted that before responding to the pushback against racial inequality, academy membership was 92% white and 75% male in 2016. In 2017, this changed to include 41% people of color and 46% female. == Age inequality ==