//Queen Latifah, Gabrielle Union, Morris Chestnut & Faizon Love | Photo Credit: Phillip Holmes
Being a black actor or actress and trying to find good roles in Hollywood is near impossible. By good roles I mean roles where you aren’t a crack head, drug dealer, or gangster, roles that are written well that don’t depict you in a negative stereotypical light. This is evident in the fact that regularly working black actors and actresses can be counted on two hands. Go ahead, try to count more, Denzel Washington, Halle Berry, Will Smith, Queen Latifah, Forest Whitaker, Don Chealde—I’m beginning to draw a blank—Gabrielle Union, Sanaa Lathan. Art Nouveau Magazine caught up with actress Gabrielle Union and actors Faizon Love and Morris Chestnut—stars of The Perfect Holiday and they discuss the lack of roles for black actors and actresses in Hollywood.
“I’m picky, you would think I was the lead of the movie,” Love jokes leaning back in the cozy board room in the plush Four Seasons Hotel in Atlanta, GA. “You would [be] surprised at some of the movies I turned down.”
Some roles he’s turned down aren’t surprising, who wouldn’t turn down The Mask 3, King’s Ransom, and Snakes on a Plane (Yes, this goes out to you Samuel Jackson). What’s surprising is Love turned down obvious hit Transformers because he turns down roles that depict him in a stereotypical role.
“I just didn’t want to be the n***a in the movie saying ‘that’s a big ass robot’,” Love explains.
Being a black actress in Hollywood is “definitely hard” according to actress Gabrielle Union who wears a striking black dress and glows as she enters the room.
“There used to be [roles] specifically written black, if you knew Denzel [Washington] was doing a movie you knew his wife, girl or love interest was going to be black [but] that’s not necessarily the case anymore,” Union says. “You’re in that room with every amazingly talented actress of every hue, and it’s a dogfight, it’s hard.”
“[But] T.V. is the next frontier in terms of opportunities for us,” Union later says when asked, how it is she survives in the tough film industry.
Some actors may be afraid to get behind a movie that is relying heavily on a black audience but Morris Chesnutt is not one of those actors. Chesnutt says he is a “believer that when you put a good product out there people will come.”
One way to change the face of Hollywood is for black actors to begin producing and casting other up and coming black actors. Similar to how Denzel Washington is doing in his latest film The Great Debaters.
“You see a lot of people of color getting their money together [and producing films],” Union says. “In comparison to other ethnic groups we are doing fabulous [because] to be Middle Eastern in this country right now and try to find roles where you’re not a terrorist--good luck on that.”
“The face of America is changing so rapidly and the demographic we pander to they don’t care, the people in charge of studios seem to be completely out of touch with the audience they’re chasing after,” Union later adds.
“Back when I did Boys in the Hood there was probably Eddie Murphy and Denzel Washington,” Chestnutt says of the prominent black actors when he entered the film industry. “Now you have Eddie Murphy, Denzel Washington, Martin Lawrence, Jamie Foxx, Will Smith, Don Chealde, Forest Whitaker has been nominated and won…there are a lot more opportunities [for black actors] it seems to me. I think opportunities have increased can it get better I think so [but] I look at other minority groups like Asians, how well are they represented, and Hispanics, how well are they represented, in Hollywood to me, Hollywood is not black or white, it’s green, once Will Smith starts making a ton of money he’s Will, [when] Denzel’s movies start doing well he’s Denzel, that’s what Hollywood gravitates too.”
Although we do have a long way to go, it must be noted that we have come a long way. This is noted by the fact that predominately black films like American Gangster and This Christmas are being recognized by all audiences and black audiences and aren’t thought of as good black films, but just good films.
