Actors and Actresses
In retrospect, I was looking at this list and noticed a few things. There is only one girl and one non white person. While I am sure that there are other actresses and ethnic actors I would like to see make it big, the reason I haven't noticed as many is probably due to the fact that they aren't as visible. Fact is, there are more serious acting roles for men than women out there. I can think of hundreds of movies where the guy does a decent acting job but the girl doesn't get a chance because her role is simply that of a pretty face with no room for development. And many of the strong roles are simply handed over to the same actresses over and over again. Which is why I can think of plenty of actresses I like, but not that many that are "breakthrough" or "underrated". Of course, this is not always true. I'm sure I could come up with some more if I thought about it more...
The same goes for ethnic actors, most of whom are simply filling a stereotype role rather than a character. It is getting better for non white actors though. Hollywood has been giving more roles to black actors for a while now, with some even going on to win Oscars. But it is still pretty hard for other ethnicities. In most cases, Asians and Latin Americans have had to carve their own careers out of their native film industry and cross over. But still, they are crossing over more than ever now, which will open things up to others.
But going back to the idea that most ethnic actors have usually been used for stereotypical roles rather than real characters, that is one of the reasons that I sat here for 5 minutes and couldn't think of any up and coming black or asian actress. For years the roles for minorities were limited and the actors for those roles were pulled from the same small group of thespians. Until recently, this has led to a small group of Black actors who seem to be in every movie for a while. Fortunately, things are getting better for minority actors, and TV shows like Lost and Heroes depend heavily on great characters for whom their ethnicity is merely another aspect to their character and not their defining factor. Hopefully, if I were to make this list in another 5 years it would be quite different.
The same goes for ethnic actors, most of whom are simply filling a stereotype role rather than a character. It is getting better for non white actors though. Hollywood has been giving more roles to black actors for a while now, with some even going on to win Oscars. But it is still pretty hard for other ethnicities. In most cases, Asians and Latin Americans have had to carve their own careers out of their native film industry and cross over. But still, they are crossing over more than ever now, which will open things up to others.
But going back to the idea that most ethnic actors have usually been used for stereotypical roles rather than real characters, that is one of the reasons that I sat here for 5 minutes and couldn't think of any up and coming black or asian actress. For years the roles for minorities were limited and the actors for those roles were pulled from the same small group of thespians. Until recently, this has led to a small group of Black actors who seem to be in every movie for a while. Fortunately, things are getting better for minority actors, and TV shows like Lost and Heroes depend heavily on great characters for whom their ethnicity is merely another aspect to their character and not their defining factor. Hopefully, if I were to make this list in another 5 years it would be quite different.
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