Hollywood to blame for Asian underrepresentation?

If you're portraying the Prince of Persia or an Asian monk or an Egyptian queen...why are you white?

By Lisa Respers France, CNN
June 18, 2010 4:36 p.m. EDT
There was a time when if a white actor or actress was cast in the role of a character of color, there was very little outcry.
When Swedish actor Warner Oland portrayed Asian detective Charlie Chan or Elizabeth Taylor was cast as Cleopatra, the Queen of Egypt, there was no call for boycotts or publicized outrage.
But times have changed, and these days some fans ask the question why, with so many talented black, Latino and Asian actors, does Hollywood continue to pass them over?
"It seems that not a year goes by where this debate isn't had, and I think it's a worthy debate," said Andrew Wallenstein, editor for The Hollywood Reporter's website. "I think this stems from a long-held frustration regarding the access of minority actors to leading roles. It's bad enough that they are far less likely to be cast in those roles in general, and it's downright galling to them that in roles in which they are perceived as having a natural advantage they are still getting beaten out."
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"It's acting folks," wrote a commenter named Dianne. "You don't have to be the color of the person you're impersonating. How far do you want to take this? We should fire Hugh Laurie immediately because he's an Oxford, England, born actor playing an American on House M.D.?"
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Fans recently cried foul at the casting of Jake Gyllenhaal as the Prince of Persia and the young actor Noah Ringer as the adolescent hero Aang and other actors in the upcoming film "The Last Airbender." There were even calls for boycotts of both films.
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Craig Detweiler, director of the Center for Entertainment, Media and Culture at Pepperdine University, said Hollywood has "a long and painful history of misrepresentation."
"Whether you are talking about Warner Oland as Charlie Chan or Angelina Jolie as Cleopatra, given opportunities to give actors appropriate roles, Hollywood often defers to box office," he said. "With 'The Last Airbender' you have four Asian/Inuit roles that all went to Caucasian actors."
Detweiler said he believes "Prince of Persia" suffered at the box office because moviegoers didn't buy Gyllenhaal in the title role. "Sometimes Hollywood sabotages themselves by having lower expectations than the audience," he said. "If you think about it, in an America that can elect Barack Obama it's somewhat shocking that supposedly progressive Hollywood can be so regressive in their casting."
Tyler Maddox-Simms is director of the soon-to-be-released film "Love Chronicles: Secrets Revealed," which features an all-black cast including Vivica Fox and Ving Rhames. Maddox-Simms says she has no problem with Jolie playing Cleopatra, though she understands the frustration -- especially given the dearth of roles available for minority actors.
"Personally, in my films I want the best talent, no matter what the color," Maddox-Simms. "For black actresses especially there are so few good roles every year and so few lead parts for actors of color."