Women of Color in Hollywood

As a young boy, my father always told me that in order to make it in life I would have to be twice as good at everything I did. This is commonly told to black and colored youth as a way of explaining in layman's terms how racism works.  It is no question that racism has not ended in the United States. Although it does not present itself in the same ways it used to it is still noticed when you are paying attention to the things around you. When you look at the racism in the country, women of color have a particularly difficult time because of race and gender. Finding work is harder and the idea that they need to be twice as good to succeed is emphasized even more for them.
                  In the film industry, the first Oscar Awards were held in 1929, it took until 1964 in order for a black male to win the best actor in a leading role. It took another 38 years for a woman of color to win the best actress in a leading role, which was Halle Berry. This shows the difficult time women of color have had in the workforce and more specifically in Hollywood.
                  There is a large part of this issue attributed to stereotypes. Acting is all about judging a person by their looks and how they “fit” a role. This allows blatant racism in the filmmaking industry when casting certain roles. It is customary for black men and women to be given roles of thugs, impoverished people, and servants. Although they were demeaning roles, some actors were so desperate to represent their culture and make changes to the film industry, they would take whatever they could get. There has been progression due to the boom of African American directors such as Spike Lee and Tyler Perry who have paved the way for more actors and actresses to gain exposure through their works and be hired in the future.
For example in the article “Twice as Good: How black Actresses Get Half the Recognition” Nichole Perkins says,
“Tessa Thompson-only now considered a rising star after her notable performances in Selma, Dear White People, and Creed — will appear as Valkyrie in Thor: Ragnarok... at 33, she has steadily been working in television and film since playing Jackie Cook on the Veronica Mars television series at 22. More than 10 years later, she has finally been given the chance to be ‘bankable.’ ”
This shows the grit and amount of work it takes for an actress of color to make it big.  We also see how easy it is for white male actors such as Nicolas Cage to acquire roles. He not only got his first lead role in Moonstruck due to his relation to Francis Ford Coppola, a well-known producer. But he was nominated for a Golden Globe after a very subpar performance. After the nomination, he did not win but he was still given so many acting opportunities that he blew repeatedly.
                  The takeaway from this is to recognize that it truly is harder for women of color, specifically black women to acquire roles that are empowering or to even find roles at all that are available to them. Hollywood is not in a good place or the place it should be but it is definitely making progress.