Julia Roberts, Mindy Kaling, Queen Latifah & More Talk Their Experiences as Minorities in Hollywood

27 individuals open up about not being a straight, white man in the industry to 'The New York Times.'

Brinson+Banks for The New York Times / Richard Perry for The New York Times

After seeing the numbers, there's no more denying that women and minorities are underrepresented (some might say "invisible") in the entertainment industry, whether in front of or behind the camera. For speaking roles in television and film in 2014, only 28.7% were female, 28.3% were non-white, and 2% were LGB.

In a new feature titled, "What It's Really Like To Work in Hollywood* (*If you're not a straight, white man)," The New York Times spoke to 27 individuals in the entertainment industry, from recognizable actors to hit-making producers, about their experiences at work.  Their stories are just as startling as the statistics. 

Read through for the standout quotes below and see the full story on nytimes.com

Julia Roberts: "I remember my first meeting with the producers on Erin Brockovich, before Steven Soderbergh came onto it, and saying, "This scene where she's shimmying down a well in a micromini? I can't do that." [They said], "But that's really what happened." And I go, "I know, but once you make it a movie, you have to re-examine, what's the function of this scene?" I didn't feel I was being fully understood."

Mindy Kaling: "When you are a minority, and it's the first time you've done something, you're like, this could all be taken away from me. I think the presumption with women is that they will be team players, and that is not the presumption of men. Especially show runners. When women push back, they [are perceived as] bitches or divas."


Queen Latifah: "We've seen actors of color with this weird-looking makeup on film, this gray, ashy stuff. In person, they look completely different."

America Ferrera: "I just remember feeling so powerless. What do you do when someone says, 'Your color skin is not what we're looking for'?"

Priyanka Chopra: "I do feel extremely proud when I have people of the South Asian community coming up to me and saying, thankfully we're seeing a non-stereotyped Indian. At an event, I remember this girl hugged me and started crying. She said, 'Thank you for making us relevant.'"

Ken Jeong (actor, The Hangover, Community): "A U.C.L.A. acting professor gave me good marks in my performance and [said]: 'You're a good actor, which is why I'm telling you, stay the hell out of L.A. There's not much of a future for you. Go to Asia.'"

Hari Nef (actress, Transparent): "I would like to get to a place where I get offered roles that I'm a fit for as an actor that maybe don't have as much to do with my body and more to do with my personality."

Effie Brown (producer, Dear White People): "The woman that trained me the most was Laurie Parker, who used to be Gus van Sant's [producer] — nice little white lady. She said: 'They tell us there's room for only one of us. It's a lie, Effie. You're going to get to the top and see that there's room for all of us.'"

Jussie Smollett (actor, Empire): "[At a restaurant], this older black dude walked up and said, 'I didn't want to bother you, I didn't want a selfie, I just wanted to let you know that the story line of Jamal' [his gay character on Empire] 'really made it easier for me to talk to my son about his sexuality.' I needed him at that moment. But apparently he needed the story line at the moment."

Teyonah Parris (actress, Chi-Raq, Mad Men): "In speech class, the teacher, a white man, would say you're talking ghetto, don't talk ghetto. I'm not only offended, but I'm confused because while there's nothing wrong with people who come from the projects or the ghetto, that's actually not my experience. It was extremely frustrating because I didn't feel he saw me."

Kimberly Peirce (director, Carrie):  "[Coming to Hollywood as an out person], it scared me. I thought if they don't like this, I'm going to push their buttons and not mean to. I thought the gayness was what was going to freak people out, and in a lot of ways, it's the femaleness that causes more problems in a straight, male world."

Justin Lin (director, Star Trek Beyond): "I was meeting with potential investors, and right away everybody's like, 'It's an Asian-American cast. It'll never sell.'"

Wendell Pierce (actor, The Wire): "The head of casting said, 'I couldn't put you in a Shakespeare movie, because they didn't have black people then.' He literally said that. I told that casting director: 'You ever heard of Othello?'"

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