There are very little quality acting roles for black actors in America. Besides Denzel Washington, what African-American actors or actresses are allowed to play any part not written especially for an African-American? Let’s name the top quality black movie actors in America. I don’t mean to be a snob, but by top quality, I mean those who are not regulated to action adventure movies or comedies, but those who can star in both major studio movies and smaller films and are capable of winning an Oscar each time out. Here goes: Denzel Washington, Angela Bassett, Don Cheadle, Morgan Freeman? I welcome any more suggestions. (Note that I left off Whoopi “Until you do right by me” Goldberg, Cuba “Show me the Money” Gooding, and Halle “Make me feel good” Berry. All Oscar winners playing stereotypical roles.) The first few I just named have consistently starred in respectable movies. Importantly, they have starred in respectable movies after winning an Oscar or being nominated for one. The latter three are not so fortunate.
I think Bassett’s lack of good roles is particularly sad and not her fault. She is a graduate of Yale drama along with Meryl Streep and was nominated for “What’s Love Got to Do With it?” She has also stars in very good low budget movies such as “Sunshine State.” So why doesn’t she get better roles. The obvious answer is that roles for black female leads are very few and hard to make. Should it have been so hard for Halle Berry to bring the life of Dorothy Dandridge to the screen? Should Antwone Fisher have been that much of a surprise hit? Can you name a major studio picture this year that had a black female lead? Well if you don’t count the ethnic comedies like “Soul Plane,” there was “Catwoman.”
This begs two questions: (1) Should we be fighting for more movies with series stories with strong black leads? God knows there is plenty of material. (I’d love to see one on Thurgood Marshall.) (2) Should we just look to black directors to put out the usual handful of serious black films?
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