As we head into peak film awards season, it may be wise to remember the most significant line from Viola Davis’s Emmy acceptance speech this year: “The only thing that separates women of color from anyone else is opportunity. You cannot win an Emmy for roles that are simply not there.”
Scratch out the word “Emmy,” replace it with “Oscar” and boom, you’ve got your explanation for the Hollywood Reporter’s actress roundtable issue. This year, the issue, considered an industry barometer for sussing out top prospects for the best actress Oscar race, was noticeably white.
Scratch that.
It was completely white.
The magazine addressed the cover head-on in a piece by Stephen Galloway entitled “Why Every Actress on The Hollywood Reporter Roundtable Cover Is White.” Wrote Galloway:
“So how are people picked, and when? Often they’re chosen before anyone has even seen their films, when our editors are faced with tough decisions on whom to include and whom to turn down — not to mention juggling the myriad schedules of the far-flung members of the Hollywood tribe. We rely on early buzz from the festivals; word-of-mouth from insiders who may have seen rough cuts of the films; and a calculated guess at which studio is throwing its weight behind whom. Behind every movie and every star is Hollywood’s version of the Koch brothers, battling for their chosen candidates to win.In doing all that this year, as we prepared for this cover, we discovered precisely ZERO actresses of color in the Oscar conversation — at least in the weeks in early September when the roundtables are put together, weeks before the actual ceremony takes place and months before the nominations are announced Jan. 14.… The awful truth is that there are no minority actresses in genuine contention for an Oscar this year. ‘Straight Outta Compton,’ which has provided some great roles for African American men (and whose success adds proof that studios ignore minority audiences at their peril) had no female leads. ‘Furious 7?’ Not quite Oscar bait.”
The Post examined Galloway’s claim, which required scouring more than 600 films that had or are scheduled to have theatrical releases this year, in search of black women in lead and supporting roles. The resulting list was combed for memorable, meaty, realistic contenders in prestige roles that would honestly allow the woman portraying them to go toe-to-toe with the actresses (Helen Mirren, Cate Blanchett, Brie Larson, Kate Winslett, Carey Mulligan, Jane Fonda, Jennifer Lawrence and Charlotte Rampling) pictured on the Hollywood Reporter cover.
More often than not, if films had black women in them at all, their characters existed as stick-figure love interests, mothers and minor characters with few lines or backstories. Others contained female characters whose sole purpose was to guide the male lead in whatever journey on which he was embarking. The standout exceptions included “Girlhood,” “Tangerine” and “Chi-Raq.”
Given the circumstances, it’s no wonder Mark and Jay Duplass, producers of “Tangerine,” announced they were initiating Oscar campaigns for Kitana Rodriguez and Mya Taylor, the two stars of the small indie, which was shot entirely on an iPhone. Teyonah Parris delivers a masterful performance in “Chi-Raq” but faces an unconventional and frankly, unlikely road to the nominating process due to the complicated nature of director Spike Lee’s amazing, confounding film.
Overwhelmingly, top black film actresses have found far more interesting fare and appreciation in television: Kerry Washington (“Scandal” and the HBO movie “Anita”); Viola Davis (“How to Get Away With Murder”); Regina King (“The Leftovers”); Gabrielle Union (“Being Mary Jane”); Taraji P. Henson (“Empire”); Queen Latifah and Mo’Nique (“Bessie”); and Angela Bassett (“American Horror Story”).
During a quest earlier this year to find out why an actress as versatile, skilled and well-respected as Regina Hall wasn’t getting more substantive, higher-profile parts, virtually every director interviewed said the same thing: The number of parts written for black women such as Hall to shine come awards season is vanishingly small.
For the purposes of this list, the focus is solely on black actresses. As diversity reports from the University of Southern California and UCLA’s Bunche Center continually bear out, while the numbers of films that include black actresses are paltry, those for Asian, Native American, Latina and Middle Eastern actresses are even worse. Parse the list for yourself. The Hollywood Reporter didn’t ignore black women this year; Hollywood did.
Actresses are sorted alphabetically by first name. Lead actresses appear in bold. Please feel free to send a note to soraya.mcdonald@washpost.com if you notice anyone who has been overlooked.
Aeriél Miranda — Straight Outta Compton
Alexandra Shipp — Straight Outta Compton
Angela Bassett — Chi-Raq
Angela Elayne Gibbs — Straight Outta Compton
Ariana Neal — Get Hard
Assa Sylla — Girlhood
Audra McDonald — Ricki and the Flash
Aurora Perrineau — Jem and the Holograms
Carra Patterson — Straight Outta Compton
Edwina Findley — Get Hard
Elena Goode — Straight Outta Compton
Ester Dean — Pitch Perfect 2
Gugu Mbatha-Raw — Concussion
Jada Pinkett-Smith — Magic Mike XXL
Jaz Sinclair — Paper Towns
Jenifer Lewis — The Wedding Ringer
Joy Brunson — Woodlawn
Karen Abercrombie — War Room
Karidja Touré — Girlhood
Kellee Stewart — Hot Tub Time Machine 2
Kiersey Clemons — Dope
Kimberly Elise — Dope
Kitana Rodriguez — Tangerine
L. Scott Caldwell — The Perfect Guy
Laverne Cox — Grandma
Layla Walet Mohamed — Timbuktu
Lindsay Karamoh — Girlhood
Lisa Renee Pitts — Straight Outta Compton
Loni Love — Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2
Lorraine Toussaint — The Night Before
Lupita Nyong’o — Star Wars: Episode VII — The Force Awakens
Mariétou Touré — Girlhood
Maya Rudolph — Inherent Vice
Mya Taylor — Tangerine
Naomie Harris — Spectre, Southpaw
Nathalie Emmanuel — Furious 7
Nikki Amuka-Bird — Jupiter Ascending
Noémie Lenoir — The Transporter Refueled
Octavia Spencer — Black or White, Insurgent, Fathers and Daughters
Priscilla C. Shirer — War Room
Regina Hall — People Places Things, Vacation
Rihanna — Home
Rutina Wesley — The Perfect Guy
Sanaa Lathan — The Perfect Guy
Susan Heyward — Poltergeist
Tessa Thompson — Creed
Teyonah Parris — Chi-Raq
Toulou Kiki — Timbuktu
Viola Davis — Lila & Eve, Blackhat
Zoë Kravitz — Dope, Mad Max: Fury Road, Insurgent
