Female actors of colour had a banner year in 2022, according to the latest report from the USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative, which found a “significant increase” in the number of top-grossing films with girls and women of colour in leading and co-leading roles last year.
Overall, however, the report found that “the pace of industry change is certainly not a breakneck one,” and that any commitments the industry made to diversity and inclusion in recent years “were mere lip service when it comes to key roles on screen.”
The report found that in 2022, 16 of the 100 top-grossing films featured a girl or woman from an underrepresented racial or ethnic group in a leading or co-leading role. This was up from just 11 films in 2021 and from only one movie in 2007. The report, however, concluded that this was the “lone bright spot” in its findings.
“The progress for women of colour in leading roles is encouraging,” said Dr. Stacy Smith, co-author of the report. “It’s past time for the film industry to recognize that stories about women of colour have a place in theaters. Girls and women of colour are 20% of the U.S. population, but the film industry has not ensured that this is what audiences see on screen. With effort and accountability, this threshold is one that not only can be achieved but easily surpassed.” Her co-authors are Katherine L. Neff and Dr. Katherine Pieper.
Last year, women of colour outnumbered men of colour as leads and co-leads in the 100 top-grossing theatrical films. “This increase is an important one,” the report says, “as women of colour have consistently and significantly been underrepresented not only as leads/co-leads, but as directors, producers, as casting directors, studio executives, editors, composers, production designers, costume designers, cinematographers, critics, and as characters. Ensuring that stories about women of colour protagonists, as well as filling above and below the line roles with underrepresented women, is a critical way to provide access and opportunity as well as shift attitudes and beliefs in audiences.”
Overall, women, actors of colour, and women 45 years of age and older remain significantly underrepresented in top-grossing films.
Even so, female actors have made huge gains since 2007, when the survey was launched. In 2022, 44 of the 100 top-grossing films featured a female-identified actor as lead/co-lead who drove the plot. That was up from 41 films in 2021, and more than double the 20 films in 2007. “This upward trend is notable,” the report says, “but still falls short of the U.S. Census benchmark, where girls and women comprise over 50% of the population.”
The report concluded that “optimism about positive change in film is unwarranted. Although there has been an increase in lead/co-lead roles for girls and women since 2007, there was no significant difference between 2021 and 2022,” and remains “almost identical to 2019. The advocacy and activism that may have fueled change in the mid- to late-2010s may have had a short-term impact, but more is needed to achieve lasting improvement.”
Similarly, for people of colour in lead/co-lead roles, the report found that “there has been virtually no sustained change since 2018. While overall improvement since 2007 is evident, the last significant positive increase was from 2017 to 2018.”
Of the 100 top-grossing movies of 2022, 29 featured an underrepresented lead or co-lead – down from 32 a year earlier. In 2022, those 29 films featured 33 lead or co-lead actors from underrepresented racial or ethnic groups. That’s about the same as in the previous year, but more than double the 13 leads or co-leads in 2007. (Deadline)