Rutina Wesley Quotes

I go to castings and see several black and Asian girls, then I get to the show and look around there's just me and maybe one other coloured face.

People are making a lot more noise about representation and diversity. But I think modeling is one of the professions where people can be kind of racist.

An actor hears 'no' more often than the average person. A black human and a black woman on top of that? That's a lot of no's.

Racism, because it favors color over talent, is bad for business.

If you're looking at the people who head the institutions, there are very few African Americans or people of colour. I'm talking about the major theatres that position themselves as serving all audiences. What you find is, by and large, people who are shaping what we see, and the people who are the tastemakers are white.

I didn't think it was possible for Asians to be actors.

I was maybe one of two black kids in the drama department. It was, 'Well, you can't play this role because that guy has a white girlfriend or a white cousin or whatever.'

We're all complaining about diversity in Hollywood, but we've got to address the colorism within the black community of Hollywood first.

Hollywood had a history of whitewashing and not representing.

A lot of things that I can't get into the room for, even just to be seen, is because they're just saying 'No. they're not casting non-white.' You're lumped into a category with people who are just not white.

The number of Latino roles is very limited, and it's unfortunate there isn't more color-blind casting.

A week before shooting, they told me, You don't have the part, yet. We're still trying to find a handicapped kid who can act. Either that or we break your legs.

I remember once being told by a casting person, years ago, that I shouldn't pursue a career in the business because of the color of my skin. The fact that I remember it today means it stuck with me. I thought that was really stupid advice and advice nobody should ever give someone.

There are so many people, deaf or otherwise abled, who are so talented but overlooked or not given a chance to even get their foot in the door.

Discrimination has a lot of layers that make it tough for minorities to get a leg up.

I don't like being treated differently.

Like one of any minority, I have experienced prejudice.

I'd heard he was good, and what the hell sense does it make not to hire somebody because of their color?

None of us is responsible for the complexion of his skin. This fact of nature offers no clue to the character or quality of the person underneath.

I was too Jewish for 'Flashdance.'

Lists are anti-democratic, discriminatory, elitist, and sometimes the print is too small.

If you object that I discriminate, then I say to you, "You can organize your own club.

I'm not a Democrat. I'm not a Republican, and I don't even consider myself an American. If you and I were Americans, there'd be no problem. Those Honkies that just got off the boat, they're already Americans; Polacks are already Americans; the Italian refugees are already Americans. Everything that came out of Europe, every blue-eyed thing, is already an American. And as long as you and I have been over here, we aren't Americans yet.

I've been fortunate in my career, but, yes, there have been many times when I have been told my audition has been cancelled because they're only going to see white people.

Why is the world that I see around me mixed, and why is the world I see in movies filled with all white people? Why does it have to be like that?