Octavia Spencer Quotes

Being a Filipino actor in Hollywood, the most frustrating part of landing roles in Hollywood is definitely the limited roles available and the lack of diversity.

As black women, we're miles behind our white counterparts in being offered the space to create and craft female characters in major blockbuster films.

In television and the movie business, the people who are promoted and the people who are mentored always look like the white guys.

Why is it when a woman makes a film or a movie stars a female cast it is labeled women-centric because it is not white, male and middle-class men?

I've been working almost 20 years, and I think I've worked with maybe one black director of photography in that time. Maybe two women directors or DPs. Maybe. And I've done a lot of TV. That's a lot of people I've worked with.

Being the person I am, you know, the size I am, being a woman, being a black woman, there's not a lot of roles for us.

I also have a film coming up called Breaking Up, and my part in that was not written for a Latina, and my character is not particularly pretty or sexy or exotic.

After Halle Berry does her films and Queen Latifah does her films, it's left to all the black, Latino and Asian actresses to fight over a couple of roles. I opted for some TV. There's just not a ton of work in film.

Women are being welcomed into science fiction, but it's through the back door.

Every year, Hollywood is looking for that new, white leading man and new white starlet that audiences fall in love with. But they're not looking for the next Denzel Washington, Will Smith or Sidney Poitier.

I don't understand why James Bond has to be a man all the time. When Pierce Brosnan retires, why not one of us?

I think the bottom of the totem pole is African-American women, or women of colour. I think they get the least opportunities in Hollywood.

I know some black actresses who have to wait every 19 films for a role. I can be cast in practically every one as a young white male.

There are still so many movies made starring 50 men and one woman! A white male actor should never be allowed to complain about anything. Shut up and sit in the corner. I mean, seriously!

I have a problem with the term 'leading man.' It's so limiting; it involves not upsetting anyone. Obviously, we have anti-heroes now, but if we're talking about the two tropes - character actor and leading man - I would so rather be a character actor. That's why I have a career.

In commercial cinema, roles for heroines are limited to being simple or glamorous. I don't want to fall into an image trap.

There's so little representation of people who look like me behind the camera that it makes you want to say yes to any opportunity out of desperation. It puts you in a situation where you can't make your best work. Diversity for cheap.

For the most part, it's straight white men running these labels and publishing companies.

I think as soon as you're a woman, or any minority doing something, you automatically become a representative for it, and I think a lot of brilliant women's interviews are being wasted on talking about what it's like being a woman.

The argument has been made that smart women on screen are already enough of a minority to make up for the lack of women of color. Nope. Not good enough.

While complex acting roles are lacking for actresses, what's even more rare are female directors.

To not see black or Latina women as famous in my industry is crazy! I have to talk about it.

Time's up on cheesy, lesser, boring roles for females in the stories that we try to tell.

When I started, there were no Indians on television or films, except for Sir Ben Kingsley. I was an actor in high school, college, and I played leads. And when I graduated, I knew that I couldn't go to Hollywood and audition for shows or films. I could try, but where was the evidence that it was going to happen?

I get it - there are very few black female actresses who have been given chances.