Cultural Representation in Media Quotes

When my daughter was born, I was reading a lot of children's books, and there weren't any characters who looked like her. For all the content that's out there, there aren't many African-American protagonists. I looked at it like, if there isn't someone else creating it then I have to do it myself.

The multiculturalism of Britain is one of our greatest strengths in music, literature, and visual art, but the TV and film industry doesn't tap into the multicultural talent pool in the U.K. as much as they do in the U.S.

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?

You can't just look like one culture and expect to inspire a multitude of people. That doesn't work over time. Everybody wants somebody to look up to that looks like them so they can truly believe in that reality for themselves.

Obviously there aren't enough Latino roles out there - I wish there were more of them - but there's got to be more in the future. I'm sure there will be more in the future. The public is asking for it.

Growing up, I was very aware that there weren't many people like me on the screen.

Finally, the complexities of black relationships are being portrayed in television and film.

Working on 'Fresh Off the Boat' has been really enlightening to me because it's made me actually think about the roles that Asians and Asian-American women have played in media. Not because I didn't think it was important before, but because before, I was really focused on just paying my rent.

The Asian culture has to be a part of what we see on TV and in movies.

When I started coming to the U.S., they were offering me only the typical stereotypical roles: the druggard, the criminal, the gang member, or in the best-case scenario, the gardener or the cook. I was fed up with all these roles that were always the same. And I promised I would try to change the image of Latinos in Hollywood.

My goal is to broaden and deepen the range of African-American characters on television, so I always try to show human beings.

I want to see more Asians on TV. I want to see more faces like mine on TV.

You don't see Indians in Hollywood films around which a story can revolve. As soon as we have a social presence in your society, I am sure there will be many actors from our part of the world that will be acting in Hollywood films.

I am representing my community, in a sense, especially given the fact that there are not as many Latino actors out there.

If we can have drones, we can have brown people on TV, and the world won't end! We need to catch up. We are painfully behind.