Hollywood Diversity Quotes

I don't understand why there aren't more powerful female directors. I don't have the answers, but I hope that things may start to shift and that studios will employ more women to handle strong and interesting material.

In L.A., I was a talent manager for many years. I represented many African-American actors. After a while, I became disheartened over the shortage of roles for African Americans.

People always make these generalized statements about Hollywood, and there's all kinds of people in Hollywood.

I think the whole stigma of 'black movies' is slowly being lost. When you look at movies like '12 Years A Slave,' to 'The Butler,' to 'The Best Man,' to 'Ride Along,' to even 'Think Like a Man' from last year - these movies are just good movies.

I'm really glad we have Jennifer Lawrence and Amy Schumer and all these girls who are embracing all the different body types.

I've got many letters from Muslim organizations thanking me for making 'Kingdom of Heaven.'

Big up Samuel L. Jackson, because here's a guy who has broken down doors.

I love Jet Li, but he looks very Chinese, and his English is Chinese-accented. He wouldn't have been the right guy to play a Japanese-American.

The more visibility, the more opportunities for Asian-American actors to play great roles. It goes to the studios opening up roles they might not have considered Asian actors for. The talent is there. I don't think there needs to be one superstar, but having more roles open up, that's the way changes happen.

There are woefully few women CEOs in the world, but there can be lots of them in films.

The Latinas in this industry are really supportive and stick together. America Ferrera, Gina Rodriguez, Zoe Saldana, and Salma Hayek have all reached out and have helped promote 'Vida,' and it's because they get it. They really are about opening doors. The more there are of us, the more of a movement it will be, and it won't be just tokens.

I imagine it was much different in the 1970s. That was the Renaissance for black actors, albeit in blaxploitation movies. There was a much greater preponderance of work then than there is now.

I think the Oscar So White campaign really sparked ... Because you didn't want to be the Oscars, so everybody in Hollywood was like, well, before the heat comes down. The Golden Globes diversified. Just everybody ended up diversifying as far as handing out awards to more diverse folks in Hollywood because at the end of the day, it doesn't matter what your race is. If you're waking up every day and you're doing the work, you deserve an opportunity to be awarded like everybody else.

I'm a little concerned I'm always going to be playing a black guy, you know what I'm saying?

Perhaps, despite my objections, the success of films like: 'The Help,' 'Django,' 'The Butler,' or '12 Years a Slave,' will further persuade Hollywood to widen its view and edit its erroneous perception of what a commercial black film can look like.

First of all, I'm Middle Eastern; I'm Iranian, so to be playing a leading role in a big Hollywood movie, I think, is possibly one of the first times.

We do see Gong Li, Zhang Ziyi and Chow Yun Fat, but it's very rare to see the Chinese male actor in Hollywood movies, which is something I take great umbrage with. You know, my son is Asian. He may want to direct one day; he may want to be an actor like his father - and I want that to be open to him.

There are no Asian leading men in Hollywood. There's not an Asian Ryan Gosling or an Asian Brad Pitt.

I've been acting since I was 5, literally since I could walk, and I've always said, 'I think one day I have to be in a fat suit.'

Unfortunately, considering that we Latinos are really big for movie companies when they have blockbuster releases or new cable shows, when it comes to the dynamic of supporting our own product, it leaves much to be desired.

Even after such milestones as Kathryn Bigelow winning an Oscar, there still seem to be few women in leadership roles.

It's about very talented writers, directors, producers, and actors being in a position for their projects to be supported, but there's just not enough black projects being made.

My idea is to integrate black stars into mainstream stars. It hasn't been explored properly. That's what Im doing in Hollywood.

Hollywood has definitely grown, in embracing the inclusion of Latinos in the world, because, for some time, we didn't exist. We were not part of any stories.

Films with predominantly white casts can come in any form, tell any story, big or small. For black films, you have the light, fluffy rom-coms or 'Madea' movies, and then you have the black-torture awards movie.