Actress Priyanka Chopra Jonas, who recently attended the Bridge Summit in the UAE, has spoken up about the stereotypes that the actors from eastern countries have to fight in the west. When asked about how actors navigate rejecting lucrative offers that do not align with their long term vision, in reference to actor Matthew McConaughey turning down multi-million dollar rom-com offers to pursue more diverse roles, the actress talked about her own experience of fighting typecasting in the American entertainment industry.
She said, "So when I started looking for or seeking work in America, I cannot tell you how many times I said no to being, you know, the Indian girl who is supposed to speak with the exaggerated accent, be just pretty and, you know, sort of ornamental, that girl.
And I was so surprised by how many, like, characters were written with that stereotype. And I really had to fight that for a couple of years until I got Quantico, which is a TV show of mine, where I played an FBI agent”. The actress emphasized how her show ‘Quantico’ proved to be transformative because it wasn't written with ethnicity as a defining characteristic.
She further mentioned, “I could have been from anywhere. My background could have been anything. It was written for an American person. And I just had to, you know, play an American girl. And I'm an actor. I could do that. But it took that many no's for me to get my first break, which changed everything for me, because now I was seen just as a commercial actor, not as the Indian actor. But I had to fight that stereotype”.
She continued, “And I know so many... So much talent who go from Eastern countries have to fight the stereotype of casting in Hollywood. But, you know, like, we're out there. There's so many of us now making and doing so much incredible work. But that was really tough”.
She also shared advice for aspiring actors and professionals, as she said, "So I think you have to decide. What's the cohort you want to live with? What's the cohort you want to work with? What kind of room do you want to be in? What are the kind of people you want to be surrounded by? And then your decisions become the basis of that. The no and the yes become the basis that”, she added.