1.
First, in 2016, Zendaya landed the lead role of MJ in Spider-Man: Homecoming. Speaking about her casting, she said she didn’t even know which character she was auditioning for because it was initially presented as just “girl in Spider-Man movie.” Following online criticism of her casting, Zendaya said, “People are going to react over anything.”
2.
Looking back on her casting in Cinderella, Brandy said she knew in the moment how important it was. Reflecting on the impact of the movie, she said, “That movie changed the way Black little girls believed in themselves. I hear to this day, ‘I believe I can be a princess now because of you.’”
3.
Chadwick Boseman’s casting as T’Challa in the Marvel Cinematic Universe was an important step for representation in media, with numerous pieces being written about how huge it was. Speaking about his casting and Black Panther overall, Chadwick said, “I knew just from the comic book what a Black Panther movie could be, the type of impact it could have, I knew it would be a revolutionary idea. I didn’t necessarily know that people would buy out [the seats in] theaters.”
4.
After being cast as Rue in The Hunger Games, Amandla Stenberg, who was only 12, faced racist backlash from fans, who refused to get behind Rue being portrayed by a Black actor, despite her being described as having dark skin in the book. Reflecting on the backlash they faced, Amandla said they used what they learned to consciously pick roles going forward. They said, “I realized that I had a platform that could be impactful if I harnessed it.”
5.
Ncuti Gatwa recently stepped into the iconic role as The Doctor on Doctor Who, making him the first openly queer, Black actor to play the role. “As a Black man and as an immigrant, it feels quite symbolic to take on this role,” he began. “I’m a good actor [but] this is a 60-year-long British institution and I’m a Black man, so I never thought that I’d be chosen to front something that is basically the heart of the BBC. Your existence when you’re a marginalized person is political. So you, and the world, are aware of that, and people make decisions accordingly,” Ncuti said.
6.
Viola Davis revealed in 2022 that before her casting as Annalise Keating in How to Get Away with Murder, she said she heard that some other Black actors reportedly didn’t think she was “pretty enough” to pull off the role. She took the job anyway. Viola was the “dream” casting choice for Shonda Rhimes, too. She later became the first Black woman to win an Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series.
7.
Chandra Wilson’s Miranda Bailey has become one of the most beloved Grey’s Anatomy characters, however the role was initially described as being a “short, blonde, white female.” Speaking about breaking barriers and the importance of her casting, Chandra said, “I was short and Black, so I was never gonna be in the chorus all the way, because I didn’t fit in the chorus line. And I wasn’t gonna be the ingénue, so I was the thing they always called ‘non-traditional’ casting. So I would just go in for anything and just say, ‘I know that the role says this, but let me show you how I would do this.’”
8.
Amid initial online backlash to her casting, Leah Sava Jeffries, who stars as Annabeth Chase in Percy Jackson and the Olympians, spoke out about people comparing her to Alexandra Daddario, who played the role in the movies, and the description of the character in the books. Leah said, “‘You can’t play her like Alexandra Daddario.’ But you know what? They’re right. I’m not her, and I cannot play like her. But I’m going to show you who I am, and how I’m going to play it.”
9.
Similarly, Halle Bailey also faced online criticism over her casting as Ariel in the live-action The Little Mermaid. However, she tuned out the critics and continuously spoke about the importance of her casting. “I want the little girl in me and the little girls just like me who are watching to know that they’re special, and that they should be a princess in every single way,” Halle explained.
10.
Brian Michael Smith, who made history as the first openly trans Black man to be a series regular on a network TV show with his role on 9-1-1: Lone Star, said he felt a “sense of honor” stepping into the role. He added, “When I booked 9-1-1: Lone Star, I thought, ‘I am doing something that has never been done before.’”
11.
Candice Patton played the beloved Iris West-Allen in The Flash for nine seasons from 2014 to 2023. Reflecting on her journey on the show and casting, Candice said, “I learned a lot about myself and the business of being an actor, and being on a set and speaking up for yourself, and how to advocate for myself as a Black woman in this industry, which you don’t really get a lot of education on the right way to go about that.”
12.
Jaquel Spivey starred as Damian in the 2024 version of Mean Girls. Speaking about his casting, Jaquel said, “I am nothing of what the past Damians have been. One, being a Black man, we can start there, obviously, but just also knowing that Damian, for me, as I got older, represented being able to be queer without the idea of putting on a show.” He’s also discussed how Daniel Franzese’s work as Damian was important to him growing up, saying, “He was the only plus-size queer character that I had — plus-size queer boy — that I saw onscreen.”
13.
Rutina Wesley admitted she was terrified taking on the role of Maria in The Last of Us, namely because she was adapting a big character in the video games for TV. She added, “But I also was up for the challenge of playing her in my way and putting my energy on it to see what people would think of that.”
14.
Jacob Anderson currently stars as Louis de Pointe du Lac on Interview with the Vampire, a role he said he’s waited his entire career to find. He explained that his casting has allowed the show to tell an important story about Black Americans in the US, namely the South. “[Blackness] follows you wherever you go, because we don’t live in a world that is post-racial. Wherever we find Louis, it’s going to be a part of his story,” Jacob said.
15.
And finally, after being cast as Reva Sevander in Obi-Wan Kenobi, Moses Ingram stood up to the racist backlash she was facing. “Obi-Wan is going to bring the most diversity I think we’ve ever seen in the galaxy before,” she began. “To me, it’s long overdue. If you’ve got talking droids and aliens but no people of color, it doesn’t make any sense. It’s 2022, you know. So we’re just at the beginning of that change. But I think to start that change is better than never having started it.”
Black History Month is here! Join us from Feb. 1 to Feb. 29 (or all-year-round) and support our content celebrating the culture.