Priyanka Chopra Says She Was Once Passed Over for a Role Because of Her Skin Color
Get ready for another major groan in Hollywood’s direction: Baywatch and Quantico star Priyanka Chopra recently said that she feels she once didn’t get a part in a movie because of the color of her skin.
Chopra, who grew up in India, spoke to InStyle in honor of Equal Pay Day to discuss the gender wage gap, a cause that she’s been vocal about in the past—especially as it relates to women of color. “No one will say that a woman is getting paid less because she’s a woman of color, but the numbers mostly end up reflecting that,” she told the magazine.
Then she went on to say she thinks she was passed over for a role because of the color of her skin. “It happened last year,” she says. “I was out for a movie, and somebody [from the studio] called one of my agents and said, ‘She’s the wrong’—what word did they use?—’physicality.'” Understandably, she was confused. “So in my defense as an actor, I’m like, ‘Do I need to be skinnier? Do I need to get in shape? Do I need to have abs?’ Like, what does ‘wrong physicality’ mean?” Chopra said. “And then my agent broke it down for me. Like, ‘I think, Priy, they meant that they wanted someone who’s not brown,'” she told InStyle.
“It affected me,” she said.
In 2017, the actress opened up to Allure about her experiences growing up. “[My skin] is as complicated as I am. When I was growing up, I didn’t see anyone on TV who looked like me,” she said, noting that it was also hard to find makeup in a shade that suited her back then. “Everyone in America wants to get a tan, and everyone in Asia wants to get their skin lightened. I straddle both countries. Girls there are told that they’re too dark or dusky and that lighter skin is better. Because I’m a darker tone, I had issues growing up as a teenager.”
Now, though, she views her skin color as an asset, regardless of what certain people in the movie industry may have said. “I’ve achieved what I’ve achieved, and skin color has nothing to do with it—in fact, it might have been an asset,” she told Allure. “I like the color of my skin very much.”
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