Tia Mowry-Hardrict revealed how Hollywood tried to pigeonhole her into Latina roles because she didn’t appear “Black enough” to them.
In her latest episode of her YouTube series, Tia Mowry’s Quick Fix, she talked about how Hollywood mistreated her and her sister, Tamera Mowry-Housley.
“It was very evident to me when I would walk on sets and see how certain stars or actors would be treated who weren’t of ethnicity–better dressing room, better trailer,” she said. “Now, I’m like, more aware what that was, which is a budget, but back then I didn’t know what a budget was. It was so clear how you would see one show that didn’t have a diverse cast that just had a bigger budget so everything just seemed bigger and better. But when it came to my projects and what I was doing, you actually really visually saw the less-than.”
She also said it was hard for her and her sister to get raises after Sister, Sister became a hit, saying, “[I]t was always so hard for my sister and I to get what we felt like we deserved and our paycheck never equaled our counterparts’ that weren’t of diversity, and that was frustrating. Very, very frustrating.”
She also said how Hollywood wanted to cast her non-Black roles.
“I’ve been told I’m not Black enough, which was very odd and weird to me,” she said. “You don’t look Black enough. I think you would fit more of the Latina role.’ It’s like, what? These were casting directors who did not understand the different shades of Black culture.”
You can watch the full conversation below:
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