Emmy nominations were announced Thursday and the slate of actors up for awards is the most diverse it’s been in recent memory. Of 98 nominees in 16 categories, 21 are actors of color, including Aziz Ansari of Master of None, Taraji P. Henson for Empire, Kerry Washington in Confirmation and Sterling K. Brown, Cuba Gooding Jr. and Courtney B. Vance, all from The People v. O.J. Simpson.
Could the Oscars look any worse?
Just a few months after the infamous #OscarsSoWhite kerfuffle — when every single actor up for an Academy Award was Caucasian — the Emmys are demonstrating what inclusivity looks like, and it isn’t the only awards show to do it. Thanks to Hamilton and The Color Purple, among other acclaimed stage productions, this year’s Tonys had nominations that almost mirrored the racial make-up of the actual population.
The Emmys and the Oscars only reflect the respective medium the members are judging, of course. Television has been putting a more comprehensive array of stories onscreen. Many shows have multi-ethnic casts, such as Black-ish, Orange Is the New Black and Master of None, and series are more likely to put actors of color in lead roles.
Just look at Egyptian-American actor Rami Malek, nominated for his star turn in Mr. Robot, and reigning winner Viola Davis, who’s once again nominated for How to Get Away With Murder. You may recall Davis’ moving acceptance speech last year, when she made history as the first black actress to win an Emmy for a lead role in a drama series. “Let me tell you something, the only thing that separates women of color from anyone else is opportunity,” she said. “You cannot win an Emmy for roles that are simply not there.”
Increasingly the roles are materializing — on the small screen, anyway. Movies are a different story. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is scrambling to try to right the wrongs of #OscarsSoWhite by adding hundreds of new members, especially women and minorities, including, coincidentally, Emmy nominees Regina King, Mahershala Ali, Anthony Anderson and Idris Elba. The deeper problem is what those voters have to choose from.
“I am making TV look like the world looks,” super-producer Shonda Rhimes once said about her casting choices on Murder, Grey’s Anatomy and Scandal. “Women, people of color, LGBTQ people equal way more than 50 percent of the population. Which means it ain’t out of the ordinary.”
In the movie business, the roles often going to actors of color feel like quotas to fill — talented pros are stuck playing sidekicks, stereotypes or token add-ons. Movie studios could learn something from television, and not just about awards. It’s not a coincidence that as TV has gotten more diverse, the shows have also become more exciting.