Actress Photo: Amy McNeilage

Here's a peek into working as an actor of colour. Warning, the reality is bleak.

Upworthy asked a diverse bunch of actors for some insights into the entertainment industry.

Surprise! They found it is swamped with offensive (and wildly unimaginative) stereotypes.

Continually overlooked for lead roles, they are often asked to audition as strippers, prostitutes, convicts, cab drivers or an "urban friend".


They were even asked to amp up their "otherness", to act more "Chinesey", more "urban" or more "ethnic. Major cringe.

Actress Franchesca Ramsey says she has been asked numerous times to "black it up" or "tap into your diva".

It's a depressing phenomenon Roxane Gay critiques with class in an essay published in Bad Feminist.

"It's rare that we see ourselves as anything but the sassy black friend or the nanny or the secretary or the district attorney or the magical negro—roles relegated to the background and completely lacking in authenticity, depth, or complexity," she writes.

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