Actors and Actresses

Subterms

    More stories

    • 138 Shares99 Views

      in Television

      Gregory Sierra, Actor Known for His Sitcom Work, Dies at 83

      by

      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }What to WatchBest Movies on NetflixBest of Disney PlusBest of Amazon PrimeBest Netflix DocumentariesNew on NetflixAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyGregory Sierra, Actor Known for His Sitcom Work, Dies at 83Often cast in ethnic roles, he saw his career take off in the 1970s as a recurring character on “Sanford and Son” and a regular on “Barney Miller.”Gregory Sierra in an episode of the Emmy Award-winning sitcom “Barney Miller.” He played a detective for two seasons on the show, set in a Greenwich Village police station.Credit…ABC, via PhotofestJan. 26, 2021Updated 7:03 p.m. ETGregory Sierra, a character actor who navigated easily between comedy and drama but was best known for his supporting roles on the sitcoms “Sanford and Son” and “Barney Miller,” died on Jan. 4 at his home in Laguna Woods, Calif. He was 83.His wife, Helene Sierra, said the cause was stomach and liver cancer.Lanky and balding, Mr. Sierra started out in Hollywood in the late 1960s and early ’70s taking modest parts — including on the sitcom “The Flying Nun” and the secret agent series “Mission Impossible,” as well in as the 1970 film sequel “Beneath the Planet of the Apes.”With his Puerto Rican background, Mr. Sierra was often cast in ethnic roles, including Latinos, Italians and Native Americans.In 1972, during its second season, he joined the cast of “Sanford and Son,” one of Norman Lear’s many groundbreaking sitcoms, in the recurring role of Julio Fuentes, a junk dealer who lived next door to Fred Sanford (Redd Foxx), who also had a junkyard with his son, Lamont (Demond Wilson), in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles. He stayed until 1975.Julio tried hard to befriend Fred but was the frequent target of his insults.“Why don’t you go do some work in your yard,” Fred tells Julio in one episode. “Go take a bath. Go milk your goat.”“I did that all this morning,” Julio says.“Why don’t you go back to Puerto Rico?” Fred says.“I come from New York City and I can live in any of the 50 states I want,” Julio answers.“Why don’t you try Alaska?” Fred responds. “That’s a state.”Mr. Sierra left “Sanford and Son” to become a member of the original cast of “Barney Miller,” the Emmy Award-winning sitcom starring Hal Linden set in a police precinct in Greenwich Village. As Detective Sgt. Chano Amenguale, Mr. Sierra earned particular praise for a 1975 episode which he was emotionally devastated and nearly broke down after killing two gunmen.After two seasons, he left “Barney Miller” when he was cast as the star of an ensemble comedy, “A.E.S. Hudson Street,” about an emergency service hospital in Manhattan. He played a doctor in the series, which made its debut in 1978.In his review, The New York Times’s television critic John J. O’Connor described “A.E.S. Hudson Street” as “silly, often downright stupid and occasionally insultingly tasteless.” But, he added, “With Mr. Sierra around to hold the absurdities together, it should not be written off to quickly.”ABC canceled it after five episodes.Mr. Sierra with Redd Foxx, seated, and Demond Wilson in an episode of “Sanford and Son.”Credit…NBC, via PhotofestMr. Sierra was also part of the original cast of “Miami Vice” in 1984, as the commanding officer of the detectives played by Philip Michael Thomas and Don Johnson. But he left after four episodes; his character was assassinated after he decided to leave the series. “He did not like Miami and some of the people he worked with,” his wife said by phone. “He gave up a lot to leave the show.”Gregory Joseph Sierra was born on Jan. 25, 1937, in Manhattan and grew up in Spanish Harlem. His parents abandoned him when he was young, and he was raised by an aunt.In addition to his wife, Mr. Sierra is survived by his stepdaughters, Kelly and Jill, and a step-granddaughter. His first two marriages ended in divorce.After serving in the Air Force, Mr. Sierra went with a friend to an acting school audition in Manhattan. Mr. Sierra was not there for the audition, but after performing an improvisation with his friend, it was he and not his friend who got into the school.He later toured with the National Shakespeare Company and appeared as the King of Austria in “King John” at the New York Shakespeare Festival (now Shakespeare in the Park) in 1967.He moved to Los Angeles in the late 1960s and maintained a prolific acting pace for 30 years, largely in supporting roles.One of his most riveting characters appeared in a 1973 episode of “All in the Family.” His character, Paul Benjamin, was a Jewish vigilante who tried to protect the home of Archie Bunker (Carroll O’Connor), whose front door has been covered with a swastika. Mr. Sierra infused the character with humor and self-assurance.Believing that the ignorant, bigoted Archie has been the victim of anti-Semitism, Paul tells him — to his confusion and consternation — “You sure don’t look Jewish.”“Well there’s a good reason for that,” Archie says. “I ain’t Jewish.”The swastika, it turns out, was meant for a Jewish neighbor with a similar address. Moments after Paul leaves the Bunkers’ house, he is killed by a car bomb.Mr. Sierra’s most recent credited role was as a screenwriter in “The Other Side of the Wind” (2018), Orson Welles’s long-delayed movie about a movie director (John Huston), which was filmed in the 1970s but not released until 2018.In 2009, Mr. Sierra returned to the stage after 40 years as a British police officer in a production of “See How They Run” at the theater at Laguna Woods Village, the retirement community where he lived.“He hadn’t been onstage for a very long time, so he was a little nervous,” John Perak, who directed Mr. Sierra in that production, said by phone. “I said, ‘Greg, don’t be afraid, it’s not a big deal.’ He came prepared and did very well.”AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

    • 125 Shares149 Views

      in Television

      Song Yoo-jung, a South Korean Actress, Has Died at 26

      by

      AdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storySong Yoo-jung, South Korean Actress, Is Found Dead at 26No cause of death was disclosed, but the case followed a string of suicides by young entertainers in the country.Tiffany May and Jan. 25, 2021Updated 2:25 p.m. ETSong Yoo-jung in 2014. She appeared in several Korean television dramas and also acted in music videos.Credit…Dong-a Ilbo, via Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesA 26-year-old actress was found dead on Saturday in Seoul, South Korea, the latest loss of a young performer in the country’s entertainment industry, which has faced a reckoning over the mental health burden on its glamorous stars.The death of the actress, Song Yoo-jung, who appeared in several television dramas, was confirmed in a statement by the company that represented her, Sublime Artist Agency. The agency did not disclose the cause, but the suddenness of Ms. Song’s death brought to mind the series of suicides that has plagued Korean pop music in recent years.Alarms have long been raised over the pressures imposed by South Korean management companies on young entertainers, many of whom are groomed starting as teenagers to be pop idols. Their looks are closely scrutinized, and their tightly choreographed lives are often broadcast on social media platforms that expose them to both adulatory fan mail and hateful comments.For many, their time in the limelight is limited, if they ever reach star status. By their late 20s, some are considered replaceable.A number of the K-pop stars who have taken their own lives spoke of struggles with their mental health and the toll of cyberbullying. Ms. Song, an up-and-coming actress, had not mentioned publicly any such issues.Ms. Song began her acting career at 20 and appeared in commercials for Estée Lauder skin care products and for the ice cream chain Baskin-Robbins. In her breakout role in 2019, Ms. Song played a fresh-faced architecture student with a pixie cut, searching for her soul mate, in a web series called “Dear My Name.” She also acted in music videos.She was an advocate for people with disabilities, serving as ambassador for a South Korean group called Warm Accompaniment.Ms. Song’s agency called her “a great actress who performed with passion.” It did not immediately respond to requests for comment.The problem of suicide in South Korea is not restricted to the entertainment industry. The country has the highest suicide rate among the 37 developed nations that make up the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.But celebrity suicides, involving actors and others, have been a fixture in the South Korean news media over the past decade or more. In recent years, attention has fallen most sharply on deaths in the K-pop industry, one of the country’s most successful cultural exports.In 2017, a singer, Kim Jong-hyun, killed himself at 27 after leaving a note saying that he had been overcome by depression.In 2019, Sulli, a 25-year-old K-pop star, took her own life after she had complained about the relentless cyberbullying she faced upon joining a feminist campaign that advocated not wearing bras.About six weeks later, her friend Goo Hara, 28, also killed herself, leaving a handwritten note about her despair.Ms. Goo had tried to reason with online critics, asking them to refrain from vicious comments.“Public entertainers like myself don’t have it easy — we have our private lives more scrutinized than anyone else and we suffer the kind of pain we cannot even discuss with our family and friends,” she wrote.If you are having thoughts of suicide, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255 (TALK) or go to SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources for a list of additional resources.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

    • 138 Shares179 Views

      in Television

      Mira Furlan, Actress on ‘Lost’ and ‘Babylon 5,’ Dies at 65

      by

      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }What to WatchBest Movies on NetflixBest of Disney PlusBest of Amazon PrimeBest Netflix DocumentariesNew on NetflixAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyMira Furlan, Actress on ‘Lost’ and ‘Babylon 5,’ Dies at 65The Croatian-born actress played Ambassador Delenn on the science fiction TV series “Babylon 5” throughout its five seasons and in two movies.Mira Furlan as the scientist Danielle Rousseau in “Lost.”Credit…Mario Perez/Walt Disney Television, via Getty ImagesJan. 22, 2021, 3:08 p.m. ETMira Furlan, an actress best known for her roles on the fantastical TV series “Babylon 5” and “Lost,” died at her home in Los Angeles on Wednesday. She was 65.The cause was complications of the West Nile virus, according to Chris Roe, her manager.From 1993 to 1998, Ms. Furlan starred in “Babylon 5,” a space opera that followed the relationships, politics, interspecies tensions and galactic conflicts aboard a United Nations-type space station in the mid-23rd century. She played Ambassador Delenn, representing the Minbari alien race on the space station.Ms. Furlan in “Babylon 5: In the Beginning.”Credit…Doug Hyun/TBS“Delenn is a wonderful creation, a woman who must be a leader and must be strong, but who is also full of emotion and secrets,” Ms. Furlan said in 1997.Ms. Furlan twice won a Sci-Fi Universe Award for best supporting actress for her work on the show, which also starred Bruce Boxleitner and Stephen Furst. She appeared in all 111 episodes and in two “Babylon 5” TV movies.In 2004, she began playing the scientist Danielle Rousseau on the popular ABC drama “Lost,” about a group of survivors stranded on a remote mysterious island after the crash of their jetliner. She played her character, known as “the Frenchwoman,” through the show’s final season, in 2010.Mira Furlan was born on Sept. 7, 1955, in Zagreb, Croatia, where she was a leading actress in theater, film and TV and was part of the Croatian National Theater. A profile once described her as “the Balkan equivalent of Meryl Streep.”Amid civil war in her homeland, she emigrated in 1991 to New York City with her husband, Goran Gajic, a writer and director. She lived and acted in the city until moving to Los Angeles for “Babylon 5.” In addition to her husband, she is survived by their son, Marko Lav Gajic.Her other acting credits include appearances on “NCIS,” “Law and Order: LA” and over 25 films. She most recently appeared in another science fiction series, “Space Command,” playing a former archaeologist.At the time of her death, Ms. Furlan was working on her autobiography.An excerpt released by her manager and posted on her website invoked space to describe her sense of peace as she battled illness.“I look at the stars,” she wrote. “It’s a clear night and the Milky Way seems so near. That’s where I’ll be going soon.”AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

    • 113 Shares169 Views

      in Theater

      ‘Bridgerton’s’ Approach to Race and Casting Has Precedent Onstage

      by

      AdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyCritic’s Notebook‘Bridgerton’s’ Approach to Race and Casting Has Precedent OnstageThere’s been much discussion about the presence of Black actors in Regency England on the Netflix show, but performers of color have been playing historical roles in London theaters for decades.Golda Rosheuvel as Queen Charlotte in the Netflix series “Bridgerton.”Credit…Liam Daniel/NetflixJan. 21, 2021, 3:42 a.m. ETLONDON — As is so often the case, the theater got there first.I’m referring to the approach to race and casting in “Bridgerton,” the sartorially splendid Netflix study in hyperactive Regency-era hormones that everyone’s talking about. Much has been made of the presence across the eight-part series of Black actors populating a Jane Austen-style landscape that is usually shown onscreen as all white.In fact, as London theater observers of a certain generation can attest, this has long been common practice onstage here, across a range of titles and historical periods. That’s been true whether it’s been part of Britain’s pioneering interest in colorblind casting or, as with “Bridgerton,” when productions have played with audience expectations about race to make a point.Either way, the prevailing desire has been to fashion a theatrical world that speaks to the multicultural reality of the country. The idea behind casting a Black actor as a Maine villager (in “Carousel”) or a Viennese court composer (in “Amadeus”) isn’t documentary verisimilitude; rather, it’s to make clear that such time-honored stories belong to all of us, regardless of race.So it seems entirely logical that “Bridgerton” features Black talent — including regulars on the London stage — as nobles and royalty. Among them is Golda Rosheuvel as Queen Charlotte, a casting choice intended to reflect the view of some historians that King George III’s wife was biracial.Regé-Jean Page as Simon Basset in “Bridgerton.”Credit…Liam Daniel/NetflixAdjoa Andoh as Lady Danbury.Credit…Liam Daniel/NetflixIt’s not long in “Bridgerton” before Simon Basset, an eligible Black aristocrat, announces himself with star-making swagger, and no shortage of naked flesh, in the sultry form of newcomer Regé-Jean Page. No less commanding is the Black actress Adjoa Andoh, who arches a mean eyebrow as Simon’s mentor of sorts, Lady Danbury. (She led the cast of a 2019 production of “Richard II” at Shakespeare’s Globe that was performed entirely by actresses of color.)Watching these performers swoop onto the screen, I was reminded of the comparable dazzle some decades back when the actress Josette Simon, who is Black, made her National Theater debut in a 1990 production of Arthur Miller’s “After the Fall,” playing Maggie, a character thought to have been based on Miller’s second wife, Marilyn Monroe. Gone was that play’s previously blonde-wigged heroine: Instead, the director Michael Blakemore’s production raised new possibilities about the relationship between Miller’s male lead, the liberal-leaning lawyer Quentin, and the singing star and seductress who becomes his wife.James Laurenson and Josette Simon in “After the Fall” at the National Theater in London in 1990.Credit…Alastair Muir/ShutterstockThat show removed the play from the realm of gossip — that’s to say, how much was Miller revealing about the famously doomed actress to whom he was married? Suddenly, a comparatively minor piece from the playwright seemed both more substantial and more moving, and Simon, who went on to play Cleopatra for the Royal Shakespeare Company just a few years ago, enjoyed a deserved moment of glory.The National Theater has kept pace with “After the Fall” in its casting ever since. Two years later, Nicholas Hytner’s revelatory revival of “Carousel” brought the clarion-voiced Black actor Clive Rowe an Olivier nomination for his role as the sweet, fish-loving Mr. Snow; in 2003, another landmark Hytner staging, “Henry V,” put the Black stage and screen star Adrian Lester in the title role.That fiery modern-dress production, with its evocations of the Iraq war, reminded audiences that combat can be blind to skin color — so why shouldn’t kingship? Lester triumphed in the part, as he had across town at the Donmar Warehouse in 1996 when he became the first Black performer to play Bobby in a major production of the Stephen Sondheim-George Furth musical “Company.”Adrian Lester as Henry V at the National Theater in 2003.Credit…Ivan Kyncl/ArenaPALThese days, casting across the racial spectrum mostly passes without comment here. But it’s instructive to note the immediate retaliation, in 2018, when the theater critic Quentin Letts, then writing for the Daily Mail, questioned the Royal Shakespeare Company’s casting of Leo Wringer, a Black actor, in a forgotten restoration comedy, “The Fantastic Follies of Mrs. Rich,” written in 1700.“Was Mr. Wringer cast because he is Black?” Letts inquired rhetorically in his review. “If so, the R.S.C.’s clunking approach to politically correct casting has again weakened its stage product.” The company’s artistic director, Gregory Doran, shot back a statement comparing Letts to “an old dinosaur, raising his head from the primordial swamp.”Sometimes, as with a recent, and remarkable, “Amadeus” that featured the vibrant Black actor Lucian Msamati in the role of the Italian composer Antonio Salieri, the casting is colorblind, which means that the performer has been chosen irrespective of race. Elsewhere, as with the Young Vic’s “Death of a Salesman” in 2019, a conscious choice has been made — in that instance, to present the Loman family as Black to change our perspective on a familiar play.“Bridgerton” looks at first as if it may be taking the first route, only to counter that assumption later on, when a surprise discussion among the characters steers the drama toward the second. “Color and race are part of the show,” the series’s creator, Chris Van Dusen, told The New York Times last month.“Bridgerton” harks back to a vanished England of corsets and chastity, while nodding toward the diverse society of today. That dual focus — the ability, from its casting onward, to straddle two worlds at once — is something that has been long understood on the London stage. At a time when London playhouses remain closed, such memories are the stuff of enjoyable reflection. I only hope that, if the second season of “Bridgerton” that Netflix has hinted at ever arrives, I will be squeezing it in between visits to the theater.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

    • 125 Shares99 Views

      in Movies

      Barbara Shelley, Leading Lady of Horror Films, Dies at 88

      by

      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }The Coronavirus OutbreakliveLatest UpdatesMaps and CasesU.S. Travel BanVaccine InformationTimelineAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyThose We’ve LostBarbara Shelley, Leading Lady of Horror Films, Dies at 88Sometimes the victim, sometimes the monster, she was a frequent presence in scary movies in the 1950s and ’60s. She died of underlying conditions following a bout with the coronavirus.Barbara Shelley was an elegant queen of camp in a succession of British horror movies. She appeared with Christopher Lee in the 1966 film “Dracula: Prince of Darkness.”Credit…20th Century-Fox/Everett CollectionJan. 19, 2021Updated 5:16 p.m. ETThis obituary is part of a series about people who have died in the coronavirus pandemic. Read about others here.Sometimes Barbara Shelley was the victim. By the end of the movie “Blood of the Vampire” (1958), the Victorian character that she played — her brocade bodice properly ripped — was in chains in a mad scientist’s basement laboratory.She was at Christopher Lee’s mercy in “Dracula: Prince of Darkness” (1966), although before the end she had fangs of her own. (In fact, she accidentally swallowed one of them while filming her death scene, which she considered one of her finest moments.)Sometimes she was an innocent bystander. In “The Village of the Damned” (1960), she was impregnated by mysterious extraterrestrial rays and had a son — a beautiful, emotion-free blond child whose glowing eyes could kill.Sometimes she was the monster, although in “Cat Girl” (1957) it wasn’t her fault that a centuries-old family curse turned her into a man-eating leopard.Ms. Shelley, the elegant queen of camp in British horror films for a decade, died on Jan. 4 in London. She was 88.Her agent, Thomas Bowington, said in a statement that she had spent two weeks in December in a hospital, where she contracted Covid-19. It was successfully treated, but after going home she died of what he described as “underlying issues.”Barbara Teresa Kowin was born on Feb. 13, 1932, in Harrow, England, a part of Greater London. After appearing in a high school production of Gilbert and Sullivan’s “The Gondoliers,” she decided to become an actress and began modeling to overcome her shyness.Her movie debut was a bit part in “Man in Hiding” (1953), a crime drama. She enjoyed a 1955 vacation in Italy so much that she stayed two years and made films there. When Italians had trouble pronouncing Kowin, she renamed herself Shelley.Making “Cat Girl” back home in England led to her calling as a leading lady of horror. Most of her best-known pictures were for Hammer Films, the London studio responsible for horror classics including “The Mummy” and “The Curse of Frankenstein.”But often there were no monsters onscreen. She played almost a hundred other roles in movies and on television. She was Mrs. Gardiner, the Bennet sisters’ wise aunt, in a 1980 mini-series version of “Pride and Prejudice.” She appeared on “Doctor Who,” “The Saint,” “The Avengers” and “Eastenders.”She made guest appearances on midcentury American series, including “Route 66” and “Bachelor Father.” And she had a stage career as a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company in the 1970s. Her final screen role was in “Uncle Silas” (1989), a mini-series with Peter O’Toole.But the horror movies — her last was “Quatermass and the Pit” (1967), about a five-million-year-old artifact — were her legacy.“They built me a fan base, and I’m very touched that people will come and ask for my autograph,” Ms. Shelley told Express magazine in 2009. “All the other things I did, nobody remembers.”AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

    • 175 Shares159 Views

      in Movies

      Pixar’s ‘Soul’ Has a Black Hero. In Denmark, a White Actor Dubs the Voice.

      by

      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }What to WatchBest Movies on NetflixBest of Disney PlusBest of Amazon PrimeBest Netflix DocumentariesNew on NetflixAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyPixar’s ‘Soul’ Has a Black Hero. In Denmark, a White Actor Dubs the Voice.The casting has fueled a debate about structural racism and fanned anger about stereotyping and prejudice in European-language voice-overs, even when films have main characters of color.Jamie Foxx is the voice of the main character in “Soul,” Joe Gardner. In some dubbed versions for European release, white actors have taken that role.Credit…Disney/PixarJan. 16, 2021, 6:09 a.m. ETCOPENHAGEN — Like most of their counterparts around the world, Danish film critics initially greeted “Soul,” Pixar’s first animated feature to focus on Black characters and African-American culture, with rapture, hailing its sensitive, joyful portrayal of a jazz musician on a quest to live a meaningful life.The film was described as “a miracle,” by one reviewer in Denmark, “beautiful and life-giving” by another.What the Danish press did not initially focus on, by and large, was the characters’ race. But that changed after the movie’s release on Dec. 25, when realization spread that the Danish-language version had been dubbed primarily by white actors. This is also the case in many other European-language versions of “Soul.”While in most countries, the film’s voice-over casting has barely registered with the public, in Portugal, more than 17,000 have signed a petition calling on Pixar to remake the local edition with actors of color. “This movie is not just another movie, and representation matters,” the petition states.Joe Gardner, the main character in “Soul,” is Pixar’s first Black protagonist. and the studio took steps to accurately represent African-American culture, hiring Kemp Powers as a co-director and installing a “cultural trust” to safeguard the story’s authenticity. The actor Jamie Foxx, who voices Joe in the English-language original, told The New York Times, “To be the first Black lead in a Pixar film feels like a blessing.”In the Danish version, Joe is voiced by Nikolaj Lie Kaas, who is white. When the national newspaper Berlingske interviewed scholars and activists who expressed their disappointment about this and suggested that the casting was an example of structural racism, a fiery controversy erupted, prompting Lie Kaas to issue a statement about why he had accepted the role.Nikolaj Lie Kaas, a Danish actor, voices Joe Gardiner’s part in the Danish version of “Soul.”Credit…Vittorio Zunino Celotto/Getty Images“My position with regards to any job is very simple,” he wrote on Facebook. “Let the man or woman who can perform the work in the best possible way get the job.”Asta Selloane Sekamane, one of the activists who criticized the casting in the Berlingske article, said in an interview that no one can claim there wasn’t enough Black talent to fill the main roles, because actors of color were hired to voice some of the minor parts. “It can’t be the constant excuse, this idea that we can’t find people who live up to our standards,” she added. “That’s an invisible bar that ties qualification to whiteness.”Mira Skadegard, a professor at Aalborg University in Denmark who researches discrimination and inequality, said the resistance to accusations of structural racism was unsurprising. “In Denmark, we have a long history of denial when it comes to racism, and a deep investment in the ideal of equality,” she said.“We don’t really understand this as a critique of institutions and structures; we see it as a critique of who we are,” she added.In Denmark and Portugal, dubbing is generally reserved for animation and for children’s programs. But in other European countries, including France, Germany, Italy and Spain, most mainstream films from abroad are dubbed, and the practice is seen as an art in its own right — one that rests on the practitioners’ ability to make themselves unobtrusive.“The best dubbing should pass by completely undetected,” said Juan Logar, a leading Spanish dubbing director and voice actor.“My job is to find the voice that best matches the original,” said Logar. “Black, white, Asian, it doesn’t matter.”Charles Rettinghaus, a German dubbing artist, expressed a similar sentiment. In his 40-year career, he has been the voice of actors including Jean-Claude Van Damme and Javier Bardem, but he said he felt a special connection with Jamie Foxx, whom he has covered in more than 20 films, including the German version of “Soul.”Although he is white, Rettinghaus said he had not felt pressured to step away from any Black roles, adding that the same opportunities should apply to actors of all races. “It doesn’t matter if you are Black, you should be and are allowed to dub anything,” he said. “Why shouldn’t you play a white actor or an Indian or an Asian?”Kaze Uzumaki, a Black colleague of Rettinghaus, said it was more complicated than that. Uzumaki dubs the character of Paul in “Soul” and has lent his voice to the German versions of dozens of other American films and television series. Almost without exception, his roles were originally played by actors of color.“At first, I really didn’t like it,” he said. “But I figured I was more comfortable with me speaking the role than a lot of other white colleagues who don’t have a good knowledge of the English language, and can’t really tell what a Black person sounds like.”The German actor Kaze Uzumaki voices the role of Paul in the German version of “Soul.”Credit…Kaze UzumakiUzumaki said that he had dubbed doctors of color in hospital shows, only to be told by the director that he sounded “too educated.”“They don’t even realize that they’re being racist,” Uzumaki said. “But every time a director says something like, ‘No, you sound too polished; you know how they talk, right?’ I feel like I’ve been hit with a stick in the face.”The discrimination is often double-edged. Ivo Chundro, a Dutch actor of color who dubbed the part of Paul in “Soul” for distribution in the Netherlands, said, “Directors will only cast white actors for white parts, and tell actors of color, ‘No, your voice isn’t white enough.’”Some directors say that demographics limit who they select. “In Spain, we don’t have a second generation of immigrants yet,” said Logar. “Except for a few very young kids, there aren’t a lot of Black actors who were born here and speak Spanish without an accent.”Actors of color like Chundro and Uzumaki contend that those directors simply aren’t looking hard enough. But there are signs that things are starting to change. In 2007, a dubbing director in France told the actress Yasmine Modestine that, because she was mixed race, her voice wasn’t right for a part. Based on her complaint, the French equal opportunities commission investigated the dubbing industry as a whole and found a culture of prejudice and stereotyping.Fily Keita, right, dubs the voices of many famous actresses — both Black and white — for their movies’ French releases.Credit…Yan Coadou/Thibaut MicheSince then, the opportunities for voice actors of color have expanded there. Fily Keita, who voiced Lupita Nyong’o in the French-language version of “Black Panther,” said that she didn’t feel held back as a Black actor working in the industry. She has also lent her voice to roles played originally by white actresses, such as Amanda Seyfried and Jamie-Lynn Sigler.“I love dubbing precisely because it’s a space of freedom,” she said. “Where you’re not limited by your physical appearance.”Chundro, the Dutch actor, said that the Black Lives Matter movement was starting to shift the conversation around race and representation in the Netherlands. He cited a demonstration in Amsterdam in June as helping open eyes to enduring racism.“I used to have a lot of discussions about racism where people just didn’t get it,” Chundro said. But the protest “was like a bandage being ripped off a wound, and since then, it’s been much easier to talk about,” he added.With that greater awareness has come more opportunities, he said. “There’s more work out there, and I’m getting cast a lot more.”Sekamane, the Danish activist, also credited the movement with changing attitudes. “I’m 30 years old, and my whole life I’ve been told racism is in my head,” she said. “It’s only in the last year, thanks to Black Lives Matter, that the conversation has started to change.”AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

    • 113 Shares109 Views

      in Movies

      A ‘Batman’ Actress Who Gives Voice to Her Community

      by

      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }What to WatchBest Movies on NetflixBest of Disney PlusBest of Amazon PrimeBest Netflix DocumentariesNew on NetflixAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyUp NextA ‘Batman’ Actress Who Gives Voice to Her CommunityJayme Lawson is also getting Oscar buzz for “Farewell Amor.”Jayme Lawson landed her first film role shortly after graduating from Juilliard.Credit…Jared Soares for The New York TimesJan. 15, 2021, 5:00 a.m. ETName: Jayme LawsonAge: 23Hometown: Washington, D.C.Now Lives: A studio apartment in the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn.Claim to Fame: Despite never having acted in a film before, Ms. Lawson is generating Oscar buzz for her role in “Farewell Amor,” a tender drama by Ekwa Msangi about an Angolan family who reunite in Brooklyn after two decades. Ms. Lawson plays the young daughter adjusting to a new life in America. “Giving voices to communities we don’t hear enough from is why I got into this industry,” she said.Big Break: In 2019, during her senior year at the Juilliard School, she performed in a drama workshop that was attended by talent agents and other industry professionals. Two agents suggested she try out for “Farewell Amor,” as well as a Public Theater production of Ntozake Shange’s “For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow Is Enuf.” She auditioned for the roles the same week as her graduation. A month later, she got both gigs. “It’s crazy to think that those were my first two jobs after graduating because they both set the bar so high,” Ms. Lawson said.Credit…Jared Soares for The New York TimesLatest Project: With productions shut down by the pandemic, she has devoted part of her time in lockdown teaching acting to students at her high-school alma mater, the Duke Ellington School of the Arts in Georgetown. She hopes to pay forward the type of life lessons she learned as a student there. “In high school, I was introduced to art and activism,” she said. “Juilliard was where that had to be applied in actuality.”Next Thing: In March, Ms. Lawson will appear alongside Robert Pattinson and Zoë Kravitz in “The Batman,” the next iteration of the DC comic-book dark hero directed by Matt Reeves. She is the first to tell you that she did not expect to end up in Gotham City. “It was one of those things where you’re auditioning, but you’re not thinking you’re actually going to get the part,” she said. “I was honestly just trying to build a business and make friends. It didn’t fully register until I was on set.”Political Actor: For the latest “Batman” reboot, she plays a headstrong mayoral candidate named Bella Reál. “She is someone who is looking at the state of Gotham and is trying to make a difference,” Ms. Lawson said. “She is taking a stand and saying, ‘No, people in power are not really handling things correctly.’ It’s not that different from what we’re seeing now within our own country.”AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More