Black, (any ethnicity), actors, actresses as positive role models?

[truthwithin]

Ds15 & I recently watched a popular US series in which a black man plays a character who is 'in charge' of a space colony. He is portrayed as deceptive, untrustworthy and an idiot.
Ds15 has asked if any black or ethnic actors don't play a stereotype. He also has noticed that Asian males in films, (US & UK) are great at martial arts, but are always the first to die. Women, who start out tough, need a man to rescue them in the end and end up hysterical.

The only ones I could think of were:

Morgan Freeman as God & the President of US - very believable.

Idris Elba - In everything I've seen so far.

Does anyone have any others or, any ridiculous stereotypes they would like to share so I can avoid?

Sleepy Hollow has a varied cast, and one of two main characters is african american:
www.tvguide.com/tvshows/sleepy-hollow/555514

Denzel Washington has played a variety of roles.

No 1 ladies detective agency series? www.imdb.com/title/tt1356380/?ref_=nv_sr_1

Is the TV show your son was talking about called The 100? If so keep watching it's actually quite good.

That sounds like The 100 to me! Ditto what Greenway said, try sticking with it as I think you'll be pleasantly surprised later in the series I've watched the whole thing.

I'm into creepy/thriller series and there are interesting and complex black characters in The Walking Dead, although some have also died... but I think their cast is a lot more diverse now in season 4 (5 starts in Oct) and it sounds like your son would especially like Tyrese and Michonne, two very strong main characters with well-written back stories. American Horror Story also features the fabulous Gabourey Sidibe and Angela Bassett in season 3 (about witchcraft in New Orleans); powerful women who definitely don't need a man to save them!

If you'd prefer something lighter I'd really recommend Community, the characters of Troy Barnes (Donald Glover) and Shirley Bennett (Yvette Nicole Brown) are both very funny and heralded around the internet for their non-stereotypical characters. I absolutely love Red Dwarf, which stars Craig Charles and Danny John Jules - I watch it almost daily! - although maybe your son might feel it's dated now. Interestingly, the writers asked Craig Charles to have a look at the script to see if he thought the character of Cat (played by John Jules) was racist, and Craig loved the script so much he auditioned for (and got) the part of Lister.

Definitely Orlando Jones in Sleepy Hollow.

Hawaii 5-0. 2 of Korean descent, Hawaiian, A black State Governor and as of season 3 a new member of 5-0 that happens to be black.

Oh forgot Shemar Moore in Criminal Minds.
Ice-T in Law and Order:SVU
Hill Harper in CSI-NY.

upworthy take on it

Sci fi is pretty good for that, Lt Uhura in Star Trek (both of them), Captain Sisko in Deep Space 9 lots more. Charlie in The West Wing is a great character and there are lots of minor characters that are good role models.

Chiwetel Ejiofor is a fabulous black British actor. My favourite role of his is in Dirty Pretty Things, but might be a bit hardcore for a 15 yr old. Search out his other films, though.

Obviously the big actors like Morgan Freeman and Denzel have big repertoires.

Laurence Fishbourne, Wesley Snipes, Eddie Murphy, Jamie Foxx, Samuel L Jackson, James earl Jones, Danny Glover, Don Cheadle, Will Smith, Forrest Whittaker, Terrence Howard are other established US black actors. Or the old classics like Sidney Poitier and Ossie Davis.

There are whole huge genres of black films coming out of the US. At the cheesy end are the Tyler Perry movies. Lots of 90s classics like Love & Basketball, Love Jones, The Best Man etc. Have to trawl through that genre to find a film that suits, but the great thing about them is that ALL the characters are black - the goodies, the baddies and everyone in between.

Ashley Walters and Noel Clarke are Britsh black actors that are coming through. They've both done the stereotypical 'ghetto' stuff (kidulthood, Topboy), bit have also appeared in other films and TV dramas that arent typecast stuff. Noel is in Chasing Shadows on TV at the moment and was in Dr Who.

Kerry Washington in Scandal.

Not an actor but I think Maggie Aderin-Pocock is incredible. I know she's dyslexic, and I suspect she has some anxiety issues but she is great at explaining space science.

Gwen/Guinevere in the BBC's Merlin. After 4 series of Uther & Arthur cheerily inviting people who want to kill them into the castle and never suspecting the creepy newcomer, at the beginning of series 5, Gwen identifies the guilty person and sentences them. Proves herself a much more competent ruler than the other two!

Ashley Walters and Noel Clarke are fantastic young British actors

Will Smith is brilliant in everything I've seen him in: I am Legend, 7lbs - to name a couple (I think it was called 7lbs anyway. Great film).

I'm happy to help but can I ask why you're asking?

I'm white and I'm not entirely comfortable with your question

You could try Black Man which is a 1976 song celebrating people of many races. They aren't actors but they are inspiring.

I like The Wire, first and foremost as a drama. Its cast is mainly black. Many of them are bad. Not because they're black, but because of the circumstances they are in.

You have to work out which ones are good and which are bad. Mostly it's not that black and white.

I like Idris Elba as an actor but in The Wire his character was pretty bad.

We watch a few program's where most of the cast are black. The Cosby Show being the most obvious. Also 'Everyone Hates Chris' which is about the childhood of the highly successful Chris Rock.

Limited I'm curious as to why you're uncomfortable?

White is the overwhelming default in television and film unless it is made to be an entirely black cast or culture film. I think this is because in our psyche and/or those of the producers/filmmakers etc, white is still the "norm". The fact that OP's son has noticed this is brilliant. Black people - or more accurately, - non-white people are still massively unrepresented in film and television and have only recently relative to this history of film and television been relegated from the "baddie" roles.

Try consciously looking out for non-white people over the next few nights of your television watching. Yes you have break out actors and it's supposedly more equal these days...but it's not. You will find that you're watching television with either an entirely or a majority white cast. Programme after programme after programme will be like that. And you won't have noticed it before because it's so deeply entrenched in our subconscious. You may have one or two non-white characters but that is no where near the representation of our society.

Akala - Ms Dynamite's brother - is an astonishingly clever musician with a very balanced yet unashamed view of what it means to be non-white in Britain today. My children are mixed race and he is exactly the kind of role model and influence I would hope them to have.

If you're interested....

And this article is exceptional in its clarity: www.theguardian.com/music/2013/jun/02/akala-thieves-banquet-rap-interview

"I remember the Daily Mail wrote an article about my sister at the time," he says, "and essentially their argument was, 'Well, she's not really black, is she – she's quite clever and she's got a white mum!' It was so funny the way they tried to co-opt us." That kind of says it all.

Jackie Chan doesn't usually die...
Bruce Lee was pretty invincible stuff in his day, too.

I am sick of Morgan Freeman playing all the authoritative black men, though. He's not the only cunning old black dude they can call on, is he? Where are Denzel Washington, James Earl Jones? I don't even go to the movies so I don't know who else, must be someone?

Tina Turner was great as a conflicted baddy/goody in that Mel Gibson movie (am not much of a movie buff).

Edward James Olmos (not black, but at least outside the white man hegemony). Does Eddie Murphy tick too many stereotypes for OP?

The CSI & clone programmes have lots of multi-racial characters who aren't stereotypes At All. Which one has the black woman as the absolute super-woman going out with the muslim Arabic guy? It's fluff plot lines, mind.

What's the name of the English black guy suggested as Next Doctor (Who) when Matt Smith was being chosen?

President David Palmer in 24! I'm re-watching them at the moment and he is so good in every way

Jackie Chan and Bruce Lee were the break out stars though, and unless it is in a specific genre, the norm is the hero is white.

I think we can all think of quite a few examples the OP is asking for and thank god it's moved on that far...but it's just not far enough, not really. I just checked out the TV guide for tonight, out of interest, and it's predominantly white. So much so we don't even notice it. Or rather, we notice more and name the non white actors. I look forward to the day when it's so mixed up, it's not even in question.

How many "Will Smiths" are there in Hollywood? How many non white actors in the hero role habitually? There's not many, in the whole of Hollywood. The likes of him and Eddie Murphy and Denzel Washington and Morgan Freeman...they are break out stars and there are a handful of them amongst the many, many, many white male actors. And even then, when has Morgan Freeman played the leading hero role? He's still usually supporting the lead, even if his character is positive in some way. I can only think of a few - those ones Kiss the Girls thrillers, where he plays a detective?

Yes you have the black culture films where they have all black casts, and you have other specific genres that require non white actors. And it has moved on vastly. But in the mainstream genre, the popular non-ethnic specific films...the hero is usually white male. The norm is predominantly white. These are the films that come out every single day and cover a wide range of genres but we don't even notice there's not a single non-white person/only a few non white actors in them...things like Godzilla or Transformers or pretty much any Tom Cruise film or any romantic comedy - these are just off the top of my head. I can think of exceptions...but they are just that, the exceptions. The sci fi film with Will Smith and his son that came out a few years ago - but for every Will Smith film, there's dozens of films where this is not the case and we don't even notice.

Sorry, I'm beating everyone over the head with this. I'm white by the way, my husband is mixed race. He pointed it out to me one day, the ratio of white to non-white people in films and television and since then, it's just become more and more obvious to me. There are exceptions but they are just that: exceptions to the norm.

Good posts Zebra. It's interesting what you say about the non white characters often playing the baddie. I read some recent articles about some of the older Disney animations doing this and so it was fresh in my mind when I took DS to see How To Train Your Dragon 2 last week. The only non white character in the entire film, complete with dreadlocks and voiced by an African actor, played the savage baddie from a 'far away place.' I was quite shocked at Dreamworks, they are getting quite a lot of criticism for it online but it's pretty depressing.

Adrian Lester is a fantastic actor, try Hustle. Also Buffy the Vampire slayer is full of strong female characters and is also an awesome series

OTOH, in Hollywood films, the baddie is often white European, especially with an English, German or Russian accent, or Jewish. It's a way of othering anyone who isn't the WASP corn-fed all-American hero.

But, along with the black baddie, that is a mainstream cliche and there are a lot of films and actors who counteract it.

I think Denzel Washington has had some great parts, I also love Chiwetel Ejiofor, Om Puri has had some amazing roles and is the magnetic centre of any film he's in, I love seeing Meera Syal, Parminder Nagra, Queen Latifah in anything.

Morgan Freeman gets so many wise spiritual old dude roles it annoys me, maybe it annoys him too. That's a cliche in itself, the female version is Whoopi Goldberg.

I loved Marianne Jean-Baptiste in that Mike Leigh film Secrets and Lies and she still appears in films, though she's not quite the big star I expected her to be.

Lastly if you can get DS interested in BBC or Channel 4 news, science and current affairs he will see a range of ethnicities being very authoritative, clever and great role models. George Alagiah, Naga Munchetty, Mishal Husain, the fantastic Clive Myrie, Liz Bonnin, and expert guests like Maggie Aderin-Pocock and Camila Batmanghelidjh.