Angela Bassett<\/a>, Halle Berry and Viola Davis, in the documentary’s second episode \u2013 \u2018Black Leading Women in Hollywood\u2019. <\/p>\nDirected by Shola Lynch, the episode delves into the barriers that have made it difficult for black actresses to secure leading roles.<\/p>\n
It sees Gabrielle speak candidly about how black women with \u201ccoarse hair, melanin, thicker nose, wider nose, wider lips\u201d are often excluded from the narrow definition of beauty in Hollywood. <\/p>\n
\nShe added about her battle with reaching stardom in Hollywood: \u201cI started feeling invisible, like my beauty wasn\u2019t wanted. <\/p>\n
\n\u201cAs a romantic lead? No.\u201d <\/p>\n
\nDespite being widely regarded as one of Hollywood\u2019s most beautiful stars, Gabrielle says her talent didn\u2019t provide the same career opportunities her white contemporaries such as Amy Adams, Jennifer Garner and Gwyneth Paltrow, especially at the start of her career.<\/p>\n
\nShe added: \u201cMy look was appealing enough. But not so overpowering that it overshadows the white lead.\u201d Her early roles, such as in the 1999 teen rom-com \u2018She\u2019s All That\u2019, were often relegated to sidekick or supporting parts. <\/p>\n
\nGabrielle also highlighted a line from the \u201810 Things I Hate About You\u2019 script, which describes her character, Chastity Church, as \u201cthe less extraordinary, but still cute friend\u201d to Larisa Oleynik\u2019s Bianca Stratford. <\/p>\n
\nShe said: \u201cAnd so I was the perfect person to be \u2018the friend,\u2019 just left of centre of this white girl.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nAs Gabrielle\u2019s career progressed, she often found herself cast in supporting roles, playing the \u201cb*****, sassy friend\u201d. <\/p>\n
\nBut her breakout role as the title character in the 2014\u20132017 BET TV series \u2018Being Mary Jane\u2019 marked a turning point, where she finally took the lead. <\/p>\n
\nShola spoke highly of the actresses featured in her documentary, saying, \u201cThese women represent a singular generation of Black leading actresses \u2014 some of the best of the best.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cI had the great opportunity and responsibility of capturing all of their greatness into one documentary \u2013 talk about pressure.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"1 April 2025 Gabrielle Union felt like her \u201cbeauty wasn\u2019t wanted\u201d in Hollywood. Gabrielle Union felt like her \u2018beauty wasn\u2019t wanted\u2019 in Hollywood The actress, renowned for refusing to shy away from uncomfortable subjects, opens up about being a black actress in the new documentary \u2018Number One on the Call Sheet\u2019, and addresses a major […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":159303,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[8027,2046,2523,345,2057,1350,11008,686],"class_list":{"0":"post-159302","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-make-up","8":"tag-amy-adams","9":"tag-angela-bassett","11":"tag-gwyneth-paltrow","12":"tag-halle-berry","13":"tag-jennifer-garner","14":"tag-shola-lynch","15":"tag-viola-davis"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159302","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=159302"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159302\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/159303"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=159302"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=159302"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=159302"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}