Part of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ Academy Aperture 2025 equity and inclusion initiative, “Academy Dialogues: It Starts With Us” is a new series of virtual panels, with conversations about race, ethnicity, gender, history, opportunity and the art of filmmaking.

The Academy’s newest discussion in the series, Academy Dialogues: “Color-Conscious Casting,” poses the question: Can a renewed creative collaboration between casting directors and filmmakers offer a tremendous opportunity to better reflect the world on screen as it truly is today?

Historically, Hollywood casting decisions have limited the opportunities for actors of color to go beyond stereotyped characters and minor roles. Since the use of blackface in “classic” films, there remains a ripple effect in hiring practices. Elvis Mitchell, film critic and host of the KCRW radio show “The Treatment,” moderates a panel with Academy governor and director/writer Rodrigo García (“Mother and Child”), and casting directors Julia Kim (“The Last Black Man in San Francisco”) and Victoria Thomas (“Once upon a Time…in Hollywood”).

For more information on this Academy Dialogue and others in the series, please click [here].

Highlights:
“I think it’s… people of color playing roles that are unexpected, where a character is everything at the same time. And that’s why, to me, the term “color conscious” is not entirely accurate, because who you are always means something, and it will mean something to the actor portraying it. So I think it’s more seeing the character for who they are, while also seeing the character for who they are ethnically as well, seeing everything about that character.” – Rodrigo García