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More Hollywood female leads, but fewer people of colour: Report
The Straits Times
|February 15, 2025
Out of the top 100 movies of 2024, more than half featured a story centred on an actress as a lead or co-lead, the first time representation has been above the United States census, where girls and women comprise 50.5 per cent of the population, a 2025 report from the University of Southern California (USC) found.
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LOS ANGELES -
However, representation fell for people of colour in film, the report said.
The USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative examined 1,800 top-grossing films from 2007 to 2024 and assessed the gender, race, ethnicity and age of the leading and co-leading actors for each movie.
"This is the first time we can say that gender equality has been reached in top-grossing films," said associate professor of communication Stacy L. Smith, founder of the initiative.
"This is not the result of an economic awakening, but is due to a number of different constituencies and efforts - at advocacy groups, at studios, through DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) initiatives to assert the need for equality on screen," she added.
This story is from the February 15, 2025 edition of The Straits Times.
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