Race & Ethnicity On TV

[Dee]

Amirah Vann To Star In ABC Drama Pilot From Robin Roberts & Regina King

Quote

Written by Veasey with King set to direct, the drama explores the lives of five African-American sisters, all officers in the NYPD, as they face the challenges of their high-risk jobs while juggling the responsibilities of marriage, motherhood and family.

Vann will play Ella, one of the sisters. Smart, kind, and principled, Ella patrols her childhood neighborhood in Queens. One of the five sisters who are all officers in the NYPD, Ella is a stand-up cop who goes out of her way to prove that police officers can still be good guys who treat people fairly. Married for 18 years, Ella is also a mother of three who struggles to balance her home life with her job. When she chooses to disregard protocol, her partner gets shot, putting his life and her career in jeopardy.

Edited February 23, 2018 by Dee

[paulvdb]

Taye Diggs to Star in Greg Berlanti-Produced CW Pilot
 

Quote

Inspired by the life of pro football player Spencer Paysinger, the project follows what happens when a rising high school football player from South Central Los Angeles is recruited to play for Beverly Hills High. Executive produced by Greg Berlanti, the potential series follows what happens when the wins, losses and struggles of two families from vastly different worlds — Compton and Beverly Hills — begin to collide.

Diggs will take on the role of Billy Baker, who, having attended Crenshaw High himself, is the head coach of Beverly Hills High's football team. He has an intense desire to see Spencer, a transfer from Crenshaw, succeed — on and off the field — even if his efforts impact his relationship with his own son.

[jhlipton]

16 hours ago, Dee said:

Amirah Vann To Star In ABC Drama Pilot From Robin Roberts & Regina King

5 Black women as leads?  Whoooo hooo! 

[topanga]

On 2/23/2018 at 2:33 PM, paulvdb said:

Taye Diggs to Star in Greg Berlanti-Produced CW Pilot
 

I didn’t realize the CW was still around. Was this this the only network that would buy this pilot? I hope that isn’t a bad sign. But yay, Taye Diggs. I’ll be glad to see him back on my screen. 

 

On 2/23/2018 at 12:29 PM, Dee said:

Amirah Vann To Star In ABC Drama Pilot From Robin Roberts & Regina King

14 hours ago, jhlipton said:

5 Black women as leads?  Whoooo hooo! 

This sounds really interesting. I assume that King and Robin Roberts are also producing?

[jhlipton]

15 hours ago, topanga said:

I didn’t realize the CW was still around. Was this this the only network that would buy this pilot? I hope that isn’t a bad sign. But yay, Taye Diggs. I’ll be glad to see him back on my screen.

You aren't watching Legends of Tomorrow???  It has a Black female lead and a Muslim woman lead, and is totally CRAZY!  (The motto of the Legends is "We take a chainsaw to history!") [There was a Black family as regulars on The Flash, but I'm not sure they're still there.  Black Lightening Lightning is also on the CW.)

I also watch iZombie on the CW as well.

15 hours ago, topanga said:

This sounds really interesting. I assume that King and Robin Roberts are also producing?

Yes, along with Pam Veasey, who has the writing credit.

Edited February 25, 2018 by jhlipton
Fixed show name

[Irlandesa]

2 hours ago, topanga said:

I didn’t realize the CW was still around. Was this this the only network that would buy this pilot? I hope that isn’t a bad sign. But yay, Taye Diggs. I’ll be glad to see him back on my screen. 

The CW might not be a powerhouse but they're not to be scoffed at either.  They have superhero shows which do really well.  They have two critically praised shows in Crazy Ex-Girlfriend and Jane The Virgin.  And while the ratings have not been staggering for either (Crazy Ex has always been crazy low), due to the nature of the critical praise, they're on their third and fourth seasons respectively.  And I could be wrong but I suspect they'll each get a renewal to allow them to finish out their stories.  That last point is particularly something I appreciate about the CW.  Unless it doesn't make it past its first season, it tends to warn its show runners when their show will end more often than not.

[Trini]

6 hours ago, jhlipton said:

[There was a Black family as regulars on The Flash, but I'm not sure they're still there.  Black Lightening is also on the CW.)

The Wests are still there! And it's an easy mistake (I've done it myself) , but it's 'Lightning'.

[Dee]

Regina King Talks Heaviness of Role in ‘Seven Seconds'

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King said she met with a mother whose son had been murdered by police to understand the role. “It’s hard for me still to even wrap my mind around how she could still speak with joy,” King said. “She definitely shared the rollercoaster that your emotions take you through. All I could do is hopefully honor her with my performance.”

While the interaction gave King a starting point for her role, she said it was also very difficult because she has a son. “When you have some of those days that are more emotional than others, those were the days I found myself calling my son just to check in.”

Edited February 25, 2018 by Dee

[jhlipton]

8 hours ago, Trini said:

The Wests are still there! And it's an easy mistake (I've done it myself) , but it's 'Lightning'.

Fixed -- thanks

[jhlipton]

I'm watching Imposters on Netflix, and it has a major casting fail.  Two of the main characters, who interact with each other are largely undistinguishable -- two skinny white guys:

It would have been far better to have "Ezra" (Left) played by an East Asian man -- that would make it easier to tell who's who.

[Joimiaroxeu]

Quote

Two of the main characters, who interact with each other are largely undistinguishable -- two skinny white guys:

I got the impression Ezra and his family were supposed to read as Jewish while the other guy is supposed to be "generic" White.  Given that three key roles were Black, maybe the showrunners didn't want to roll out every ethnicity/race in the first season. ;-)

[jhlipton]

3 hours ago, Joimiaroxeu said:

I got the impression Ezra and his family were supposed to read as Jewish while the other guy is supposed to be "generic" White.  Given that three key roles were Black, maybe the showrunners didn't want to roll out every ethnicity/race in the first season. ;-)

I know that Ezra is Jewish (they had the breaking of the glass at his wedding to highlight  that) but it's still confusing.  After the first two episodes, the only key role played by a black is patrick -- I guess the other are later in the series. 

It was a thought on how to distinguish two highly indistinguishable men.

[possibilities]

Even giving them different facial hair would help.

[Irlandesa]

This was kind of an issue I had while I was watching the German show Dark.  All the kids and teens looked the same to me.  It made me appreciate how helpful even a touch of diversity is. 

[Luciano]

Donald Glover Can't Save You:

Zazie Beetz had told me that she’s often cast for her light skin, as “a pop of color” in a role that could go to a white actress, and that she knew some fans of “Atlanta” had wanted Van to be darker-skinned. “I don’t know if I was cast off of talent instead of look,” she said. “That’s my insecurity.” Glover said that it was talent. “But I was also, like, ‘People are going to feel that way about her—and they should.’ We have to show the consequences.” He noted that his own skin color had surely influenced his career, beginning with his first job, as a writer on “30 Rock.” “I wondered, Am I being hired just because I’m black?” Tina Fey, the show’s creator and star, told me that the answer was in large part yes; she admired Glover’s talent but hired him because funds from NBC’s Diversity Initiative “made him free.”

Chevy Chase, one of Glover’s co-stars, often tried to disrupt his scenes and made racial cracks between takes. (“People think you’re funnier because you’re black.”) Harmon said, “Chevy was the first to realize how immensely gifted Donald was, and the way he expressed his jealousy was to try to throw Donald off. I remember apologizing to Donald after a particularly rough night of Chevy’s non-P.C. verbiage, and Donald said, ‘I don’t even worry about it.’ ”

The year that “Internet” came out, Glover appeared in two episodes of HBO’s “Girls”—cast, he suspected, to placate critics of the show’s lily-white sensibility. His character was Sandy, the black Republican boyfriend of Hannah, played by Lena Dunham. When Hannah broke up with him, Sandy began pumping his shoulders to imitate her privileged cluelessness: “ ‘Oh, I’m a white girl, and I moved to New York and I’m having a great time, and, Oh, I’ve got a fixed-gear bike, and I’m going to date a black guy and we’re going to go to a dangerous part of town.’ ” Dunham told me that Glover improvised his lines: “Every massive insult of white women was one hundred per cent him. I e-mailed him later to say ‘I hope you feel the part on “Girls” didn’t tokenize you,’ and his response was really Donald-y and enigmatic: ‘Let’s not think back on mistakes we made in the past, let’s just focus on what lies in front of us.’

[DearEvette]

The CW is worth it for their superhero shows.  Honestly I feel that thw CW is suceeding where the movies fail, imo, when it comes to DC comic book characters.  They are interesting, relatable, telling good stories and are most of all fun.  A lot of people felt that the 4 hour crossover of The Flash, Supergirl, Arrow, and Legends of Tomorrow was more intertaining than The Justice League movie.

Re: Donald Glover -- man I knew Chevy Chase was terrible to work with, but that is foul.  He was also the most useless character on Community. 

[Dee]

Report Shows Slight Progress for Hollywood on Diversity

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For the past five years, researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles, have hammered Hollywood with annual reports on its exclusion of women and minorities. Academics at the University of Southern California and San Diego State University have done the same. The public has weighed in with #OscarsSoWhite.

The pressure has changed the business — a tiny bit.

That is the conclusion of the fifth annual U.C.L.A. report on diversity in Hollywood’s entertainment industry, which was released on Tuesday by the university’s Institute for Research on Labor and Employment.

“Over the five-year run of the report, areas where women and people of color saw sustained progress were rare,” Ana-Christina Ramón, an author of the study, said in an interview. “You’d think there would be better results, especially given the public pressure and the ratings and box office evidence, which clearly show that diversity sells. Audiences want it.”

Edited February 27, 2018 by Dee

[topanga]

13 hours ago, DearEvette said:

The CW is worth it for their superhero shows.  Honestly I feel that thw CW is suceeding where the movies fail, imo, when it comes to DC comic book characters.  They are interesting, relatable, telling good stories and are most of all fun.  A lot of people felt that the 4 hour crossover of The Flash, Supergirl, Arrow, and Legends of Tomorrow was more intertaining than The Justice League movie.

Re: Donald Glover -- man I knew Chevy Chase was terrible to work with, but that is foul.  He was also the most useless character on Community. 

Thanks for all of the CW love. I wasn’t trying to dis the network, but I guess I’d forgotten about it since I don’t watch many superhero or supernatural shows. But I have been thoroughly schooled. *lowers head In reverence.*

[HunterHunted]

23 hours ago, topanga said:

Thanks for all of the CW love. I wasn’t trying to dis the network, but I guess I’d forgotten about it since I don’t watch many superhero or supernatural shows. But I have been thoroughly schooled. *lowers head In reverence.*

The CW is probably the single most diverse network on tv. Though it's not without its problems. There are precious few leads of color on the network. They have:

Supergirl--white female lead, white lesbian sister, white male former love interest, white male friend, Black male (appearing) Martian boss, former love interest's white wife, Black male former love interest, and white female best friend

Legends of Tomorrow--white bisexual female, white male, white male, Black female, white male, Iranian-American female, and Black male

iZombie--white female lead, Black male co-worker/partner, British-Indian boss/friend, white male former love interest, white female friend and roommate,  white male former love interest, and white male antagonist

The Flash--white male lead, Black female love interest, Black male adoptive father, Latino male best friend, white female friend, white male friend, and white male friend

Black Lighting--Black everything and a white sidekick

Riverdale--white male, white female, Latina female, and white male

Arrow--white male lead, white female love interest, Black male friend, white male, Black male, Latino male, and white female

Supernatural--a barrel full of white guys

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend--white female lead, Filipino male former love interest, white male former love interest, white female friend, biracial (white and Black) roommate/friend, bisexual Latina friend, roommate's Latino boyfriend, white male bisexual boss, and boss' white male gay ex-boyfriend

Jane the Virgin--Latina female lead, Latina mom, Latina grandmother, Latino father, a love interest of indeterminate ethnicity, and a white female friend

Dynasty is decently diverse too. I just don't know enough about the show.

[paulvdb]

27 minutes ago, HunterHunted said:

Black Lighting--Black everything and a white sidekick

The black everything includes a black albino villain. And since you've also mentioned sexuality for non-straight characters on other shows we can also add that the oldest daughter is a lesbian.

[jhlipton]

I'm not sure SyFy count as a "network" but several of their shows are fairly diverse: Z Nation -- black female lead, several white men, several white women and for a while they had an Asian lead and also Natalie Jongjaroenlarp -- her name looks Korean).   The Expanse -- black female lead, three two white male leads, an female and a male Indian lead and a Samoan female led.

Corrections courtesy of @Haleth

Edited March 2, 2018 by jhlipton
Corrections

[Dee]

Dick Wolf’s CBS Drama ‘FBI’ Casts Zeeko Zaki in Lead Role

Quote

The series will detail the inner workings of the New York office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Zaki will play FBI special agent OA, who made it from Bushwick to West Point, and has both the confidence and the will of someone who has had to fight every step of the way. After spending two years undercover, the DEA abruptly ripped him out, and he was cherry-picked by the FBI.

[paulvdb]

On 28-2-2018 at 6:50 PM, HunterHunted said:

The CW is probably the single most diverse network on tv. Though it's not without its problems. There are precious few leads of color on the network. They have:

In addition to the shows you mention they also have:

The Originals: two white men, two white women, two black men. Did I forget anybody?

Life Sentence: white female lead, black husband, white father, mother, brother and sister.

The 100: large cast and I'm not sure who is regular and who is recurring, but the main characters off the top of my head: white female bisexual lead, biracial (White/Asian) male, white female, Latina female, black male, Asian male, white male, white female.

Valor: I don't watch it so I don't know anything about the cast.

[Haleth]

On 2/28/2018 at 5:31 PM, jhlipton said:

The Expanse -- black female lead, three white male leads,

Alex is of Indian descent. 

[jhlipton]

6 hours ago, Haleth said:

Alex is of Indian descent. 

Corrected, thanks

[Katsullivan]

On 28/02/2018 at 12:50 PM, HunterHunted said:

The CW is probably the single most diverse network on tv.

The CW is a perfect example of how representatives does not equal representation.

[HunterHunted]

44 minutes ago, Katsullivan said:

The CW is a perfect example of how representatives does not equal representation.

I agree. It's why race is actually addressed on Black Lightning even though the Flash had 4 Black cast members and one Latino cast member. Seriously, the Flash had more regular characters of color than white regulars and race is almost never addressed on the show.

[Katsullivan]

23 minutes ago, HunterHunted said:

I agree. It's why race is actually addressed on Black Lightning even though the Flash had 4 Black cast members and one Latino cast member. Seriously, the Flash had more regular characters of color than white regulars and race is almost never addressed on the show.

It's in something as simple as the latest episode of Black Lightning, when Jefferson's Q was narrating some techno-babble to BL and Jefferson's response was to summarise it, "so it's feedback" or something like that.

The same conversation in the Flash would have had Iris or Joe or Cecile or even Wally West, an engineer who rigs out racing cars for Speed Force's sake! - asking that inane, "can you say that in English?" or "no, say it simpler (because I'm too black stupid to understand)". I don't think the writers even know that they're doing this. The racism on that show is so subconscious and pervasive.

And yeah, like you said - it's a show that on paper would get high marks in diversity. Which goes to show that it's more than just putting a lot of brown/black bodies on your sets.

[jhlipton]

1 hour ago, Katsullivan said:

The same conversation in the Flash would have had Iris or Joe or Cecile or even Wally West, an engineer who rigs out racing cars for Speed Force's sake! - asking that inane, "can you say that in English?" or "no, say it simpler (because I'm too black stupid to understand)". I don't think the writers even know that they're doing this. The racism on that show is so subconscious and pervasive.

On the other hand, the techno-geek on Legends of Tomorrow was black.  The current techno-geek, who has to translate to everyone, is the Muslim woman.

[pivot]

On 2/25/2018 at 2:46 PM, jhlipton said:

I'm watching Imposters on Netflix, and it has a major casting fail.  Two of the main characters, who interact with each other are largely undistinguishable -- two skinny white guys:

It would have been far better to have "Ezra" (Left) played by an East Asian man -- that would make it easier to tell who's who.

Wow, I don't think they look anything like. 

[Katsullivan]

1 hour ago, jhlipton said:

On the other hand, the techno-geek on Legends of Tomorrow was black.  The current techno-geek, who has to translate to everyone, is the Muslim woman.

That's nice but I was talking about the Flash.

[JustaPerson]

1 hour ago, pivot said:

I'm watching Imposters on Netflix, and it has a major casting fail.  Two of the main characters, who interact with each other are largely undistinguishable -- two skinny white guys:

I watched Imposters on netflix too (meh) and they were pretty easy to tell apart *shrugs* and I confuse white faces a lot.

[jhlipton]

1 hour ago, Katsullivan said:

That's nice but I was talking about the Flash.

I thought we were talking about the CW in general.

 

30 minutes ago, JustaPerson said:

I watched Imposters on netflix too (meh) and they were pretty easy to tell apart *shrugs* and I confuse white faces a lot.

After a while, it got easier, but they still could have made them a bit more different.

[paulvdb]

4 hours ago, Katsullivan said:

It's in something as simple as the latest episode of Black Lightning, when Jefferson's Q was narrating some techno-babble to BL and Jefferson's response was to summarise it, "so it's feedback" or something like that.

The same conversation in the Flash would have had Iris or Joe or Cecile or even Wally West, an engineer who rigs out racing cars for Speed Force's sake! - asking that inane, "can you say that in English?" or "no, say it simpler (because I'm too black stupid to understand)". I don't think the writers even know that they're doing this. The racism on that show is so subconscious and pervasive.

I wouldn't consider this an example of racism. It is something that happens on most shows where someone technobabbles and another character ask that same question. On The Flash the character asking that question is usually Joe who happens to be black but if Joe had been white he would have asked that same question.

[possibilities]

Jane the Virgin, I think is an example of representation on The CW. Also, Josh on Crazy-Ex Girlfriend (especially in earlier seasons; he was pretty marginalized more recently). I don't watch their superhero shows other than Black Lightning, so I have no opinion about them.

Superstore (NBC) has a very diverse cast, but they don't really focus on "the diversity" directly. Still, I'd rather see the casting even if it's not developed as a story.... Actually, I think sometimes they've focused on it, as with Mateo being undocumented. But in general the show takes the approach of not making it much of an issue.

[HunterHunted]

5 hours ago, nosleepforme said:

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend also has Heather and Valencia beyond Josh, then there are also minor recurring characters like Father Brah or that one black guy in the office (whose name I forgot). And one thing that I thought was great too about the show was that they also consider the extras in the background and try to have diverse extras too and not just white people walking around in the background. One scene in particular that stands out to me in terms of diversity on that show is how in the pilot they had couples dancing around Paula and Rebecca in a scene and one of the couples was an interracial gay couple. I don't think many shows aim to be diverse in the background too. 

 

BTW this is an interesting article about actors who played token black characters in the 90s and what their experience was like.

A decent number of the background and recurring characters are also writers for the show. Rene Gube plays Father Brah who is also Filipino.  Gube also writes and produces for the show. Bert, from Rebecca's group therapy, is played by writer and executive producer, Michael Hitchcock. Esther Povitsky who plays Maya writes and produces her own show, Alone Together, on Freeform. Other writers have shown up as nurses, the flight attendant during Rebecca's suicide attempt, Dr. Roth, and Audra Levine's fiance.

The thing I like about the show is they will give mini character arcs to side characters. The Black guy you're thinking of is Jim. One of my favorite character beats about Jim is his imaginary will they won't they with Rebecca. Another character is Paula's law school friend, Sunil, who has a ton in common with Rebecca, but can't stand her.

[DearEvette]

CEG doesn't really delve into race.  It tends to be more in your face about its LGBTQ representation.  But there have been a few times:  Rebecca hanging out with Josh's family and participating in some traditional Filipino customs.  Rebecca is Jewish so that has come into play a few times most notably with the scenes that went along with the 'Oh How We've Suffered' song and the 'Jap Rap' with the two lawyer Jewish American Princesses battle rapping each other.  We did get a smallish scene in S3 to find out that Heather was actually biracial half-black/half white but that was probably response to the actress always being mistaken for being Indian.  I did like this season we got the 'Where are you from, no where are you really from?'  conversation between her and her boss(?).  And because she doesn't really spell it out for him, he hilariously gives her a gift meant to celebrate her heritage and it is I think a Sari or something really specific to Indian culture.  So the mistaking her for Indian joke is played through again. Mostly though CEG is about mental health with the entire reason of the show being Rebecca's personality disorder.  Overall, CEG has done a good job about inclusion and representation.

With The Flash I am not really missing them not going into some overt examination about race wrt the West family.  It is good enough for me that Iris is the leading lady and she is loved and loves and has a family and an inner life and is important to plot and drives plot sometimes.  And that Joe is an emotional center for his kids and he is important and has a life and also feels critical to the plot.  Making some conscious or unconscious examination about race doesn't feel like it fits the fabric of that particular show in the way it is essential to the DNA of Black Lightning.  Frankly, I feel it would come off as more of a 'very special episode' vibe than something organic.  To me Flash has its own particular lane.  This is the show that is set in a city where a super powered villain can detonate a radioactive bomb in the middle of the highway during rush hour and the people will just glance over disinterestedly and keep driving. 

I guess representation for me at least isn't about 'let me show you I'm (insert race/ethnicity here)' but rather 'I am (insert race/ethnicity here) and I am on screen showing that we too can live and do the same things in the same ways as everyone else.'

Edited March 3, 2018 by DearEvette

[Katsullivan]

On 25/02/2018 at 3:46 PM, jhlipton said:

I'm watching Imposters on Netflix, and it has a major casting fail.  Two of the main characters, who interact with each other are largely undistinguishable -- two skinny white guys:

I just tried to watch Greenhouse Academy on Netflix and it's exactly the same problem. Apart from 2 black boys, the curly dark-haired white lead boy, and his dark-haired sister, every other character on this show is like a clone of someone else. There are 3 or 4 or 5(?) blonde girls that I literally cannot tell apart. There are about half a dozen white boys with the same haircut, and what makes it even worse is that one of them is supposed to be a Professor. 

[paulvdb]

I feel the same way about Greenhouse Academy. I watched two seasons and still can't tell some of the characters apart.

I remember feeling the same way about the guys on Veronica Mars. At first I couldn't tell Duncan, Logan and Troy apart. Luckily Troy left after a few episodes so there were only two similar-looking white guys left.

I'm generally bad at recognizing faces, so for me it really helps if characters have different skin color, hair color, hair style and/or facial hair.

[Hybridcookie]

11 minutes ago, paulvdb said:

I remember feeling the same way about the guys on Veronica Mars. At first I couldn't tell Duncan, Logan and Troy apart. Luckily Troy left after a few episodes so there were only two similar-looking white guys left.

 

I remember reading that apparently the network had a  concern about the similarity between Duncan and Logan, so they came up with a colour code where Duncan would wear blue and Logan would wear earth colours to tell them apart easier

[Katsullivan]

4 minutes ago, Hybridcookie said:

I remember reading that apparently the network had a  concern about the similarity between Duncan and Logan, so they came up with a colour code where Duncan would wear blue and Logan would wear earth colours to tell them apart easier

Colour codes for actors. And the funny thing is that I'm sure the irony escaped them.

[Dee]

NHMC Protests Lack of Latino Representation in Studios: ‘Enough Is Enough’

Quote

Organized by the National Hispanic Media Coalition, the demonstration is their second tied to the Oscars, which this year — like many years — featured no Latinos nominated in any of the acting categories. But the protest is not aimed at the Academy. Instead its targets are movie studio heads and executives whom organizers say have not done enough to diversify their own ranks and to hire Latino actors and writers.

Alex Nogales, president and CEO of the coalition, told demonstrators gathered that the organization would demand meetings with studio executives from the six major studios. “They have ten days at the very most to come and talk,” Nogales said. “And if they do not, there will be a boycott.”

Edited March 3, 2018 by Dee

[Fukui San]

Speaking of Latino representation, I do a podcast where I interview playwrights in Boston. In my February episode I interviewed a Latinx playwright. I asked her if she could think of a single fictional Latinx character who was from Boston. TV, movies, books, etc. Neither of us could think of any, not a single one. Latinos are currently 20% of the city population! It's nuts.

I'm Asian and I'm used to being underrepresented, even though if they set a thing in a college they'll throw a few Asians in the background even if it's a story that was about Asian people in real life. I'm looking at you, 21. And The Departed had Asian Triad gangs. But from Cheers to Boston Legal to Spenser for Hire to a large portion of Matt Damon and Ben Affleck movies, to little weird indie films like Last Stop Wonderland and Harvard Man, we couldn't come up with anything for Latinos, not even bit parts.

After I while I came up with Eduardo Saverin from The Social Network, and one character name from Boston Public. That's it to date. Is there anything obvious I'm missing?

[jhlipton]

3 hours ago, Fukui San said:

I asked her if she could think of a single fictional Latinx character who was from Boston.

TV shows from this Wikipedia entry:
Flávio Rocha (Brazillian) on Boston Med
Kirk Acevedo (Puerto Rican) on Fringe
Benjamin Benitez (Mexican/French-Morrocan) on Tru Calling

Movies from this one:
José Zúñiga (Honduran) in Next Stop Wonderland
Armando Riesco (Puerto Rican) in Fever Pitch

There may be more -- I didn't check every entry and not all actors have their or their parents nationality.

[Trini]

9 minutes ago, jhlipton said:

TV shows from this Wikipedia entry:
Flávio Rocha (Brazillian) on Boston Med
Kirk Acevedo (Puerto Rican) on Fringe
Benjamin Benitez (Mexican/French-Morrocan) on Tru Calling

But are the characters they're playing identified as Latinx, though? I don't remember all the details from when I watched Fringe, but Acevedo's character didn't have an obviously Hispanic name, and I don't remember him being identified as Latinx. I haven't watched the other shows.

[jhlipton]

2 minutes ago, Trini said:

But are the characters they're playing identified as Latinx, though?

That would be even harder to check, since Wikipedia doesn't list the ethnicity of a character unless it's a fairly major point.

(I guess I'm the only one who uses Latin@ -- I think it combines the 'a' and 'o' in one character...)

[biakbiak]

Boston Med was a documentary series so  Dr. Rocha wouldn't qualify as fictional character and he was only on two episodes and wasn't heavily featured.

[jhlipton]

8 hours ago, biakbiak said:

Boston Med was a documentary series so  Dr. Rocha wouldn't qualify as fictional character and he was only on two episodes and wasn't heavily featured.

Details, details, details!!!  At least I tried! :)

[Trini]

So a relative is re-watching Relic Hunter*, starring Tia Carrere, and it got me thinking: Off the top of my head, I can't think of any dramas featuring an Asian/Pacific Islander lead -- only sitcoms/comedies. Anyone know of any drama series with an Asian/PI lead? On a broadcast or cable network? (in the U.S./Canada, I guess) I'm sure I've heard of a couple but I'm blanking.

*(was a Canadian production that aired in syndication)

[Silver Raven]

Ian Anthony Dale in "The Event", though Jason Ritter was really the lead.

John Cho in "Flash Forward", though Joseph Fiennes was really the lead.