Gabrielle Carteris reportedly lied about her real age of being 29 in order to play a teenager on Beverly Hills, 90210. Now, that she is President of the Screen Actors Guild, she wants to make it so that no casting agent or anyone will know an actor’s birth year.
She wrote an editorial in
The Hollywood Reporter explaining, “My role on Beverly Hills, 90210 could not have happened for me today, plain and simple. I would never have been called to audition for the part of 16-year-old Andrea Zuckerman if they had known I was 29. Electronic casting sites did not exist in 1990; today, they are prevalent and influential. And they affect casting decisions even when casting personnel don’t recognize their unconscious bias.”
She added that it will be up to the actor whether or not they want their age removed from websites or not.
I see what she is saying, but I think that casting agents and studios look at more than someone’s age when they are casting a part. There are times that someone will put out a notice asking for a young, clean cut, African-American male to play a role, and they they will get sent headshots of an old, long haired, Asian woman to audition for the part by that person’s agent.
It is like, where do you draw the line? Where they were born? Nationality? Hair color? Sex?
It is who is right for the role and sometimes when you have a 29 year old playing a teenager, they start to look their age by the time they are ready to graduate high school on the show as was the case with Carteris.
Look at Bella Thorne, she is 18 but I think she can play 30. Do you think if she was right for the role, an agent would turn her down for the part if they really knew she was just a teenager.
Plus, Matt Damon played someone half his age in Behind the Candelabra, and no one cared.
What do you think?
