Priyanka Chopra Jonas says people couldn’t “understand the concept of having a brown leading lady” when she first began acting in Hollywood.
Priyanka Chopra Jonas
The 38-year-old actress has opened up on the discrimination she faced when she first came to Hollywood to pursue an acting career, as she said executives wouldn’t hire her for leading parts because she wasn’t white.
Priyanka – who was born in India but studied in America as a teenager – kept pushing for better roles because she had “faith” in her own abilities, and was determined to “demand something different”.
She explained: “I started doing music in America first. I was signed to Interscope records, I put out a couple of records, but the music was just, to me it just didn't live up to my creative standards.
“So I pivoted into what I knew best, which was acting and when I started looking for the parts I wanted to do in Hollywood, I realised that I don't think people could understand the concept of having a brown leading lady or man in mainstream entertainment.
“I don't mean genre movies, I don't mean independent cinema, but I mean mainstream Hollywood movies and shows. That conceptually was strange for me but it was also an impetus to demand something different.
“I had a lot of faith on what I could bring to the table, I know what I could do when I got onto a set and I just wanted the opportunity to be on one.”
The beauty – who is married to Nick Jonas – landed her first major US television role when she took on a lead role in ‘Quantico’ between 2015 and 2018, but says it “still says a lot on how far diversity has to go” that it took her so long to find a lead role.
Speaking on ‘The One Show’, she said: “That kind of happened with ‘Quantico’, which is the first show that I did here. But I was still the first South Asian to ever be the lead on an American show. I mean, better late than never yes, but it still says a lot on how far diversity has to go.”