The conversation surrounding diversity in television and film shouldn't just be a discussion about a person's skin color, according to Idris Elba.
On Monday Elba delivered a speech to the United Kingdom Parliament where he explained what diversity really means to him as an actor.
“I'm not here to talk about black people, I’m here to talk about diversity," Elba said to the Parliament members and press in attendance. "Diversity in the modern world is more than just skin color -- it’s gender, age, disability, sexual orientation, social background, and most important of all, as far as I’m concerned -- diversity of thought. Because if you have genuine diversity of thought among people making TV and film, then you won’t accidentally shut out any of the groups I just mentioned.”
The “Luther” star went on to recall his past frustrations receiving scripts that called for a “black male” character.
“None of us are just one flavor or one color. If we were, we’d be one- dimensional," he said. "And that’s what used to drive me mad as an up and coming actor. My agent and I, we’d get scripts and we were always asked to read the “black male” character. Or 'the athletic type.' But when a script called for a 'black male,' it wasn’t describing a character. It was describing a skin color.”
Check out more of Idris Elba’s speech in the clip above.
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