‘It’s still quite Caucasian’: Jessica Alba says Marvel films must improve when it comes to diversity

https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/jessica-alba-marvel-diversity-caucasian-b2128492.html

Jessica Alba has said that Marvel still has a long way to go when it comes to diversity.

The actor, who is of Mexican descent, has spoken previously about struggling to land leading roles earlier in her career because she “wasn’t Caucasian enough”.

In a new interview, Alba said that while some things had improved, diversity was still a problem in the mainstream film industry.

“Even if you look at the Marvel movies – that’s the biggest driver of fantasy and what’s happening right now in entertainment, because it’s sort of the family thing – it’s still quite Caucasian,” she told Glamour UK.

“I would say I was one of the few back in the day... And it was before Marvel was sold to Disney... but it’s still quite… more of the same.”

Alba has appeared in superhero films herself, having starred in the 2005 Fantastic Four film and its sequel Rise of the Silver Surfer. Disney, which owns Marvel, now also owns the rights to the Fantastic Four.

She continued: “I just think more for the younger people who are coming up, who are going to be our future leaders, it’s important for them to see the world on screen, or in stories, in the dreams that we create as entertainers; it reflects the world that they’re in.”

In 2017, Alba recalled in an interview how she would often go up for roles described as “exotic”.

“They couldn’t figure out my ethnicity,” she said. “I would always go out for ‘exotic.’

“They were like, ‘You’re not Latin enough to play a Latina, and you’re not Caucasian enough to play the leading lady, so you’re going to be the ‘exotic’ one.’ Whatever that was.”