END OF THE HOLLYWOOD WHITEWASH

The #Oscarssowhite campaign to diversify Hollywood had a blind spot: Arab women, who were still classed as caucasian despite decades of under-representation and stereotyping. Until Azita Ghanizada got involved. The actress tells Chris Newbould how she put

It seems incredible to think that, until July last year, actors with a Middle Eastern background were, at least as far as Hollywood was concerned, Caucasian. From Morocco to the Levant and the Gulf to Afghanistan, if you were from that patch of land east of Europe, but not quite on the main Asian landmass, you were considered Caucasian, just like European and American actors. “Does this matter?” you may well ask. It does according to Azita Ghanizada, a successful Afghan-American Hollywood actress who has appeared in shows such as NCIS and How I Met Your Mother.