By Sheri Swayne ’26

Contributor Biography: Sheri Swayne is a senior from Baltimore, MD, majoring in English with a creative writing minor. She is obsessed with Toni Morrison and writing critical pieces on racial topics. She’s the editor in chief of Collegian, president of Intervarsity, and enjoys reading, R&B, and action movies. If you ever need to have a productive conversation with her, don’t mention chai lattes, Kali Uchis, or Kill Bill. 

Brief Description: This paper examines racial inequality in the Hollywood film industry, with a particular focus on the experiences of Black actresses. Through an analysis of disparities in representation, pay, and career trajectories, I argue that Black actresses are consistently positioned against white industry standards that limit their opportunities and recognition. I do so by comparing Lupita Nyong’o and Margo Robbie’s careers as a key example. As solution I propose for these racial disparities is rooted in cultural relativism, allowing for more equitable and contextually grounded representations within film. 

The following was written for SOC101: Intro to Sociology

The Hollywood film and television industry is a highly influential center of entertainment and art; the basis of its significance and influence is derived from both its production of movies across numerous genres and the popularity and consumption of these products by the American population. Hollywood’s culture of fame and publicity is a significant contributor to its remarkable status, particularly among the actors and actresses who star in its films. Although Hollywood possesses an immense capacity to represent a diverse array of cultures and peoples, the industry houses a tremendous degree of racial disparities and inequalities, especially toward Black actresses. There is considerable inequality against Black actresses in the Hollywood filmmaking industry, evident in the statistical data regarding the Black presence in film, the substantial pay gaps between Black and white actresses, and the obstructed trajectory of notable Black female actresses’ careers compared to that of their white counterparts. 

In 2022, Associate Professor of Communication at USC Annenberg, alongside the Annenberg Inclusion Initiative, collected statistical data from the filmmaking and publicity processes of the top 100 films of 2022. The findings cover a variety of statistics relating to the lack of Black character portrayal and presence in the filmmaking industry compared to white presence. The study states that among the top films of 2022, “only 13.4% of speaking characters were Black, whereas a sizable 61.7% were white” (Communications Staff, 2023). This statistic, as well as the data point that states “Fifteen out of 100 movies erased Black characters completely on screen” (Smith, 2023, 20), supports Smith’s overarching claim that Hollywood’s intentions are not aligned with the erasure of racial inequality in its industry, nor is it concerned with representing or prioritizing the Black presence in films. Hollywood’s lack of initiative in Black representation and payment in film has resulted in “An epidemic of invisibility” (Smith, 2023, 21) according to Stacy L. Smith’s data and study.  

This is a highly complex and racially charged epidemic, and although it is evident in numerous areas of the filmmaking industry and culture, a notable instance of invisibility is seen in the pay gap between white and Black actresses. In her blog, “‘The Math Ain’t Mathing’: Black Women in Hollywood and the Wage Gap,” Brittany Williams provides a data point from National Partnership research that states, “Black actresses typically make just 64 cents for every dollar white, non-Hispanic actors make” (Williams, 2024). This pay gap is entirely unrelated to the quality of a Black actress’s performance, her ability, or the number of successful acting roles she has acquired. Rather, these inequalities in payment are a result of institutional racism that has upheld issues like underrepresentation, racial bias in casting decisions, and Hollywood’s long history of undervaluing Black actresses.  

The long-term effects of the pay gap are provided by Jocelyn Frye in her article from the Center for American Progress: “Over the course of a 40-year career, Black women lose an estimated $964,400 to the wage gap” (Frye, 2021). Given that Hollywood, in 2024 alone, had a revenue of $8.56 billion (Statista, 2025) and pays its A-listers up to $20 million or more depending on the role and experience of the actor or actress (THR Staff, 2014), the reason for the pay gap affecting Black actresses is rooted less in Hollywood’s finances and more in its racial inequalities. The culmination of each of these issues is simply a lack of roles open to Black women or a trend of overlooking them.  

Despite the variety of reasons behind the pay gap, Williams identifies stereotypes of Black women as a leading contributor. She states: “In the first half of the 20th century, before Black women took center stage, they were forced into offensive, dehumanizing, and stereotypical roles such as ‘mammy’ and ‘sapphire’” (Williams, 2024). Although these specific stereotypes are not necessarily publicized in films today, Williams emphasizes how deeply rooted their effects are in the American consciousness, which manifests itself in modern film. This is arguably a result of ethnocentrism that has affected decision-making around casting and the whitewashing of high-salary character roles, each of which contributes to the pay gap between Black and white actresses. CNN Opinion Editor Sophia A. Nelson exposes a cultural and emotional consequence of this inequality: “Being paid less makes it harder for Black women to break free from generational poverty, and that can lead to lack of educational opportunity, challenges in attaining the dream of home ownership, and a plummeting sense of self-esteem” (Nelson, 2023). These negative effects point to not only the institutional racism and racial privilege rooted in the film industry but also expose a growing internalized racism and even a threat to the life-long opportunities of Black women.  

The vastness of these racial disparities is actualized and more deeply understood when the career trajectories of notable Black female actresses are compared with that of their white counterparts. Among these remarkable Black actresses (such as Viola Davis, Angela Bassett, Taraji Henson, and Octavia Spencer) is Lupita Nyong’o, a Kenyan-Mexican actress who earned attention from Hollywood starting in 2013 when she won an Oscar for her stunning breakout performance in 12 Years A Slave, a biographical historical drama about a Black man who was kidnapped and sold into slavery. In a little over a decade since this film, Nyong’o has acted in thirteen movies, five of which have been supporting roles and only four have been lead roles: Us (2019), A Quiet Place: Day One (2024), Black Panther (2018), and Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015) (Wikipedia Contributors, 2025). Despite winning one of the most prestigious acting awards and starring in two highly rated franchises, Nyong’o has not been offered many lead roles. In an interview with Vanity Fair, she claims that “It was actually really sobering when the scripts after I won [the Oscar] were to play other enslaved people… The scripts I was receiving were no scripts that show any sort of growth in an upward direction” (Nyong’o, 2024). The trajectory of Nyong’o’s career as a Hollywood actress, even though her talent has been recognized and thoroughly proven, has been limited arguably due to the amount of racial inequality in the Hollywood film industry. These claims and pieces of evidence are made even more apparent when Nyong’o’s career is compared with that of Margot Robbie, an Australian actress who got her breakout start in the same year as Nyong’o.  

In 2013, Robbie starred in The Wolf of Wall Street, a famous comedy and thriller. Since her performance, Robbie has acted in 25 films, almost double Nyong’o’s, in addition to her off-screen directing positions, which Nyong’o was never offered. Where Nyong’o has acted in four lead roles, Robbie has performed three times as many, the most notable of which have been Barbie (2023), I, Tonya (2017), Birds of Prey (2020), and Suicide Squad (2016) (Fandango, n.d.). By the time Nyong’o had her secondary lead role in 2016 following 12 Years a Slave in 2013, Robbie had already starred in six films, very few of which were highly rated or successful in the box office. Additionally, Robbie’s roles following the year of Nyong’o’s secondary lead role in 2016 either underperformed in revenue or were critically acclaimed. Despite numerous film offers and performances, Robbie’s filmography cannot be identified as outstanding or high-quality, nor have any of her performances been awarded an Oscar (NY, 2025). The upward and diverse trajectory of Margot Robbie’s career contrasts starkly when compared with Lupita Nyong’o’s, and a leading reason for this is the racial disparities between Black and white actresses, exacerbated by the institutional racism embedded in Hollywood’s film industry.  

Through analyses of the pay gap between Black and white actors and actresses, the overall Black presence in film, and the trajectory of Black actresses compared to white, the evidence of racial inequality in the film industry is confirmed. The accomplishments of Black actresses can be said to be evaluated through their comparison to their white counterparts and their careers oriented around the standards of a dominant racial group. Solutions that address such a deeply rooted disparity would undoubtedly be founded on the ideas of cultural relativism. Its implementation in the Hollywood film industry would take advantage of its capacity to mass-produce accurate representations in entertainment, allowing films to be understood and interpreted within their own cultural contexts while employing and acknowledging actors and actresses who are the most equipped to do so.  

References 

Box office revenue in the U.S. and Canada 2024. (2025, January). Statista. https://www.statista.com/statistics/187069/north-american-box-office-gross-revenue-since-1980/ 

Fandango. (n.d.). Margot Robbie Filmography and Movies. Fandango. Retrieved November 13, 2025, from https://www.fandango.com/people/margot-robbie-574812/film-credits 

Frye, J. (2021, November 17). Women of Color and the Wage Gap. Center for American Progress. https://www.americanprogress.org/article/women-of-color-and-the-wage-gap/ 

Nelson, S. (2023, December 29). Opinion: When the pay gap decimates the wages of even a top Hollywood star. CNN. https://www.cnn.com/2023/12/29/opinions/taraji-henson-hollywood-pay-black-women-color-purple-nelson 

NY, G. (2025, April 5). Margot Robbie vs. Lupita Nyong’o: Viral Video Unpacks Hollywood’s Pay Gap Drama. Shine My Crown. https://shinemycrown.com/margot-robbie-vs-lupita-nyongo-viral-video-unpacks-hollywoods-pay-gap-drama/ 

Nyong’o, L. (2024, October 1). Lupita Nyong’o Finds Her Voice (Vanity Fair, Interviewer) [Interview]. https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/lupita-nyongo-wild-robot-little-gold-men-awards-insider 

THR Staff. (2014, October 2). Hollywood Salaries Revealed, From Movie Stars to Agents (and Even Their Assistants). The Hollywood Reporter. https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/hollywood-salaries-revealed-movie-stars-737321/ 

Wikipedia Contributors. (2025, November 2). Lupita Nyong’o. Wikipedia; Wikimedia Foundation. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lupita_Nyong%27o 

Williams , B. (2024, February 16). “The Math Ain’t Mathing”: Black Women in Hollywood and the Wage Gap. National Partnership for Women and Families. https://nationalpartnership.org/the-math-aint-mathing-black-women-in-hollywood-and-the-wage-gap/