I was recently talking to a friend of mine who happens to be an actor about going into television. It seems difficult for actors and actresses who start in successful television shows to branch out to other roles because audiences are so used to seeing them as that character. He made the argument that it is the “normal” actor in these shows that are able to branch out of their television realm. The stock characters or at least characters with distinct differences get pigeon-holed more often.
Moreover, I recently read an article which discussed Lena Dunham’s cast in her show “Girls” trying to get into other parts. She stated that Adam Driver (who plays the male lead on the show) is constantly cast in roles outside of his character in “Girls” while the female characters struggle with finding roles outside of what their character is like in the show.
Dunham commented, “women are typecast and men can play villains, Lotharios, and nerds in one calendar year.”
One of the reasons why the show is so popular is because the characters are so developed and are extremely different from one another, male and female characters alike. And even though the show is made up of predominately women, why is it that they are not experiencing the same success outside of the show?
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