On Tuesday, actor Kal Penn took to Twitter to share some of the offensive audition scripts he was given at the beginning of his career.
Penn — best known for his roles in Harold & Kumar and House — was trying to make his way into Hollywood in the late ’90s, early 2000s.
“Found a bunch of old scripts from some of my first years trying to be an actor,” he wrote alongside a photo of a document calling for such characters as Gandhi Lookalike, Snake Charmers and Fire Eaters.
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Other tweets highlighted roles like Parmesh, a “quirky, Indian lab buddy” whose language “is peppered with Indian cultural references.” And a “25 year old Pakistani computer geek who dresses like Beck and is in a perpetual state of perspiration.”
When he read for one role, he was told by the casting director to make his Hindi accent “a little more AUTHENTIC.”
Penn called out shows including Sabrina the Teenage Witch, Smart Guy and The King of Queens.
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The actor did note that he had some “wonderful” experiences on projects like The Steve Harvey Show, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel and 24.
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He held up House creator David Shore as an example of someone whose casting directions are “largely colour & gender blind.”
Racial stereotyping of Indian and Asian-American actors is a frequently discussed topic.
Silicon Valley star Kumail Nanjiani, who is Pakistani-American, has spoke on the issue. “For brown guys, we’re still in the phase where we’re stereotyped as either nerdy dudes or terrorists, and I think we’re transitioning out of it, hopefully,” he told Vulture.
Comedian Aziz Ansari highlighted the issue in an episode of his comedy series, Master of None. The episode was titled ‘Indians on TV‘ and his character fails to receive a callback for an audition because he is unwilling to use an accent.
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In January, Penn crowdfunded an appeal for Syrian refugees after receiving racist abuse on Twitter.
“To the dude who said I don’t belong in America, I started a fundraising page for Syrian refugees in your name,” he wrote on Twitter.
He raised over US$864,000 for humanitarian charity International Rescue Committee.
Penn is currently appearing in the TV drama Designated Survivor, which stars Kiefer Sutherland.
He gave up a role in the successful TV series House in 2009 to serve in the Obama administration as Associate Director in the White House Office of Public Engagement.
With a file from Kevin Nielsen
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