"I'd Like to Be Considered For More Than Just Being the Token Brown Girl": RAGE 2 Lead Actress

Amanda Miller, the female lead in RAGE 2, was gracious enough to share her time to talk about her experience in the industry.

[2pacalypsenow]

Who?

[ecchiless]

no idea

[ilikestuff]

That money she’s getting is green right? Buck up ya sexy brown broad.

[2pacalypsenow]

@ilikestuff

Yeah she can def get it

[Prince-Ali]

And that matters because..?

[Welshy]

Because she's wants be recognised, but instead of improving here skillset and taking roles to get recognised, she's in interviews crying about only getting jobs because of her ethnicity.

We've gone from "ethnic minorities can't get jobs because every lead is a straight white male" to "they only hired me because I'm brown".

It's the likes of her that made employment in entertainment about race/gender as opposed to merit, and now that it's a thing, they're essentially complaining that they got what they wanted.

These attention seekers are like dogs chasing cars, once they catch it they have no idea what to do with it. It's all about the thrill of being a contrarian and "sticking it to the man", once they get their way they just start another fight over something else.

[Al_Simmons]

@Welshy, she's not "crying". There are plenty of irrefutable facts and statistics that back up her claims. People like you call it complaining because it's the truth and don't like to hear it. Hold you and your kind accountable and stop trying to sweep it under a rug.

[Welshy]

I don't like to hear the truth? When did I say I even disagreed with what she said? I 100% agree with her that gender/race/political standing get people employment now.

You seem to have missed the point I was making that it's ridiculous that it's now seen as a negative. There has been racial/gender based push for years now for "more black heroes", "more female leads" etc. Now that we're at that point where companies feel pressured to meet that expectation, suddenly it's bad to get hired "because you're brown"? That's what the whole push has been for this entire time, to get minorities and varied genders into roles.

That's why caving in to SJW's is the worst thing entertainment as whole has done. Movies and games got flack for "not being inclusive", now that they ARE being inclusive it's "you wouldn't have hired me if I wasn't a women!". There's no winning with these people.

Notice at no point have I once said I am against any type of person filling any role. As long as it's organic to the artistic vision and done well with no ulterior motives, I'm all for any character. Hence why I like Wonder Woman and Mary Sue's like Captain Marvel can get in the bin.

[Cmoney007]

We can always count on Prince-Ali for his great insight into things. Lol

[Sophisticated_Chap]

An entitled millenial.

[sushimama]

How about you get better at voice acting? If you're good you'll get hired and it bloody well doesn't matter what color your skin is. Something tells me that you know this, but keep on playing that ridiculous card and see how far you get.

[Inzo]

Truth. Great post.

[SamPao]

"Miller also discussed a trend in voice acting where studios are casting ethnically-specific actors, which is simultaneously a benefit and an annoyance."

do you even read before you post your tipical outrage comment?
She sais developers sometimes just chose her because of ethnicity. Has nothing to do with her playing that card....

[Inzo]

Regardless, the post is still relevant because if she thought she was great at voice acting she would not feel that she is a token.

[sushimama]

She is full of it and so is the interviewer. The interview is trash and amateurish. The topic race should never have been brought up in the first place. It's got no bearing at all on her line of work. Good voice actors can manipulate their voice to any type of role. The interviewer should be ashamed of himself and the article should be ashamed of the pathetic clickbait headline. It's a joke

[Prince-Ali]

Bro ignore these to donkeys.. they clearly dont get how the real world works.. they still believe in a world where everything is earned through merit and hard work.. a world that LITERALLY has never existed but clearly they live in a land of make belief....

This is her opinion and feeling and you two (Inzo & Sushimama) are out here being dumbasses about it ¬__¬..

[DaDrunkenJester]

So she is complaining that with the push for diversity that she is getting work? Call it tokenism if you want, but if a dev has a black female character and they want that same requirement for their voice actor... seems like your the perfect fit. You basically have a portion of the voice acting industry carved out for you that is guaranteeing you work just based off your gender and skin color.

Is that privilege?

[frostypants]

@sushimama, then the irritation should be placed on that interviewer. Not her or her extremely not-controversial answer. Seriously, most people here didn't watch the interview, including you, and just want to be triggered, it's so damn obvious...her answer was middle-of-the-road as hell. Anyone who watches the interview and is still angry has spent too much time in a rage-y echo chamber. And I say this as someone who can't stand uber-SJW garbage. This is not that. Not even a little bit.

[Welshy]

@SamPao
"do you even read before you post your tipical outrage comment?
She sais developers sometimes just chose her because of ethnicity. Has nothing to do with her playing that card..."

How is saying that you were only employed because of your race NOT playing the race card? If she wasn't playing the race card she wouldn't have brought it up at all, she could have done her job, get paid and move on to the next one.

[UltraNova]

I mean "that card" is somewhat a guarantee to get you going places these days...

[Prince-Ali]

You're actually an idiot ¬_¬ and clearllyy you didn't read the piece just keep up your racist rhetoric and keep it pushing.

[Inzo]

"they still believe in a world where everything is earned through merit and hard work."

Ahh I get it, you believe everything needs to be handed to you. Thats called socialism, a failed system.

From the article.
"“You’re like, ‘Oh, I didn’t get called in because I was good, you just called me in because you need a brown girl’,” said Miller. “That being said, it doesn’t hurt to get auditions, but I’d like to be considered for more than just being the token brown girl.”"

Thats not her giving an opinion, thats her stating it as fact. Looks like someone else didnt read the article either.

[2pacalypsenow]

Did you read his comment? I didnt read anything racist in it?

Or are you one of those who calls people names when you know they're right but don't want to admit you're wrong?

[carcarias]

I get what you mean but I think the author is the real culprit here and is guilty of using the usual provocative and dishonest headline, imo.

She actually says, 'It's way more positive than negative' but the writer doesn't put that as his headline. Oh no, he has to try and make some kind of social justice issue/complaint out of it. These 'journos', if they even deserve the name, are trash.

As a slightly funny sidenote, I don't even think she looks brown.

[frostypants]

WHOA...chill out, guys. Watch the video. I think you're overreacting. Go to 1:55 where this comes up. Her opinion is a lot more nuanced and benign than what the headline makes it sound like. Ironically her problem (and she's not even really angry about it) is that some developers, in an effort to be more inclusive, are casting people for voice work based on having the same race as their character, which if you think about it is actually an example of PC-gone-wrong and from a practical perspective kind of ridiculous. And on top of that she goes out of her way to state that the issue of most voice actors being white is NOT due to racism.

And they explicitly ASK her to opine on the interaction of her race with her career. She even says "the bad is not too bad". Kind of unfair to blast a person for simply answering a question. She's not being some kind of shrill grievance-obsessed nut about it. There are reasonable people out there...don't be so quick to assume otherwise.

[Lightbullz]

It is not usually very hard to tell the ethnicity from voice, and the accent is more authenthic if the actor and character are the same ethnicity. It is obvious that in some occupations race/ethnicity matters, it would make no sense to have a scandinavian to play a nigerian or viceversa. While discriminating based on looks is generally considered reprehensible, do you think that it is a coincidence that almost all hollywood actors are very beautiful? While it is not completely same for voice actors, a lot of the same principles apply.

[rainslacker]

True. Although I dont know if she's a good voice actress or not. But the truth is, unless something is made of the cast, no one ever really pays attention. Any one of us could probably count the number of voice actors we know by name on one hand, and have fingers left over. But, we could probably know their work if we heard their voice or recognize them from other characters from their portfolio. It's rare when we even comment on their ethnicity, and its usually only when some story comes along pushing some controversy. Last one I remember was with uncharted 4, and the actress did a fine job, although the character herself was kind of bland

[Inzo]

She's brown?

[Profchaos]

Yeah is that picture her because I don't see it

[Bakkies]

I think I'm more brown than her and I rarely see the sun. Reminds me of when Ali G asked "Is it cause I is black?".

[UltraNova]

Priceless! I've nearly diedwhen I heard it the first time.

[Inzo]

Lol! One of my favourite lines from Ali G was a segment on the dangers of technology when he said to politician this "My friend despises technology and never uses it, you can check it out on his website as to why"

[Leeroyw]

My first thought.... She must really struggle with the colour of her skin.... Impeccable and only slightly tanned.... Poor girl.

[Sonyslave3]

Yes she is brown or black her father is African American.

[Profchaos]

Maybe her mum was getting a little on the side from the Mailman

[bluefox755]

Perhaps she identifies as a person of color?

[Inzo]

Lol, I see what you did there.

[SlagWolf]

She’s way whiter then me and I’m suppose to be white

[warriorcase]

"Miller also discussed a trend in voice acting where studios are casting ethnically-specific actors, which is simultaneously a benefit and an annoyance.

“You’re like, ‘Oh, I didn’t get called in because I was good, you just called me in because you need a brown girl’,” said Miller. “That being said, it doesn’t hurt to get auditions, but I’d like to be considered for more than just being the token brown girl.”

----------------

Aziz Ansari talked about something similar in his new special saying that woke white people using different ethnic groups for internet points and how he finds it just weird.

At the end of the day it should always be best person for the job. Race and religion should never come into it.

[DaDrunkenJester]

It SHOULD be about who is best for the job, but in today's day and age that doesnt always fly.

[masterfox]

"I would love to be considered for more than just a guy who loves the Switch" :D

[Neofire]

With her using the term "Token" she's trying to say she doesn't want to be considered just a black girl, which ironically enough she doesn't even look like one(all but one of her photos I could find show her with almost pale like complexion). Her father himself looks bi racial, another one drop rule individual giving actual black people more stereotypes.

Looks more like attention seeking to me.

[Noskypeno]

I remember hearing people compain about Rashida Jones only dating white guys in Tv and in real life.

[traumadisaster]

Can they keep politics out of the one gd website I go to look at video games and escape? No, they even tried to bring it into the nfl last couple years.

Can I please enjoy video games and a football game for a few hours and not have to be inundated with how bad my ancestors are how I continue to hold others back?

[Gwiz]

I can't wait to watch the " apparently " Last Rambo movie,srsly I can't stand the entertainment industry any longer.
An era of kick-ass has come to an end and everything has to be PC these days.

[Profchaos]

I'm actually stoked to see last Rambo it's a dying artform the one man army movie

[drunkenspy007]

No idea who this is. I guess she would not be recognized at all? I'm sure there are plenty of others to easily take up that role.

[BoneMagnus]

If you create a system of equality of outcomes and minority quotas, then people are generally going to think that a minority got the job because of that and not their merit.

[madpuppy]

If I read this right,
Props to this Woman for wanting to be recognized for her hard work and talent rather than her arbitrary physical characteristics.
Looks like your life is much more fulfilling in a world of "Equality" and "Merit" rather than "equity".

[Welshy]

If she wanted to be recognised for her talent, she would be in the booth refining her voice acting and taking as many roles as possible to get recognised organically.

Playing the race card in interviews is a sure fire way to put a big old red flag on your resume and actively work against you being the next big mainstream female voice actor like a Nolan North etc.

I don't buy into the "pull yourself up by your bootstraps" rhetoric, but I equally don't buy into the "is it because I is black" rhetoric at the other side of the scale.

[pwnmaster3000]

That’s what she basically said. She is saying she didn’t want to be called in because she is a brown girl playing a brown character, but rather because she was good. She is taking a jab of “woke” people catering to different ethnic groups to basically get cool points.

[Welshy]

Surely that's just normal practice though. If you're writing a black character, isn't it just natural to find a black person for the role?

On the other side of that coin, if they didn't hire black people for black characters they would get called out for racism and "whitewashing" etc. Either way you just can't win, just let people make what they want and hire who they want to do it.

[Rachel_Alucard]

@Welshy

Naughty Dog had Nadine in Uncharted 4 voiced by Laura Bailey, there was a small surge about it when she was revealed, but nobody came after it past that point. Most if not all of Fox's black characters on Simpsons, Family guy, and Bob's burgers are all voiced by white actors. On the reverse side I've seen a few white characters voiced by Black actors. The actor being the same race doesn't matter, all that matters is does the voice fit the character.

[BrainSyphoned]

1/1024 isn’t too late for a free handout.

[bluefox755]

You all wanted identity politics, you got it. You made your own bed, now lie in it.

[syphon32]

Is she the token brown girl?

[SuperbVillain]

Brown? Where?

[GOULDYBOBS]

She's as bland as the game

[nucky64]

"token brown girl"????? the only thing that's brown-looking about her is her hair. trying to play the race card makes this woman sound like this she has a serious attitude problem.

[AK91]

That girls brown?

[Magog]

You are a lot whiter than me, lady and I'm of northern European decent.

[Hungryalpaca]

She’s brown? Her skin is whiter than mine.

[mastershredder]

Umm yeah your skin color had a shite ton to do with your VO work now there didn't it? Thing is, voice acting (and damn good vo work) is not limited a race, ethnicity or skin color (or whatever the f diversifying spin you have going on). Un-plant your head out of your ass and try again. We are so done with this crap.

[Nineball2112]

She's brown?

[gold_drake]

seems like she's whining about not having enough skill to be recognised.

[Juusterey]

Well maybe if there were less whiners complaining about white/straight characters playing black/gay roles

[Dirtnapstor]

"... so, you are a mixed race female, has that impacted you in your career in any way when it comes to voice acting?"
Really?! Are we digging for controversy? At least she had an objective answer...at first.
Come on, if a studio needs an ethnic type voice, they'll doing a casting call appropriately so. I remember when the people of this industry complained when certain roles were not appropriately allocated just because the top pick was not of the right color. Skill sets are important for a reason.
What is the rule now?

[SPEAKxTHExTRUTH]

On one hand there are people who only get roles because of their race. On the other hand you have Morgan Freeman, Denzel Washington, Halle Berry, John Leguizamo,Andy Garcia, Jenifer Lopez who are all actors of color and very successful at that who are NOT tokens.

My issue is people who do not experience racism should not speak on it and people of color should not always play the race card because you didn’t get your way. Work hard and over come obstacles and you will achieve your goals despite others trying to hold you back.

[Smokehouse]

Your job sounds so awful and oppressive. The struggle is real.

[jordan22290ps]

I get this is a touchy subject with the backlash/mob mentality that's been taking over... But I think we can all just take a step back and at least get the point. Artist just want to be recognized for their talent. And not for the fact that they happened to fit a certain mold. Most anyways.

[SyntheticForm]

I don't care what color you are. Whatever you do for a living - do it with diligence, do it with care, and do it right. No cutting corners.

We don't care what color your skin is - that's the last damn thing anyone cares about.

[WickedLester]

Why do people who come from bi-racial parents seem to ONLY identify as their 50% minority race? After all, aren't they just as much white as they are black?

[Neofire]

Lol how did you determine she is 50% of anything? She looks Caucasian with a sprinkle of African decent, at best.

[WickedLester]

I dont honestly. It was just a general observation I made in light of the topic

[Jared2500]

That’s about as white as brown gets

[Npugz7]

Fuck off you stupid bitch!

[william_cade]

America is so strange. In most countries she would be white. Not saying the color of one's skin doesn't matter to assholes, but to most Americans color is before heritage, which is very different, and heritage is only thrown in at opportune times, instead of actually experienced. It all seems Hollywood to me.

[NiteX]

Brown? She's as white looking as you get. Oh because her hair is brown okay....

[SlagWolf]

I’m sorry I’m lost here???
Who the he’ll is she and why should I give a crap?
You know what forget it I’ve lost interest already

[Bobertt]

Nothing brown about her. Skin, voice, or facial features.

[Rapidfirepunches]

Where's my props for working at my shitty job??

[darkside4125]

Shes as bRown as pocahontas >Elizabeth warren> is indian

[ramiuk1]

doesnt look brown to me, its a sad state though when an employer feels they have to offer certain race,gender jobs because of backlash rather than hire the one they see best for job

[PaleMoonDeath]

Don't give it attention.

[DrShoe]

Who is she?

[mogwaii]

Fucking "brown"?!