I think Archie Panjabi is SO sexy on The Good Wife, but as I was looking through our photos of her, I was reminded of how she’s not that great on red carpets. I think it’s a styling issue. On TGW, her hair is almost always pulled back, but she’s got some volume framing her face. On red carpets, she just slicks her hair back completely and it sucks. Her hair is one of her best assets! Anyway, Archie is currently filming her final season with The Good Wife, plus she appears in the new season of The Fall (she plays the motorcycle-riding coroner in Belfast). So Archie gave an interview to Radio Times about diversity casting and why she’s really leaving TGW. Some highlights:
America is better than Britain at hiring diverse actors: “The great thing about America is they have to have a certain number of people from a diverse background. For Kalinda I was up against Korean people, Chinese, Japanese, African-American — they saw everybody. Over here, in the week I decided to leave, I was auditioning for a BBC show, while in LA I had three studios offering me a deal straight off.”
But Britain might improve: “I think there have been a lot of promises made since Lenny Henry’s comments [about the lack of diversity in British television] and I’m optimistic. I’ve heard the right noises.”
SPOILER for The Fall, but why she’s leaving TGW: “When I was kissing [Gillian Anderson], Allan Cubitt, the show’s creator and director, had to say, ‘Archie, can you hold back?’ because Gillian was supposed to take me by complete surprise. I didn’t think I was very forward in [the scene], but obviously after a while a character starts to affect you. I thought, ‘OK, I think it’s time to go now.’”
[From Radio Times and E! News]
In case you didn’t understand that SPOILER, here’s an explanation: on TGW, Archie plays Kalinda, a bisexual unicorn who sleeps with anyone and everyone, because every other person in the show finds her attractive. I mean, Kalinda is hot, for sure, but after a while it’s like, “Okay, seriously, EVERYONE WANTS KALINDA.” Kalinda mostly has sex with ladies, and I guess six years of playing the same lady-kissing unicorn has made her more susceptible to the advances of Gillian Anderson (who is also playing a kind of bisexual unicorn on The Fall). When Archie realized that TGW was making her all about the ladies, she knew it was time to go.
As for Archie comments on diversity… you know it’s bad when American casting decisions look good in comparison, right?
Photos courtesy of WENN.
And it’s worse for British Asians than it is for British black people (especially considering there are more British Asians). SIGH.
It’s just not very good for Asian actors in Western media. 🙁
I think she’s right. Why so many Brits of color come here for work.
Actually, I think Brits come to the US because a) the industry is bigger so there are more opportunities in terms of numbers, b) because it pays MUCH better and c) because the shows/films sell to more countries so exposure is bigger.
This is not to say Britain doesn’t have diversity problems. But our white guys often head your way, too.
I have kind of noticed… the complete opposite.
I’ve noticed that American TV needs “A reason” for a character to be played by a non-white actor. With the exception of some Shonda shows, the Asian actors play very Asian characters and so forth. In U.K TV, though, sometimes the characters are just not white and it doesn’t really mean anything. Every character is just a person, no one is beholden to steryotypes… most of the time. A few examples: both the black characters on the first two seasons of Misfits could have just as easily been white. Vod on Fresh Meat is black but it never comes up. The slutty drama girl on Fresh Meat in Season One also happened to be Asian. It feels like the UK is way ahead of the US for race on TV.
I agree. Another example is Merlin where Guinivere (? Or some princess, I’ve never actually watched it) is black. I don’t know if there was any sort of uproar about it, but I keep thinking how when Rue (who was described as black IN THE BOOK!) was played by a little black girl and people claimed that the Hunger Games movie was ruined because of it. I think the BBC being state-funded has something to do with it?
Galavant has a white male lead, but two PoC as supporting characters and background characters that aren’t all-white either. I just watched an episode yesterday where the main group was listing their strengths and they said, “And we’re very diverse.” It gave me a laugh.
True! Another thing I have noticed is that there are much more bi-racial relationships in British tv and unlike American shows the “different races” thing is not even part of the couple’s storyline.
LOL, people were upset that Guinevere was played by a black actress.
What about House, Law & Order, Nurse Jackie, The Good Wife, CSI, Thirty Rock, The Black List, etc?
Although, I suppose black people weren’t the leads in all cases, but often they were equal with white actors in terms of supporting roles and screen time. Also, they were all doctors, lawyers or other roles that could have been played by any race.
Although I’m still pissed that Morris Chestnut disappeared from Nurse Jackie. The only good eye candy on the show, and one of the better actors as well.
They did the same thing with Gbenga Akinnagbe, who is a wonderful actor that we just don’t see enough of. In fact, he’s a hell of a lot better than many white actors who get leads, so maybe you’re right..
add to that: luther, being human, switch, doctor who, black mirror and many more.
Freema Agyeman got a lot of racialized hate.
I share your opinion. I was just some weeks ago making this exact comment when watching some British series. I think diversity is a lot more present without being given any special reason (adding to your list: As If, IT Crowd, Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps…). Their characters come to me as more natural and they are usually not the first ones to die, like in most American series where they try to fill the quota of POC.
Anyhow, she might know better than we watchers. I like Archie Panjabi, I hope she gets a lot of high profile roles in the future. I think she could be great as a leading actress.
Hiring is one thing, but character development is quite another. American TV largely homogenizes characters to what marketers believe is palatable to US audiences (Whiteness, overwhelmingly) and Tokenism is still a huge issue here, even though some progress has been made in representation of non White and LGBT persons. UK television is also subject to less censorship than is US, which plays some role, but it really comes down to what marketers believe will bring eyeballs to screens.
[delete]
She’s gorgeous and The Good Wife will not be the same without her.
Agreed. I fear for the show. Without Will and now without Kalinda, I hope it can hold its own. At least we still have Diane and Eli.
Really? I hated Will so much. I was actually happy when that character died. Is that awful of me?
I love Panjabi, but I don’t think for a second that the show will sink without her.
Marguiles, Chris Noth, Matt Czurchy. Christine Baranski, Taye Diggs and Alan Cummings are all incredibly talented actors.
I liked the character Will. He came a long way.
Marguiles has gotten so better, but honestly, I don’t know how she received so many awards in the past, because her performances were often so blah and wooden. I’m glad she found other emotions aside from flat-line. Matt Czurchy, um yes. Christine Baranski, and Alan Cummings are top notch. Taye diggs hasn’t done anything tremendously impressive on the show yet, but nice to look at.
I always heard Britain had a diversity problem, but I’ve never been there.
Yes it does. I have been there many times. It’s very segregated.
She’s a smokeshow.
Also, her leather jacket collection on TGW is the stuff of fantasies.
Funny that you’re mentioning The Fall because during a particularly awful bout of the flu that I’ve had since Sunday night, I’ve been watching insane amounts of television including The Fall. Decent show, not great, but decent enough.
I was really happy to see Archie on it and I’ve always liked Gillian Anderson.
OMG @ Smokeshow. I love it!
You have to read it with a Boston accent 😉
Do she and Julianna Margulies really not get along? Their characters have not shared scenes together in years, even when Will Gardner was killed. It has gotten ridiculous the way the writers have plotted keep them from being in the same room.
I read somewhere that JM was jealous of AP because she won an Emmy right away and was a breakout star in the beginning. JM is a producer now and the Kalinda character has been scaled back in recent years.
Just wondering.
I’ve heard that too, but don’t know if it’s true or not.
I’ve never heard those rumors before. I always just figured Alicia didn’t want to be that close to Kalinda after she found out she had slept with her husband… Made sense within context to me even though I miss when they were good friends and drinking buddies.
I’ve noticed that even when POC are cast in roles in Britain they’re always extremely stereotypical, so even if a show is diverse it’s still disappointing for POC
Phew! I feel better now, thanks Archie for saying that. Now some of you Americans, Y’all can stop whining!
Time for me to check out “The Fall”.
Jamie Dornan is in The Fall–in case you didn’t know 🙂
I am also dying to know….
If JM made this decision it’s a short sided , shoot yourself in the foot move. The PR story being told is that JM didn’t feel that as a result of Kalinda’s character sleeping with her husband that a friendship between the 2 of them was probable/possible ! I disagree but also there are plenty of plot lines w/o their interaction they could have pursued! I want to also note this year has IMO been by the weakest , this coming from an obsessed fan!
In Britain, I think you see South Asians on soap operas (i.e Coronation Street), but not really anywhere else (i.e film).
That’s interesting…and I wonder if it’s more about how Southeast Asians are viewed in UK vs US. Here in America, the stereotype of Asian women as model minorities, exotic sexual beings, etc. can make it seem that there are more opportunities and acceptance. When I was in London in mid- to late-90’s, I was surprised at the hostility directed at my Indian-Anerican friend (she was often referred to as “damn Paki”) whereas I was thought to be a rich Japanese tourist/student (I’m Korean) and while generally treated as an exotic “other,” everyone was nice.
There is a lot of hostility towards Indians in the UK. It’s odd because Brits love Indian food but many aren’t fond of the “Indian take-over”. Indians make up a large portion of England’s population. Some of the older brits (and some young) aren’t too keen on this. There is a lot of segregation. I was born in the UK and visited many times. You see a lot of Indians living in their own neighborhoods surrounded by their own kind and caucasians living separately in their own neighbourhoods as well. If you look at Birmingham, there is a huge Indian population there, as well as Bratford (mostly Pakistani Muslim) and certain parts of London.
I don’t watch a lot of British shows, but I do think we’re seeing increased diversity on TV – much more so than in film, at least.
Honestly, there’s a huge difference between “American casting” on the macro level and “The Good Wife casting” on the micro. TGW has one of the most interesting and insightful relationships with race on television, full stop. They make it a natural part of the world that does go acknowledged, both explicitly and via subtext, without it being What The Show Is About. Shonda’s shows are diverse, and we can certainly name some others that are doing a pretty good job. But by and large they’re the exception more than the rule.
I had thought that UK shows were doing it better based off of the ones that wind up getting attention Stateside, but maybe it just seems that way since we don’t see everything.
no, just no. I’m a brit, and this is so not true. if anything it’s the opposite, you get all sorts of racially diverse characters in all sorts roles. I can only think of a bunch of shows who don’t (like sherlock which makes it in fact laughable).
The British shows we see on US TV support what you say, they do seem more casually diverse to me. One huge difference is that British accents relate to the neighborhood where you grew up, so black British or Irish actors talk like everybody else from their TV neighborhood. On American TV and in films, black actors get accused of “talking white” if their accent is based on geography rather than race and so they often adopt a “street black” accent that isn’t actually their normal speaking accent. Kind of like the days when if a character was Irish, they had to have a brogue (and probably had to be a cop) here in the US. This might be why non-white British actors can actually have more options, they can plug into a greater variety of roles rather than the tiny boxes available in the US.
Oh girl, you’re WAY off. There’s no way in hell it’s the opposite; people are actually stunned when visiting the UK and fining out it’s not exactly lily-white as is so often portrayed on TV shows and in movies. It’s like night and day, with how far behind the UK is, and that’s a real shame since there’s so much good culture and diversity actually present that simply never gets shown onscreen.
Yes, most people aren’t even aware that England’s national dish is NOT fish and chips but it is in fact CURRY. There is a huge number of Indian people living in the UK, but they are note represented on UK TV in the same numbers.
I think it’s sad that minority actors are fighting for a piece of the crumb everywhere they’re not the majority. I do agree it’s better in the US though I think some of that might come down to numbers. I think we tend to do ‘bigger’ films and TV shows where you need several hundred people in the background.
I also think we’re comfortable offering secondary character roles to people of other races. Or as someone said above we offer people roles that ‘fit’ their racial stereotype. The issue we have is highlighting families that are minority groups. Such as with black-ish and Jane The Virgin. Even in the Katherine Heigl/Alfre Woodard show ‘State of Affairs’ Heigl was highlighted in a the commercials before Woodard.
Also once things happen in the real world we tend to be comfortable offering up that perspective, but not before that. For instance since Obama we have a lot of AA individuals portraying the president, but if he hadn’t been elected I truly believe we wouldn’t have. It’s all very complex and confusing for someone simply trying to find work and express their art.
Her name is really cool. Is it a nickname for something longer/punjabi or???
Archie on a girl is very sexy, IMO!
I’ve never seen the show,b ut I agree with others saying that British tv and film is much more integrated as far as diversity and roles not being ‘about’ a particular race or ethnicity. The US may have more options and a bigger market, but the way folks are portrayed is usually very specific to a given race or culture, and inter racial relationships are less common. Race doesn’t seem to come up at every single corner with regards to British culture-though of course there are issues-just a different history.
Archana “Archie” Panjabi.
I agree, when you see a non-Caucasian actor/actress on American TV, their ethnicity is almost always a plot or story line for the show. This needs to change.
For what it’s worth, I don’t think Archie was specifically referring to kissing women with that last comment. I think she just meant that she had started to internalize Kalinda’s self assurance and forward/take charge-ness to an extent that it was bleeding out into her portrayals of other characters.