Ed Harris on Native casting

Workshop Held For Native American, Minority Actors

SAG Diversity Workshop Helps To Make Actors More CompetitiveNative American and minority actors in New Mexico are better prepared after a workshop with Hollywood stars in Santa Fe.

The Screen Actors Guild and Robert Redford Enterprises held a workshop at the Institute of American Indian Art to give helpful tips for auditions and assembling a demo tape.

Actors included Ed Harris from "Gone, Baby Gone" and "The Abyss," and Steven Michael Quezada from "Breaking Bad."

"When there are stories about Native Americans, use Native American actors," said Harris who is also a member of SAG's National Task Force for American Indians. "In the history of cinema in the United States, you don't have to go back very far to see a bunch of white guys playing Indians in bad makeup."

Harris said those days are over and New Mexico is a thriving pool of talent with many skilled Native American and Hispanic actors.Comment:  Ed Harris gets it. "When there are stories about Native Americans, use Native American actors." Exactly.

For more on the subject, see Denzel Washington as JFK? and Friday, Tonto, Jacob Black, et al.