Top-Grossing Films Showed Slight Gains in Diversity of Lead Actors Last Year, Study Says
Women and actors of color made slight gains as the leads of the top-grossing films of 2021, according to a new study released Monday from Stacy L. Smith’s USC Anennberg Inclusion Initiative.Across the 100 top-grossing films of 2021, 41% of movies had a female lead/co-lead, a rebound from 36% in 2020 and slightly below the peak of 43% in 2019. 2021 demonstrates the progress made since 2007, when the percentage of films with a female lead/co-lead was 20%.