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Netflix Increases Asian Leads, Lags in Latino Roles, Report Finds

A smartphone with the Netflix logo is seen on a keyboard in front of displayed "Streaming service" words in this illustration taken March 24, 2020. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/File Photo
A smartphone with the Netflix logo is seen on a keyboard in front of displayed "Streaming service" words in this illustration taken March 24, 2020. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/File Photo
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Netflix Increases Asian Leads, Lags in Latino Roles, Report Finds

A smartphone with the Netflix logo is seen on a keyboard in front of displayed "Streaming service" words in this illustration taken March 24, 2020. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/File Photo
A smartphone with the Netflix logo is seen on a keyboard in front of displayed "Streaming service" words in this illustration taken March 24, 2020. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/File Photo

Netflix Inc has increased the number of Asian and women in lead roles, but still lags in representing Latinos, the disabled and women of color, a study by the streaming platform and the University of Southern California (USC) found.

While there have been strides for diversity in Hollywood in recent years, some communities criticize their lack of progress, both on and off screen.

To understand the lack of representation within the industry, Netflix partnered with USC and founder of the Annenberg Inclusion Initiative, Dr. Stacy L. Smith, to analyze the inclusion metrics of the streaming service from 2018 to 2021 based on gender, race/ethnicity, LGBTQ+, and disability.

The study released on Thursday showed opportunities for women in lead roles, directorial roles and key creative roles have improved.

However it also found that Netflix still lacks significant representation of characters with disabilities, gender-balanced storytelling in series, roles for girls and women of color and opportunities for women writers.

Despite 27% of the US population identifying as disabled, only 1.1% of all characters in Netflix films and series have a disability, the study released on Thursday found, according to Reuters.

The study also showed a lack of progress for Latino actors in Netflix films, who accounted for 5.8% of main casts compared to 17.1% for Blacks and 9.4% for Asians, despite Latinos making up 12% of the US population.

Only 1.9% of writers for Netflix films have been Latino, the study said.

Diversity in casting has improved markedly for Asians, with 41.5% of Netflix series having an Asian lead or co-lead in 2021, compared to only making up 4% of leads and co-leads in both films and series in 2018.

There has also been a significant increase in films and series featuring girls and women, rising from 46.4% in film and 50.6% in series in 2018 to 55% for both in 2021.

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Raspy-voiced Hit Machine Rod Stewart Turns 80

Singer Rod Stewart, with his distinctive spiky blond hair and raspy voice, dominated pop charts during the 1970s and 1980s. Kirsty Wigglesworth / POOL/AFP/File
Singer Rod Stewart, with his distinctive spiky blond hair and raspy voice, dominated pop charts during the 1970s and 1980s. Kirsty Wigglesworth / POOL/AFP/File
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Raspy-voiced Hit Machine Rod Stewart Turns 80

Singer Rod Stewart, with his distinctive spiky blond hair and raspy voice, dominated pop charts during the 1970s and 1980s. Kirsty Wigglesworth / POOL/AFP/File
Singer Rod Stewart, with his distinctive spiky blond hair and raspy voice, dominated pop charts during the 1970s and 1980s. Kirsty Wigglesworth / POOL/AFP/File

Singer Rod Stewart, who helped British rock conquer the world with a string of megahits, turns 80 on Friday -- with no plans to slow down.
Stewart, with his distinctive spiky blond hair and raspy voice, dominated pop charts during the 1970s and 1980s with hits like "Da Ya Think I'm Sexy?" and "Young Turks", notching up more than 250 million record sales worldwide.
He also made headlines for a prolific love life that included relationships with a string of models and actresses including Britt Ekland.
Despite his landmark birthday, Stewart says he has no plans to retire.
"I love what I do, and I do what I love. I'm fit, have a full head of hair and can run 100 meters (330 feet) in 18 seconds at the jolly old age of 79," he wrote last year.
The star will play the legends slot at the famed Glastonbury music festival this summer.
Although his forthcoming European and North American tour dates will be his last large-scale project, he has said he plans to concentrate on more intimate venues in the future.
He will headline a new residency in Las Vegas from March to June.
A tour is also slated for 2026 for Swing Fever, the album he released last year with pianist and ex-Squeeze band member Jools Holland.
As he has approached his ninth decade, Stewart has also made headlines for quirkier reasons such as his passion for model railways and his battle with potholes that have prevented him from driving his Ferrari near his home in eastern England.
The singer, who was knighted by Queen Elizabeth in 2016, has been married three times and has fathered eight children. His third wife is model and television personality Penny Lancaster.
From London to global star
Stewart's story began in north London on 10 January 1945, when Roderick Stewart was born into a middle-class family.
After a "fantastically happy childhood", he developed a love of music when his father bought him a guitar in 1959, and he formed a skiffle band with school friends a year later.
He joined the band Dimensions in 1963 as a harmonica player, exploring his love of folk, blues and soul music while learning from other artists such as Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger in London's blossoming rhythm and blues scene.
Stewart's career took off in 1967 when he joined the renowned guitarist Jeff Beck's eponymous new band, which also included future Rolling Stone Ronnie Wood, allowing him to develop his raw and soulful vocal style and stagecraft while exposing him to a US audience.
He and Wood took up the offer to join mod pioneers Small Faces following the departure of their singer Steve Marriott in 1969 -- the band soon changing its name to The Faces -- shortly before Stewart released his debut solo album.
It was his 1971 third solo release, "Every Picture Tells a Story", that confirmed him as one of the world's most successful artists, reaching number one in Britain, Australia and the United States, where it went platinum.
The album helped define Stewart's rock/folk sound, featuring heartfelt lyrics and heavy use of unusual instruments such as the mandolin, particularly prominent on the album's standout hit "Maggie May".
"I just love stories with a beginning, middle and end," he once said.
'I had the last laugh'
Focusing on his solo career after 1975, Stewart's "Da Ya Think I'm Sexy?" released in 1978 was not to everyone's taste.
"Once the most compassionate presence in music, he has become a bilious self-parody -– and sells more records than ever," Rolling Stone magazine said in 1980.
Never one to be cowed by the critics, Stewart defended this phase, telling an interviewer that audiences "absolutely love it, so I had the last laugh".
Richard Houghton, author of the book "Tell Everyone -- A People's History of the Faces" said that Stewart had "possibly the most distinctive voice in rock music".
The singer had successfully combined writing classic songs of his own such as "Maggie May" or "You Wear It Well" with taking other people's songs -- from Bob Dylan to Tom Waits -- and making them his own .
More recently, there had been four albums of the "classic songs of the 1930s from his Great American Songbook catalogue".
Houghton said audiences could expect to see plenty more of Stewart.
"He's like any entertainer. He loves the spotlight. He's not going to sit at home watching the television when somewhere around the world there's a crowd wanting to hear him sing 'Mandolin Wind' or 'First Cut Is The Deepest' one more time.
"Rod will keep singing until the day he drops," he added.