*Actress Anjelika Washington recently opened up on Instagram about working on a production with a white female stunt double who producers had “painted” black.
The actress, who currently stars on CW’s “Stargirl,” wrote on her social media post: “I was very uncomfortable (as anyone would be to meet your double in blackface) so I spoke up for myself, I pulled one of our producers aside and asked “Why isn’t my stunt double black like me? Isn’t that the point of a “double?” She responded “Sure. But we couldn’t find a black stunt double in LA. Los Angeles doesn’t have many black stunt performers. But aren’t you happy to be working? You should be thankful to be here.”
She continued: “….I immediately started to question myself: “Do I sound ungrateful? Am I complaining? Maybe this is just how it is?” So I said “okay.”, I sat down in my chair, shut up, and tried to think positive thoughts. (Hence my smile in this photo) But really, I felt powerless, voiceless, and somehow ungrateful….”
Washington went on to note that the stunt double wasn’t used, which she attributes to kicking “ass in my action scenes.”
She went on to say, “the whole time I kept telling myself “I have to be great. No, I have to be better than great. I have to be so amazing that they don’t need her. No one can know that I have a stunt double in blackface.”
Washington also explained that she had “unfortunately experienced microaggressions and macroaggressions as an actor. None of it is okay. I have always spoken up for myself, but on this day I allowed someone else’s low value of me to override my high value of me. And unfortunately, on days when I don’t feel like educating, or exuding the energy of confrontation- I have allowed it to happen again. IT IS EXHAUSTING. But I am vowing to never ever allow these types of micro & macro aggressions to happen to me again. And you should not either.”
Read her full IG post above about her Black experience in Hollywood.
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