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| Simone Ashley and Jonathan Bailey promoting a show that barely promoted them and their season. |
Last night, I dreamed about meeting Jonathan Bailey and Simone Ashley (Netflix Bridgerton’s Viscount Anthony Bridgerton and Viscountess Kate ‘Kathani’ Bridgerton) backstage during two simultaneous awards shows— the upstairs SAG Awards and the downstairs NAACP Image Awards. I thought, “how strange that the minority artists are being celebrated below, a similar arrangement happens in the visual arts.”
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| Jonathan Bailey stars in Jurassic Park Rebirth with the actress known for taking roles meant for minorities— Scarlett Johannessen. DP: John Mathieson. |
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| Simone Ashley’s scenes were cut from F1, IMDb credit removed. Pictured with would-be costar Damson Idris. The Walk In Magazine Instagram. |
The dream simply signifies Bailey and Ashley’s separate career trajectories. Two people will star in a piece together (cruel cuts withholding true depth nonetheless) and then move onto other avenues, someone potentially having more shining opportunities. It will not always be both on top at the same time.
Yet, it seemed a perfect coincidence for Bailey’s Jurassic Park Rebirth to arrive in theaters after Simone’s F1...
Bailey has starred in endless back to back projects Showtime’s Fellow Travelers, the Wicked two parter, and an extended London theatre revival of Henry V. Whereas L’Oreâl ambassador Ashley has a minor part in the theatrical live-action The Little Mermaid remake and two Amazon Prime releases: The Night Before Christmas in Wonderland and Picture This, and a few coffee commercials and magazine covers. Controversy spread over the net regarding her cut scenes from last weekend’s number one box office film F1.
“Ashley’s appearance in F1 amounts to a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment—no dialogue, no arc, no explanation. [Joseph] Kosinski, who also directed Top Gun: Maverick [cutting Manny Jacinto] called the decision routine and praised Ashley as ‘incredible,’ saying he hopes to work with her again. But to many, the praise feels hollow. Ashley spent months promoting a film that ultimately erased her.”
Ashley has the chops and the vocals to become a superior A list actress, needing the time, investment, and the opportunity as Viola Davis eloquently put years ago. Ashley has yet to find a bigger break than Bridgerton— a show still keeping her as lowly seen and heard as possible. In fact, they rarely promote her returns and title her character as Kate Sharma instead of Kate Bridgerton (you won’t catch them slipping up a “Penelope Featherington” post-season three) Lancôme spokesperson Lupita Nyong’o, an actual Oscar winner, also has more pictorial spreads than film credits. For many talented women of color actresses, it appears far easier to value their gorgeous dark skin in fashionable couture than have them play a humanized character for more than thirty minutes onscreen.
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| Kate (Simone Ashley) and Anthony (Jonathan Bailey) were not given the proper love story. Hopefully their portrayers will find behind-the-scenes people who truly care about them in other projects. DP: Jeffrey Jur. |
We’re remaining supportive to Jonathan Bailey— an out and proud gay man who’s seen as a serious actor (featured on Variety’s Actor On Actors interview with Naomi Watts) and may score a future ETO (Emmy, Tony, and Oscar). On the other hand, Simone Ashley hailed by Time, Hollywood Reporter, and Forbes deserves more than word of mouth praise— she deserves physical accolades too. Unfortunately, her roads will be met with tumultuous pitfalls of minimized roles or parts removal altogether because she is not white or lighter skinned. How can she and other minority actresses of her grace and magnitude succeed if the behaviors from big shot heavyweights never change from an ancient industry standard—preferring to shut out darker skinned actresses?
Well, thankfully Simone Ashley started her own production company. Maybe that’s the most solid step to take in order to shift her own career’s direction.
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