Blogs J'cans take on Hollywood

“Jamaicans in Hollywood was created to give a voice to Jamaicans in the industry, to promote Jamaican storytelling, and to increase worldwide awareness of the importance of this authenticity,” Sardia Robinson, president of the two-year-old organisation, told the Jamaica Observer.

She continued: “Authenticity is more important than ever. Audiences demand it, and they quickly recognise when authenticity is not present.

“We support the idea that acting roles written for Jamaican characters be filled by authentic Jamaican actors. The authentic Jamaican experience is often misrepresented in film, television, and online performances due, in part, to non-Jamaican actors relying on stereotypes and inauthentic accents in their performances.

“We object to portraying the Jamaican experience as a homogeneous and stereotypical Caribbean experience, perpetrated by decades of Hollywood's insensitivity to real Jamaicans and real Jamaican experiences,” Robinson charged.

An actress who has appeared in the movies Who Wants Me Dead, Murder in the Thirst and T R Y, Robinson is from St Thomas, but was raised in Kingston. She attended Maxfield Park Primary School and later Norman Manley High School.

She migrated to the United States at 19 and earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in theatre at Columbia College Chicago, in Illinois. Her internship was at the famed Goodman Theatre, also in the Windy City.