Priyanka Chopra is determined to push "the powers that be" in Hollywood
The 39-year-old actress hopes to tell predominantly south Asian stories on the big screen, and she's eager to break down barriers in the American film industry.
17 January 2022
Priyanka - who enjoyed huge success in India before becoming a Hollywood star - said: "I may make my mistakes, because this is not a mantle I was looking for. But I think collectively, each one of us can push Hollywood, and push the powers that be, and be demanding and not just polite about it.
"I've been polite for a very long time. Now it's time to say, 'I'm sorry, that doesn't work,' and to fight for your characters.
"As a producer, I'm so grateful that I get the opportunity to do that, to be able to make stories and look for stories that normalise different cultures of the world."
Priyanka landed the role of Alex Parrish in the ABC series 'Quantico' in 2015, and that marked a major turning point in her career.
The actress explained that it opened doors for her in the US.
She told the February issue of Vanity Fair magazine: "'Quantico' for me was a really big win. Not just because of being the first time an Indian or south Asian actor was lead of a network show, but, more than that, because I was not put in the box, like the show wasn't 'My Big Fat Indian Wedding'."
Priyanka hopes her Indian background is now seen as an "asset", rather than something that defines her career.
The actress - who also starred in 'Baywatch' and 'The Matrix Resurrections' - said: "After that, I just started looking for parts like that, where my ethnicity is something that is an asset [but] I'm not defined by it."
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