When I tried to think of successful people in science fiction and horror film who are not white, only one name came to mind: Will Smith. Just look at his resume: Independence Day, the Men in Black franchise, I, Robot, I Am Legend (I try to forget Wild Wild West). These have all been large Hollywood films that did quite well financially. I tried to do a little research to see what lessons others could learn from him, and here’s the advice I came up with:
Be a man with a plan.
Not an original thought, by any means. But Will Smith has been driven since he was a teenager, and he has tackled his career with distinct goals in mind. Even sci-fi was a calculated choice, with a 1990 Smith realizing that the top ten grossing films of all time all had special effects involved. So, for multicultural actors looking to make it big, sci-fi is not a bad place to start. But no matter what route you want to take, approach it with a clear plan and a strong work ethic. And who knows? Maybe you’ll even have a blog post written about you one day!
Note: Time did a great piece on Will Smith here (http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1689234-1,00.html), which is where I pulled the anecdote about the top ten.
Author: Chris Johnson