Originally published October 2, 2016. Updated April 15, 2018.
This week, Neil Calloway argues that it doesn’t matter how old an actor is…
On Tuesday it was reported that, from next year, websites like the IMDb will have to remove details of people mentioned on the site when requested. The Customer Records bill AB-1687 might not sound like much (I thought AB-1687 was a character from Rogue One when I first saw it), but it offers a glimmer of hope for actresses who are all too often written off when they reach 30.
Of course, a big name won’t be able to lie about their age – that sort of thing is too well documented elsewhere, or an intrepid reporter could track it down if they wished – but for a jobbing actor looking for the next job, shaving a few years of their age might just help them get cast in a role.
Like most people, I just use IMDb to settle arguments and work out what I’ve seen people in before, but it has become an indispensable tool in the industry; it’s a digital résumé that’s accessible on your phone; a name comes up in a meeting and you can instantly look at their previous work, and see how old they are. There, of course, lies the problem; it’s been twenty years since The First Wives Club was released, but the line that there are only three ages for women in Hollywood – Babe, District Attorney and Driving Miss Daisy – still holds true. At the first sign of a grey hair or a wrinkle, women are consigned to the rejected pile more than they should be.
The thing is, we all trim and stretch things when we’re applying for a job – ramp up the responsibilities we had in one position, play down the reason we left in another, so why can’t those in Hollywood play fast and loose with the truth a little too? Other people involved in entertainment one way or another do it – there’s confusion over whether Mariah Carey was born in 1969 or 1970, and it’s recently been revealed that blues musician Seasick Steve wasn’t actually a hobo for years as he’d led people to believe (he was a session musician on disco records and produced Modest Mouse’s debut album) and is probably ten years younger than he’d previously stated. Even footballer Tony Cascarino, on moving to play in France, took a year off his date of birth. Why can’t actors do the same? In a recent interview, Gemma Arterton (30 years of age, 140,000 Instagram followers) revealed that casting choices are made by how many followers stars have on social media; knocking a couple of years off your age and posting a selfie every time you get a new outfit doesn’t seem like too bad when it’s your career at stake.
As with pay there’s a disparity between actors and actresses in Hollywood when it comes to age; men can be action heroes into their seventies but women are written off when they hit thirty; they shouldn’t have to lie about their age, but it’s a blunt instrument against the combined ageism and sexism of the industry; if women being forced to do this helps change attitudes, then it’s a good thing. Do you really care if the woman playing Waitress Number One or Receptionist At FBI Headquarters is 39 or 42?
Neil Calloway is a pub quiz extraordinaire and Top Gun obsessive. Check back here every Sunday for future instalments.
