Freida Pinto says ‘stereotyped' roles and Hollywood’s ‘lack of imagination’ nearly ruined her career

Actress Freida Pinto, who shot to fame with Danny Boyle’s 2008 Oscar-winning British drama film Slumdog Millionaire, has made some shocking revelations about her career and how she did not get any work in Hollywood for more than two years after she refused to take up “stereotyped” roles.

Speaking at the NYWIFT Awards, Pinto expressed her frustration over being typecast in films again and again and also called out Hollywood over its “lack of imagination and diversity”.

“Stereotypes after stereotypes, lack of imagination, lack of willingness to do something different, to try something new, really started gnawing at me and left me frustrated and I started turning down roles,” said the Slumdog Millionaire star.

Sharing how she was booted out of a Hollywood film soon after she turned out to play a certain kind of role, explaining, “Guess what? The offers began to disappear too. I stayed unemployed for a painful two and half years.”

The actress further talked about how bagging a role in Danny Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire made her feel proud. “I was a rebel, directed and acted in my own plays, went to study at a prestigious college, and directed and produced more plays. All I could ever think of was I want to create what I want to perform. And then after months and months of rigorous auditions and hard work, I found myself in the world of Danny Boyle and Slumdog Millionaire. It felt like I had manifested this moment and I was so proud of it,” said Pinto.

“I believed I deserved to be exactly where I was, truly and completely. But always smiling, always grateful,” she signed off.

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