Priyanka Chopra is one of the most popular Bollywood exports to Hollywood and she has carved a name for herself in the United States of America, thanks to her stellar performance as Alex in Quantico.
However, her journey from Mumbai to New York City has not been without its heartaches and disappointments. In a recent interview with an international magazine, Chopra said she once lost a Hollywood movie role because of her skin tone.
"I was out for a movie, and somebody [from the studio] called one of my agents and said, 'She's the wrong-what word did they use?- physicality.' So in my defence as an actor, I'm like, 'Do I need to be skinnier? Do I need to get in shape? Do I need to have abs?' Like, what does 'wrong physicality' mean?... And then my agent broke it down for me. Like, 'I think, Priy, they meant that they wanted someone who's not brown.' It affected me," she said.
Chopra's skin tone was a cause for concern when she was growing up. Last year, she told Allure magazine that she was highly insecure as a teenager due to her skin tone because girls with darker hues are often told that lighter skin is better.
“Everyone in America wants to get a tan, and everyone in Asia wants to get their skin lightened. I straddle both countries. Girls there are told that they’re too dark or dusky and that lighter skin is better. Because I’m a darker tone, I had issues growing up as a teenager," she told the magazine.
In her latest interview, Chopra also touched upon pay gap between male and female actors and said that in Bollywood the issue is not skirted around. "I've been told straight up, if it's a female role in a movie with big, male actors attached, your worth is not really considered as much," she said.
The 35-year-old actress said she found it difficult to adjust to the entertainment industry, as she came from a home where women had strong opinions. "I grew up in an environment where a woman led the household... He was man enough to say, 'Listen, my wife does this way better than me.' And nobody even questioned it. So when I came out into the big, bad world of entertainment, I was like, 'Oh, well the world's different from my house!" said Chopra.
