BIG CUT IN ROLES FOR ASIAN, LATINO MALES SAG REPORT SHOWS DECLINE IN DIVERSITY ON-SCREEN.

Byline: Greg Hernandez Staff Writer

The number of leading roles in episodic television for Latino and Asian male performers each declined by more than 30 percent in 2003, dramatically worse than a 1.6 percent drop in work for actors overall, according to the Screen Actors Guild.

Data for the SAG report were collected by gender, age group and ethnicity of cast members performing under the union's television and theatrical contracts. They also showed, among other things, that roles awarded to white performers remained at a steady 73.5 percent while Latino performers overall were cast in 10.5 percent fewer roles last year than in 2002.

``There are so few programs that are by and about Latinos on network television that when you lose one, you see the staggering impact in the employment statistics,'' observed Kathryn Galan, executive director of The National Association of Latino Independent Producers.

Galan said Thursday that the cancellation of such shows as ``Kingpin,'' ``Brothers Garcia'' and ``Greetings from Tucson'' caused the 2003 numbers to plummet because there is already a dearth of Latino-themed shows.

``When you lose one show, you see the staggering impact,'' she said. ``You suddenly have 20 less Latinos when you had only 25 to start with.''

Other findings include:

--A 3 percent decline in roles for African-American performers, but a 15.3 percent share of overall roles, which exceeds the groups' 12.8 percent share of the U.S. population. Nevertheless, leading roles in films for African-American males were down a whopping 35.1 percent from 2002.

--Asian/Pacific Islander performers secured only 2.5 percent of all roles in movies and television, despite representing 3.8 percent of the U.S. population.

--Women continue to be underrepresented, with only 38 percent of the roles in television shows and films. The situation is even worse for women over 40, who were cast in a mere 11 percent of roles, compared with 25 percent for men over 40.

--American Indian performers were the only group to gain ground, being cast in 128 roles. This marked a 40.7 percent increase over 2002.

SAG President Melissa Gilbert said the data should serve as a ``wake-up call'' for the entertainment industry.

``This is compelling evidence that what we see on television is simply not the America we live in today,'' Gilbert stated. ``SAG and its members are deeply committed to reflecting the diversity of our country and its working actors on television and in the movies.''

Gilbert said the guild will be ``vigilant and active'' in working to make those responsible for hiring performers more aware of female and ethnic minority talent.

SAG also reported that the proliferation of reality programming and more productions taking place in foreign countries continue to take a toll on the number of jobs available to television and movie performers.

Greg Hernandez, [phone]

greg.hernandez(at)dailynews.com