At 53, Anthony Kavanagh is a happy man who, after having lived in Paris and then in Lausanne, has returned to live on his Canadian lands which are so dear to him. The happy dad of Mathis, born in 2011 and Alice, born in 2016, was this Saturday April 29, 2023 the guest of journalist Rebecca Fitoussi on her show One World, One Look on Public Senate. A weekly program offering in-depth and free exchanges with personalities from all cultural backgrounds. And the one who is both comedian, actor and singer did not hesitate to talk about the difficulties he had encountered during his career simply because of the color of his skin. He frankly admits that when he was looking for a role, he was told: “I was told a black doctor doesn’t exist. Ah good ? My doctor is black, it’s magnificent…” And to further explain his point: “You have to justify your presence Anthony.How does that justify? If the character is black, it will have to be justified… And it’s not that I didn’t go knock on doors, I said to myself if they don’t come to me, Mohamed will go to the mountains (laughs from the journalist) and then I went knocking, proposing things but each time, there was a color problem, always…”
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“There is an evolution, I must admit it but there is still something that bothers me…”
Very attentive, the journalist reminds him: “And it’s the reflection of an era you would say, because today we think of Omar Sy, Ahmed Sylla, Thomas N’Gijol…” And the artist to confirm: “Yes it has evolved. Omar Sy it was very funny because there is an actor, maybe two years later Untouchables who said : ‘Omar Sy but the others, no.’ It’s as if you put a single woman to play all the roles… But there is an evolution, I must admit, but there is still something that bothers me, these are the roles that are offered to blacks in French cinema is still the guy from the suburbs, the guy coming out of prison, his mother, she has eight children with eight fathers… it’s small business, we rarely see a young black professional, where a black where we don’t talk about the fact that he is black… once in the film! Like in the United States, you will see actors like Denzel (Washington), Will Smith, Samuel L. Jackson… and the fact that they are black is not mentioned in the film once!” concludes the comedian.
VF
“In Quebec, as in France, I have already been refused the cover of a magazine because of my skin color” confides @kavanaghanthony with emotion at the microphone of @fitouss In #UMRpic.twitter.com/E4JtFpuVVw
— Public Senate (@publicsenat) April 29, 2023