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'Matrix' Star Carrie-Anne Moss Says She Was Offered The Role Of A Grandma A Day After Turning 40
Carrie-Ann Moss, best known for her role as the beauty Trinity in the Matrix trilogy, recently came out about becoming the target of Hollywood's ageism and sexism.
While male actors in their 50s, 60s and 70s are cast as leading men with female actors in their 20s as their love interest, those same leading ladies rarely get to continue their careers into their 30s and 40s.
To support a friend and colleague, Moss had a conversation with former Family Ties and Desperate Housewives actress, Justine Bateman about her new nonfiction book, Face: One Square Foot of Skin.
The book discussed Hollywood's emphasis on feminine beauty and youth, prioritizing younger actresses over those who have turned 40 and older. No matter their appearance, female actresses of 40 and above are typically assigned roles as grandmothers and other older figures, and these roles are typically few and far between.
Bateman and Moss had a conversation not just about the book but about their personal experiences in Hollywood with the subject.
Bateman essentially left the industry as an actress after reaching a certain age and turned to writing and filmmaking instead, which aren't as discriminatory in regards to how a female creator looks, though their age can still be a serious obstacle.
Moss recounted:
"I had heard that at 40 everything changed."
"I didn't believe in that because I don't believe in just jumping on a thought system that I don't really align with."
"But literally the day after my 40th birthday, I was reading a script that had come to me and I was talking to my manager about it. She was like, 'Oh, no, no, no, it's not that role [you're reading for], it's the grandmother'."
"I may be exaggerating a bit, but it happened overnight. I went from being a girl to the mother to beyond the mother."
Twitter was abuzz with this information, but the viewpoints were divided.
Some agreed it was terrible but not surprising because, hey, it's Hollywood.
A few also felt the need to point out Moss' age was appropriate for some grandmothers.
Others simply thought the reality of Hollywood misogyny was terrible.
Whether or not her age was 'realistic" for a grandmother role, and whether or not it's Hollywood we're talking about, it's still troubling talented women are being dismissed for primary roles, larger supporting roles or even more consistent work so early in their careers.