Editor’s note: First published in 2019, this commentary has been edited with permission from August Pritchett’s estate. August’s argument and first-person perspective are retained. Factual corrections and present-day editorial context are identified separately below. Updated 25 October 2026.
Should non-disabled actors play disabled characters? For me, the debate comes down to two things: how disability is portrayed and whether disabled actors get the opportunity to work.
When The Upside reached cinemas in January 2019, Bryan Cranston played a wealthy quadriplegic man and Kevin Hart played his hired carer. Cranston is not a disabled actor. This was nothing new in Hollywood.
For disabled actors, hiring a non-disabled actor to play a quadriplegic character was another blow. But I could see why the casting choice was made. My mom’s excited reaction made the appeal pretty clear: it was Bryan Cranston.
From a business perspective, the appeal of hiring an actor whose name audiences recognize is obvious. As someone who’s been disabled my entire life, but also has a lot of knowledge of how film production works, I’m sympathetic to both parties. I’m also a Libra, the mediator of the zodiac, so I can blame my sign for not seeing everything in black and white.
Why casting disabled actors matters
In his January 2019 interview with Sky News, Cranston acknowledged the need to expand opportunities for disabled people while describing his casting as a business decision. He also made an argument familiar to anyone who has followed this debate: “As actors, we’re asked to be other people, to play other people.”
Though I’m not saying he’s entirely correct, Cranston’s comment brings up a point about the very essence of acting: pretending to be someone you’re not.
There are two reasons for the push to hire disabled actors: authenticity and employment. I’ll start with the first, so pull up your armchairs and get your overpriced Philosophy 101 textbook ready, because this is going to get deep. (But not that kind of deep. Get your mind out of the gutter!)
Many people feel that if there’s a disabled character, only a disabled actor can portray that character authentically. But what is authenticity? You can go down rabbit holes so deep you end up on the other side of the planet and still not find a definite conclusion.
Authenticity, accuracy and lived experience
Okay, so I’m just going to be blunt and say what I think: there’s no such thing as authenticity in film, unless it’s a documentary. Even then, it’s still organized so filmmakers are telling one version of the story, making it appealing to audiences.
RJ Mitte, who plays Cranston’s son with cerebral palsy in Breaking Bad, actually has the condition. But he has never been a meth dealer’s son. If an actor had to share every part of a character’s life, casting Walter White Jr. would become a very specific search.
Maybe authenticity isn’t the best word to describe what the disabled community wants when it comes to portraying characters with disabilities. Perhaps a better word is accuracy.
— August Pritchett, this article.
Someone who has experienced aspects of a character’s life can bring that experience to a performance. A non-disabled actor can research what living with a particular disability is like and combine that knowledge with the character’s personality. But there are everyday details that research alone may miss.
Years of navigating by touch, fluency in a sign language, or familiarity with how a particular body moves can matter on screen. Disabled actors may also recognize emotions and experiences that resemble their own troubles and victories. Disability is part of the performance, even when it is not the whole character.
Non-disabled actors in disabled roles: the employment question
Like I said, non-disabled actors can do research to give an accurate performance. This would be fine (not good, just fine, like Ross when Rachel and Joey kissed in Friends), if there weren’t disabled actors not getting hired.
When disabled actors are available and directors choose non-disabled people time and time again, it’s unfair, especially when an actor receives praise and money for playing a disabled character.
The business argument circles back on itself. Familiar names get hired because audiences know them. Disabled actors need the opportunity to become familiar names, too.
Should only disabled actors play disabled characters?
Do I think that every single disabled role absolutely must go to an actor with a matching disability? Eh… Not exactly. Put your pitchforks down! Let me explain.
If a character in a film or television show isn’t disabled at the beginning but becomes disabled later, I think casting a non-disabled actor can be acceptable in some cases. A story that follows changes in a person’s body creates practical questions about how those stages will be filmed.
That does not settle every casting decision. It is a reason to look at the particular role and production rather than assume that every situation is identical.
Disabled actors need more opportunities
Non-disabled actors playing disabled roles can make it feel like it’s us versus Hollywood. I think it’s important to evaluate the plausibility of hiring an actor with the character’s condition.
At the same time, disabled actors need to be hired more instead of filmmakers repeatedly choosing big names for their presumed box-office appeal. Psst, filmmakers! I bet you’d get a lot of publicity if you hired disabled actors in your movies.
Rather than a big divide between disabled people and filmmakers, there needs to be an open discussion. I feel like there would be a lot for all of us to learn.
August Pritchett
August Pritchett (1997–2023) was an artist and writer based in Savannah, GA. She graduated from Georgia Southern University in 2018 with a degree in English Communication and minors in history and French. A passionate storyteller, she was the author of two novels and 24 published articles, including work for URevolution. In 2019, she self-published A Lock of Hair, a YA historical fiction novel exploring witchcraft and the Irish diaspora in 19th-century Boston.
Beyond writing, August was a talented painter, seamstress, and lover of history, deeply fascinated by the past. She was known for her kind spirit and resilience, having lived with a rare physical disability, which she faced with remarkable strength.
August passed away on August 1, 2023, at the age of 26. Her creativity and passion continue to inspire those who knew her and those who discover her work.
