We know that the entertainment industry thrives on youth. Liv Tyler is just another example that if you’re an actress, and you’re over 30, you’re going to struggle in Hollywood, unless you break into the business much later (a la Emily Blunt and Jessica Chastain).
Tyler, who broke onto the scene in a big way in her early 20s in That Thing You Do , Empire Records , and later on Armageddon , opened up about struggling to find complex roles as she’s “aged” in Hollywood.
In an interview with More magazine, the 38-year-old opened up about the struggles in Hollywood. “38 is a crazy number. It’s not fun when you see things start to change. When you’re in your teens or 20s, there is an abundance of ingenue parts which are exciting to play. But at [my age], you’re usually the wife or the girlfriend, a sort of second-class citizen. There are more interesting roles for women when they get a bit older.”
This, of course, isn’t the only problem in Hollywood. Pay gap, which exists in every occupation, is a real problem in the industry. Sony’s leaked emails confirmed that this problem is still alive, when it was leaked that Jennifer Lawrence made significantly less than her male co-stars in the film American Hustle , despite having a sizable role in the film. Bradley Cooper, Christian Bale, and Jeremy Renner all earned higher than her despite the fact that it was an ensemble piece.
Liv Tyler isn’t the only actress that has spoken out about aging in Hollywood and the lack of opportunities out there. The blunt truth of it all is that if you’re over 30 you’re pretty much put out to pasture, and actresses like Mila Kunis, Maggie Gyllenhaal, and Viola Davis have all discussed this at one point or another.
Recently, Anne Hathaway had an interesting take on aging in Hollywood. She told Glamour U.K. , “When I was in my early 20s, parts would be written for women in their 50s and I would get them.”
“And now I’m in my early 30s and I’m like, ‘Why did that 24-year-old get that part?’ I was that 24-year-old once, I can’t be upset about it, it’s the way things are. All I can do right now is think that thankfully you have built up perhaps a little bit of cachet and can tell stories that interest you and if people go to see them, you’ll be allowed to make more.”
Liv Tyler can be seen in the upcoming season of the hit series The Leftovers which airs on October 4.
[Photo by Larry Busacca/Getty Images]
