Priyanka Chopra is fighting to 'take back the power' for female characters written by men (original) (raw)
"It's a pet peeve of mine when female characters are diminished, or they're made emotional or they can't make decisions because they're emotionally marred versus the male characters," the actress tells EW.
Published on January 22, 2022 11:00AM EST
From Quantico to The Matrix Resurrections, Priyanka Chopra is no stranger to playing women who know how to kick butt and take names.
But while sitting down with EW for our Bold School series, Chopra confessed that she actually prefers to find strength in the less physical aspects of her characters. "I like fragility," she says. "I like to find vulnerabilities in my characters, and I think there's such a strength to accepting your vulnerabilities and being flawed and being ok with it."
"With most of my characters, I don't like to find the bow to perfectly button them," she adds. "I like to find the 'mess.' That's what I tend to look for and that's what I try to create within even the strength that most characters that I take on tend to be written as. I like to find the frailties in them — that makes them stronger I think."
Priyanka Chopra. Rich Fury/Getty Images
After a massively successful career in her homeland of India in their Bollywood industry, Chopra has made an impression in Hollywood, too. She broke out on ABC FBI drama Quantico and in the big screen adaptation of Baywatch, before grabbing more headlines by marrying Nick Jonas. Now, her career is ramping up with projects like The Matrix Resurrections, Netflix's We Can Be Heroes, and forthcoming miniseries Citadel.
"I would love to have a portfolio of work in Hollywood like I have had in Bollywood," she tells EW. "To be able to take on dramatic parts, to be able to take on movies that make me nervous, that challenge me."
But even as her star shines brighter, she is determined not to lose sight of the things that matter most to her with her characters and "take back the power."
"It's a pet peeve of mine when female characters are diminished, or they're made emotional or they can't make decisions because they're emotionally marred versus the male characters," she says. "That's a big pet peeve of mine. And I've fought that in many, many jobs that I've done over time and I'm okay fighting that. But it's a pet peeve of mine when female characters are written as weak because they're female."
Watch the video above for more.
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