Race: the awkward topic to talk about in almost any industry. Recently, Noma Dumezweni was cast as Hermione Granger in the London production of the eighth installment of the Harry Potter series,"Harry Potter and the Cursed Child." This choice of casting caused a huge uproar among the community because how could a black woman play a white character? Many critics felt that Noma was not qualified to play the role because of her skin color. This is not the first time, however, that casting directors hired a person who was not the same race as the character was written.

American films have a long history of casting not based on the race of the character. To this day we still do not. Recently the movie "Gods of Egypt" was released and shockingly almost none of the actors in lead roles were actually Egyptian. The majority of the lead roles were played by big-name white males, including Gerard Butler ("300", "How to Train Your Dragon"), Nikolaj Coster-Waldau ("Game of Thrones", "Mama") and Brenton Thwaites ("Malificent", "The Giver"). You would think that with a movie about Egyptian Gods there would be more... I don't know, Egyptians?

However I'm not saying that these actors were unqualified to play these characters. Nikki Barrett and John Papsidera, the casting agents for "Gods of Egypt", were given a job to hire who they and the director felt were qualified for the roles. That holds true to almost any business not just theater and film, you hire who is most qualified. And, the director and the casting agents felt that Nikolaj Coster-Waldau was the perfect Horus for "Gods of Egypt" so he was hired.The same goes for the casting agent and director of the play "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child", they thought that Noma Dumezweni, an African woman, was exactly what they needed for Hermione in this production, so they hired her.

In Broadway's Tony Award winning show "Les Miserables", Kyle Jean-Baptiste, a Haitian born actor, played Jean Valjean in the 2015 productions. He was the youngest and the first man of color to play Jean Valjean. Hamilton has also broken a lot of standards in casting and is also nominated for the upcoming Tony Awards. Javier Munoz and Lin- Manuel Miranda who are both Latino play the very white Alexander Hamilton and drop some sick rhymes along with Daveed Digs who is African American in the role of Thomas Jefferson and the Marquis de Lafayette (both of whom are white).

The color of your skin should not matter as long as you are delivering exactly who that character needs to deliver. As long as an actor is qualified in the eyes of the director then it is no one's choice but the director's to choose if they want to stay historically accurate or if they want to hire a Latino man or an African woman to play that role. And, before you go criticizing the actor, see them perform first and then make your judgement.