MINORITIES STILL SCARCE ON PRIME TIME TV: SAG stats show few gains for African American, Latino, Asian and Native American actors.

Minorities, seniors and female actors have achieved few gains in recent years in the number of film and TV roles they receive, according to casting stats released by the Screen Actors Guild, reports Variety.“The diverse and multicultural world we live in today is still not accurately reflected in the portrayals we see on the screen,” SAG president Ken Howard said in a statement. “We will continue to work with producers, hiring executives and industry professionals in accurately portraying the American scene by ensuring equal access to employment opportunities for all of our members.” The latest statistics, released Friday, showed minority performers reached a high mark in 2007, with 29.3% of total roles, and then declined last year to 27.5%.  The breakdown of film and TV roles for 2008 was 72.5% Caucasian, 13.3% African-American, 6.4% Latino-Hispanic, 3.8 Asian-Pacific Islander, 0.3% Native American and 3.8% other-unknown. SAG noted in its report that U.S. Census data from 2000 showed that the nation's population was 73.4% Caucasian, 11.5% African-American, 10.6% Latino-Hispanic, 3.7% Asian-Pacific Islander and 0.8% Native American. SAG also said that Asian-Pacific actors were the only minority group to gain from 2007 to 2008, increasing from 3.4% to 3.8%, thanks to gains in TV. Producers who are signatory to SAG contracts are required to submit hiring data to the in order to examine the trends of “traditionally underemployed and disenfranchised members.”  SAG also noted that people with disabilities remain “virtually invisible” in casting even though 20% of the U.S. population has a disability. Wheelchair bound actor Darryl "Chill" Mitchell of the new Fox sitcom "Brothers," is one of the few disabled actors starring in prime time.