Actor Speaks Out on Being Mixed

To what degree do family and extended family shape multiracial stories?

Obviously family has influence…but to the point of silence? This story left me with so many questions! I would love to read the script…and better yet sit down and have coffee with Tom Sizemore. Sizemore chose to “modern day pass” as White after his grandfather, who did not like “white folk” told him to “never reveal his mixed-race heritage to anyone in Hollywood if he wanted to become a bona fide movie star.” Well, now he has chosen to break his silence by telling his grandfather’s story, and in turn part of his own through the storytelling vehicle of theater. How have your family/extended family shaped your mixed race story?

 

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/culturemonster/2011/02/tom-sizemore-one-man-show-geffen.html

Stories like this one show how family expectations can shape the choices multiracial people make about identity, visibility, and belonging. Theater and other storytelling forms often become spaces where those hidden histories can finally be spoken aloud. We invite you to reflect on your own family narrative and share how it has influenced your mixed experience.