Black Credits
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Our standards

Methodology, definitions & corrections

How we collect, classify and correct information, and what our numbers can and cannot tell you.

Role definitions

Lead role
A performer billed as a lead in official credits.
Supporting role
A credited, featured performer below lead billing.
Speaking role
Any credited role with dialogue. In statistics this includes lead and supporting roles.
Total credited roles
Every on-screen acting credit, including non-speaking credited roles. Uncredited extras are not counted.

How shares are calculated

Share = credits held by performers documented as Black American ÷ all credits in that role type. People whose identity is Unknown stay in the denominator, so the share is a floor, not an estimate of the true figure. Coverage is the percentage of credits whose performer has any sourced identity. Every chart shows its sample size (n).

Identity policy

  • We record identity only when it is supported by the person's own public self-identification or a reliable public source, and we link that source.
  • We never infer identity from appearance, name, birthplace or citizenship.
  • When we don't have that evidence, identity is shown as Unknown. We don't guess.
  • Black American identity is recorded separately from other African and Black diaspora identities.
  • Anyone may ask to self-identify, correct, or remove their identity record through the corrections process.

Black American

Publicly self-identifies, or is documented by a reliable source, as Black American / African American.

Black diaspora (non-U.S.)

Publicly identifies with a Black identity outside the U.S. (e.g. African, Afro-Caribbean, Black British).

Not identified as Black

Publicly self-identifies with a different racial or ethnic identity, per a cited source.

Unknown

No reliable public information or self-identification on record. We do not guess.

Accepted bases: self-identified or reliable public source.

Cast heritage

On the Coming Soon page, flags show the publicly documented family heritage of Black cast members. Four classifications are used:

A. Black American · family lineage traced (American flag)
Published genealogy, such as the actor's own account or a show like Finding Your Roots, traces the family to people enslaved in the United States. The panel names the ancestors or the state where documented.
B. Documented international heritage
Documented African, Caribbean or other international Black heritage.
C. Documented multiple ancestries
Two or more documented backgrounds, which may include traced U.S. lineage and international heritage.
Black American (American flag)
A reliable source, ideally the person's own words, documents them or a parent as Black American or African American. Rarely, when the editor has direct knowledge and no published statement exists yet, the panel says “editor confirmation” instead of citing a publication. That's identity, not traced lineage, so a family lineage is only marked as traced when published genealogy names enslaved ancestors.
D. Ancestry not verified
Public sources don't reliably document specific ancestry. We don't guess.
  • Every classification links to its sources: the actor's own statements first, then official biographies, reputable interviews and established publications.
  • Birthplace, citizenship and nationality are recorded separately and never shown as heritage. Being born in London doesn't earn a British flag.
  • International heritage never means an actor isn't also descended from people enslaved in the U.S. Chattel slavery extended across the Caribbean and the Americas, and many people have more than one background.
  • Being born in the United States isn't treated as a traced family lineage either. That requires published genealogy.
  • Nothing is inferred from appearance, surname, accent, nationality or roles. Missing evidence is never treated as proof either way.
  • Heritage information is for understanding representation. Using it to harass anyone breaks our rules.

Facts, claims and opinions

  • Verified fact: checked by a moderator against an official or primary source.
  • Reported claim: published by a credible source but not independently verified by us.
  • Community opinion: campaign summaries and viewing marks. These are never counted in research statistics.

Community sentiment reflects only members of this site who chose to take part. It does not represent any wider population, and every viewing or purchasing decision is the reader's own.

Sources

We prefer, in order: official studio, distributor and guild materials; reference databases with open licences (e.g. Wikidata, CC0); established trade press; and first-person interviews for self-identification. Every source records its publisher and the date we accessed it.

Safety & privacy

  • No private information: home addresses, contact details, family details or ID numbers are blocked at submission.
  • No harassment: campaigns address a film's documented record, never private individuals.
  • No unsupported accusations: accusations without published evidence are flagged and are not published.
  • Individual viewing marks are private; only totals are shown.

Corrections & appeals

  1. Anyone with an account can submit a correction, new evidence or a dispute from any record.
  2. A moderator reviews it, can ask for more information, and records a decision with a note you can see on your account page.
  3. Approved changes are applied with a full audit trail: what changed, who changed it, why, and which sources supported it.
  4. If you disagree with a decision, appeal it from your account page. A different moderator reviews appeals where possible.
  5. People featured in the database may request correction or removal of their identity record at any time.

Sample data

Records marked Sample data are fictional, created only to demonstrate the platform. Their sources point to example.org. They describe no real credits, demographic statistics or casting decisions.

Ally recognition

An ALLY badge marks a credited cast member with a documented, concrete public action supporting Black American talent or the Black community: producing or championing Black-led work, standing up for a Black co-star's pay or billing, funding or mentoring Black creatives, adopting inclusion riders, or sustained on-record advocacy. Each badge links to its source and quotes it exactly.

  • A single social media post, a hashtag or a generic quote about diversity isn't enough.
  • No badge never means someone isn't an ally. It means we haven't found documentation yet.
  • Know of a documented action we missed? Send it with a source.

Photo credits

Site photography is used under the Unsplash License; no person in those photos is connected to any record on this site.

On Release Radar cards without an official trailer, we show a photo of a credited cast member (labelled “Pictured”) from Wikimedia Commons, used under its Creative Commons or public-domain license and credited on the card with the photographer and license. These are not stills from the film. Films with no free photo use our cinema photography, labelled “Illustrative photo.”