Do Tattoos Affect Acting Careers?
When you’re starting out in your career, it’s possible your visible tattoos may present obstacles. Casting directors may not want to hire you for certain roles because of production concerns. They may worry that your tattoos will distract the audience. Your tattoos might not fit the character breakdown, and a project may not have the time or budget required to hide your tattoos with makeup. In short, without the prestige of a successful acting career, having visible tattoos is not a deal breaker, but it could limit the roles for which you will be considered.
While more and more people seem to be getting tattoos, their presence and placement on the body can send certain messages. Casting directors may assume that audiences will associate facial tattoos or lower back tattoos with stereotypes. Visual media like film, television, and theater are meant to appeal to as broad an audience as possible, so producers and directors will always consider how a mainstream audience will react
Can a Film Studio Be Sued Over an Actor’s Tattoo?
It’s rare—but it has happened. In 2011, tattoo artist S. Victor Whitmill sued Warner Bros. to stop the release of “The Hangover Part II,” claiming that a scene in which a character has a copy of one of Mike Tyson’s tattoos violated Whitmill’s copyright for the original. Warner Bros. ultimately settled with Whitmill, but the case raised real questions about the rights tattoo artists have to their work when it appears in film.