It’s no secret that Meagan Good is a beautiful specimen of a woman. Her pouty lips are perfectly plump. Her eyebrows are always snatched. And that face could launch 1,000 ships. I’m not being dramatic (ok maybe a little), but this woman is stunning. Many naysayers comment on her looks, claiming she can’t possibly be taken seriously as actress because she’s so beautiful.
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With her latest role in NBC’s “Deception,” a debate popped up in our #TeamBeautiful office about her being too damn pretty to play a gritty, sneaky detective who is investigating her friend’s death through top notch, in-depth undercover police work. While watching the show, I realized that Meagan Good seriously does have acting chops and I’ve ignored them all these years because she’s usually in the role of the love interest, “Pretty-Faced Girl #1” or the like. The film I love her most in is “Eve’s Bayou.” but after that, I’ll be honest, I stopped paying attention.
Check Out This Retrospective Of Meagan Good’s Acting Career:
It’s not her fault. Pretty faces run Hollywood. There’s no way to get around it. Many of our favorite leading ladies and men are exceptionally attractive and we’ve come to accept that as a standard. While we’re accepting, we’re still very critical of the very beautiful people we celebrate. Why can’t people believe Meagan as a detective? I’m sure there are some beautiful detectives out there in the world. But just let Meagan play one on TV in peace.
Didn’t Halle Berry win an Oscar? Isn’t Sofia Vergara taking over “Modern Family” and K-Mart? They are both incredibly beautiful, but their talents have been able to outshine their beauty and create healthy careers for the both of them.
While watching the pilot episode of “Deception,” I realized that I needed to challenge my own thinking. Yes, I prefer to see people who look like me on-screen; so seeing Jill Scott in this same role would have been sublime. But, Meagan shines in this role. It’s refreshing to see her as a leading lady after 22 years of various TV and movie roles. Some were memorable and others were as forgettable as that middle sister on “Family Matters.” But here’s the thing, Meagan’s long career is a testament to her as a solid actress and “Deception” is the cherry on top of her very pretty sundae.
If TV shows and movies with ridiculously attractive people failed all the time, we’d never have any shows to watch. But there are times when those too-good-to-be-true looks can’t quite make a show happen. Remember “Undercovers” with that fine Boris Kodjoe? Not to worry, no one else does either. The show lived a short and unfulfilling life, many claiming the stars were just too attractive. I really hope Good’s “Deception” doesn’t suffer the same fate because of her good looks.
Authenticity is the stuff that success is made from. And as fickle as the entertainment industry is, one thing remains–people invest (time, money and energy) into what they feel is genuinely worth it. I’ll never understand the time, money and energy people invest to look like celebrity carbon copies, but at the same time, they’re complaining about just how beautiful said celebs are. Claiming that actors are too attractive to carry meaty roles lies within this confusing paradox and may never find a resolve. Maybe, just maybe we should all try to broaden our limited and superficial minds and open them up to the possibility of talent and beauty living harmoniously in an actor. Trust, it’s possible.
Meagan has something for those who think she’s too pretty to be taken seriously as an actress:
More Meagan Good:
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