Comedic Actors Slighted?
Imagine that actors (and actresses) have two main features:
Looks – we like to watch pretty/handsome actors,
Acting ability – engaging body/face/voice motions for a role.
Now on average comedic roles tend to be filled with less attractive actors. Since there are more less attractive actors to choose from, a director can be more selective about acting ability when picking an actor for a comedic role. If so, holding constant the resources devoted to a role, on average actors filling comedic roles should have higher acting abilities.
But acting awards famously slight comedic roles, preferring actors who fill "dramatic" roles. Some possible explanations:
Yes, acting awards don't go to the best actors. What did you expect?
More resources are devoted to dramatic roles, relative to comedic roles.
This two feature model is too simplistic, and a richer model explains it all.
What say ye?
Added 14Apr: Even if one assumes that comedic acting abilities are different abilities from other acting abilities, the argument goes through if comedic abilities are just as widely available among humans as other acting abilities, relative to the number of comedic roles to fill relative to other roles.
Here's an excerpt from a great article, and he explains it a lot better than I do:
Comedy is underrated. It's arguably the most difficult genre to pull off, but when a comedy works, the talent and effort that went into it is not readily apparent on the screen. Consistently, comedies are passed over by the Academy Awards and other award shows; it's easier to give Oscars to powerful dramatic films and actors who make dramatic performances. But comedy is very difficult: it requires not only inspiration and talent but precision and balance as well. The slightest variation in the delivery of a line can mean the difference between funny and not funny. The placement of the camera, lighting, editing: these and all other technical areas of filmmaking can successfully support a gag or undermine it completely.
http://www.rinkworks.com/mo...
A lot of the comments here show in general the misunderstanding the public has of comedic acting, as EVERY real actor knows that acting in a drama is MUCH EASIER than acting in a comedy, most people can be adept at playing dramatic scenes, but only very very few people have the comedic timing and the talent to make people laugh, and it's not something that anybody can just learn easily (just watch any amateur comedy routine anywhere, and you'll see a million amateurs). And how is this obvious? There are very few successful comedians, Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt can cry on camera and gather those emotions, but do they have the chops to make people laugh in a comedic role and do they have the right cadence and nuance and timing to act in a comedy? Well, the answer is a resounding hell no, look at that movie they did together, it was a huge flop, and for good reason.