Undoubtedly, there are many talented American actors working in Hollywood these days. The best of the most recent lot—the, great Phillip Seymour Hoffman—was 46 when he died of a drug overdose in 2014 and could hardly be lumped into the “young actors obsessed with social media” camp that Douglas has taken aim at. But even with dashing, corn-fed leading men such as Armie Hammer, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Leonardo DiCaprio, the pickings are slim if you happen to be a movie producer looking for a young American actor to sink his teeth into a meaty role that requires believable levels of strength, grit, and heroism.

We have more than enough of James Franco’s pan-sexuality and high-minded screen adaptations of James Joyce novels to go around. There are only so many spastic, drug-addled roles for Paul Dano to claim. And Jesse Eisenberg can only invent Facebook once.

For a moment, put yourself in the place of a casting director who has been handed a script that needs a few “tough guys” who can handle any degree of emotional complexity (without whining their way through the picture). Michael Fassbender? Tom Hardy? Colin Farrell? Christian Bale? Chris Hemsworth?

German-Irish. British. Irish. British. And Australian, respectively. …

Read the article “Why the Best Young Actors Aren’t Americans” on acculturated.com.