// BBC ENTERTAINMENT & ARTS — MODA & SOCIETÀ
Actor targets 'scarred villain' screen stereotype
Actor Robert Rhodes says people with visible differences experience the same key emotions as those without
An actor is backing a charity's call for more positive roles for performers with scars and visible differences.
Northamptonshire-based Robert Rhodes, who has appeared in Silent Witness and House of the Dragon, said: "The media industry needs to start reflecting the true experience of people with visible difference."
The charity Changing Faces wants the film and TV industry to stop using scars, burns and other visible differences as marks of villainy and has started a petition calling for more positive representation.
One casting agency said visible differences were often used as a shorthand for villainy, but that these casting briefs could be successfully challenged.
New research by the Centre for Appearance Research (CAR) at the University of the West of England showed that people who are exposed to visible difference via villainous characters go on to have a more negative perception of people with visible difference in the real world, the charity said.
Rhodes, who was recently in the BBC One show, The Rapture, was born with a large facial birthmark as a result of congenital melanocytic nevus and was left with scarring following multiple surgeries to remove it as a child.
"Yes, there is often trauma associated with a scar, but we experience joy, love and success just like everyone else.
"More neutral and aspirational characters on screen will improve real perceptions of the whole visible difference community."
Robert Rhodes played Sonic in The Rapture, a psychological thriller series that appeared on BBC One