IMDb cleared to publish actor ages

IMDb may soon be able to publish the ages of performers following a court ruling in the US.

The tug of war has been ongoing for a number of years between IMDb, a subsidiary of Amazon, and performers who cite age discrimination in casting.

Birth dates had been supplied by actors under the premium IMDb Pro, which triggered a legal case after the information from one was published in their public listing. California’s legislation then required IMDb remove an actor’s age, if so requested.

But IMDb had contended that was unconstitutional, especially when such information was freely available elsewhere.

Union SAG-AFTRA campaigned on performers’ behalf with president Gabrielle Carteris insisting that she might not have been cast in Beverly Hills 90210 had her actual age been known at the time (let’s not get started on Luke Perry!).

But a judge found the law riddled with problems.

US District Judge Vince Chhabria said, “Even looking just at IMDb.com, the law requires IMDb to take down some age-related information — that of the members of its subscription service who request its removal — but not the age-related information of those who don’t subscribe to IMDbPro, or who don’t ask IMDb.com to take their information down.

“Movie producers don’t typically refuse to cast an actor as a leading man because he’s too old for the leading woman; it is the prospective leading woman who can’t get the part unless she’s much younger than the leading man. TV networks don’t typically jettison male news anchors because they are perceived as too old; it is the female anchors whose success is often dependent on their youth. This is not so much because the entertainment industry has a problem with older people per se. Rather, it’s a manifestation of the industry’s insistence on objectifying women, overvaluing their looks while devaluing everything else.”

The union plans to appeal the ruling.

Source: Variety, Hollywood Reporter.