Exclusive
Love Island’s Tasha Ghouri Talks ‘Barbie’s Inclusionary Audition Process
2 June 2023, 09:19 | Updated: 10 June 2023, 13:03
Listen to this article
Loading audio...
Tasha Ghouri detailed her audition process for Barbie, speaking about how the movie's code of inclusion aligns with her own message of diversity.
Tasha Ghouri had her Barbie girl moment in series eight of Love Island, but did you know she almost bagged a role as a dancer in the highly-anticipated Barbie movie?
The Love Island alumna sat down with Capital to talk about her mission for diversity and inclusion as she continues to encourage as many people as possible to be deaf-aware.
Love Island's Tasha Ghouri On Experiencing Concentration Fatigue & Her Dad's 'Iconic' Support
Tasha detailed her experience auditioning for Margot Robbie's Barbie, explaining how the film made accessibility a core element of their process.
The Greta Gerwig-directed flick is already being praised ahead of its release as its diverse across race, disability and gender. Tasha told us that during the Barbie tryouts, producers had an audition process specifically for dancers with disabilities.
Love Island's Tasha Ghouri gets ready to go out in Brisbane
"I was in that group, there were people in wheelchairs, it was amazing and it was so inspiring," the star said.
"We were there for a whole day, we learnt three dance routines; jazz, commercial and freestyle," Tasha explained, "The director was on a panel and I got through to the second round."
She recounted how in the final round, a huge group of dancers of all abilities were brought together to perform a routine at Warner Brother Studios – Tasha ultimately didn't land the gig but luckily that meant she was free last summer to appear on everyone's favourite dating show, call it fate!
In the flick's second trailer, a Barbie can be seen using a wheelchair in Barbie World behind Margot Robbie's mirror scene, and one of Barbie President's advisors also has a prosthetic arm; this representation has been praised by many online.
In fact, Ken doll Simu Liu spoke about a big dance number to Vanity Fair, revealing that Gerwig made conscientious choices and cast people of different shapes, sizes, differently abled, to all participate" – this could very well be the scene Tasha narrowly missed out on.
"You don’t have to be blonde, white, or X, Y, Z in order to embody what it means to be a Barbie or a Ken," which is exactly what Tasha has been promoting, she's been using her platform to share the difficulties many deaf children face.
> Here Are All The Ways You Can Listen To Capital
