How Immigration Contributes to the Entertainment Industry

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Last Updated On 3 June 2025, 11:31 AM EDT (Toronto Time)

The entertainment industry has typically been home to a diverse group of people from numerous backgrounds.

By looking at some examples of famous people who found success after leaving home, we can see the variety of ways in which immigration has helped to shape the way we get entertained.

Artists, writers, and other talented immigrants have always played a huge role in American TV shows and movies.

Mexican Salma Hayek, Emily Blunt from the UK, and Austrian Arnold Schwarzenegger have all made a huge impact in Hollywood, with their backgrounds playing a crucial part in the way they look and sound.

Many Canadians like Jim Carrey, Michael J. Fox, and Pamela Anderson have all crossed the border to further their careers in the US, although none of those three listed has given up their Canadian citizenship in the process.

In Canada, immigrants with multilingual skills and unique backgrounds are also highly sought-after in the country’s entertainment scene. Figures from the 2021 census in Canada showed that over 20% of the independent writers, performers, and artists living in the country come from an immigrant background. The rise of live streaming has increased the demand for talented individuals who can add to the growth of the various industries that use this technology to reach their customers.

This approach can be seen in sports, music, as well as casino games. The variety of live-streamed games in this online casino based in Ontario ranges from Fortune Roulette to Speed Blackjack and more.

This has led to extra demand for live dealers to present each of these games. With different themed settings and native language options used, it’s no surprise to see that casinos need to look for their dealers to come from different backgrounds and offer unique styles.

While it’s clear that immigrants often make their mark in entertainment thanks to their physical appearance and the way they sound, their backgrounds mean that they can also add a new perspective by looking at classic subjects in a fresh way. Someone who has grown up in one country before moving to another can provide interesting viewpoints on many subjects, with immigration naturally being something that many movie directors decide to focus on.

Born in Argentina, director Nico Casavecchia moved to Europe and experienced life as an illegal immigrant when his tourist visa ran out. This helped inspire his vision for Border Hopper, a short film about a Latin American immigrant who magically gets around the visa system to enter the US.

The movie was selected as part of the Sundance film competition and the director explained to interviewers how he had earlier worked hard to land the American O1 Artist Visa, which has the official title of Alien of Outstanding Abilities.

Mexican Guillermo del Toro, Taiwan-born Ang Lee, and Michel Hazanavicius from France are among the directors who have entertained us over the years with their movies, which are often heavily influenced by their backgrounds in different cultures.

M. Night Shyamalan arrived in the US from his native India as a baby. When his movie The Sixth Sense was a massive hit in 1999, he revealed that he felt like an “immigrant mainstream filmmaker in Hollywood” in the days before Indian actors were widely used in American movies.

Even second and third-generation immigrants like Martin Scorsese have added a new layer to our movie experience by digging into their heritage to find inspiration for new material.

In the case of Scorsese, all four of his grandparents came to the US from Sicily, Italy. While he grew up in New York, Scorsese’s movies reflect his Italian roots and he admitted that 1946’s Paisà by Roberto Rossellini had a significant impact on him when he first watched it.

The importance of immigration in the entertainment industry is certain to continue, as talented immigrants add new ideas and a fresh perspective to the way we view the world.