Ask Mercedes Blanche to name her favourite film and she struggles.
The men who starred in most of them have already slid into her DMs.
The actress, best known for Amazon Prime’s dark superhero comedy The Boys, says some of the most famous names in Hollywood have sexually harassed her online.
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Now she faces a different kind of abuse from strangers who can’t decide whether she’s too attractive or not attractive enough.
Too pretty for the job
Mercedes, who lives in LA, recently lost out on a commercial because the casting team found her too good-looking.
“They said they wanted someone with a ‘less symmetrical face’,” she said.
“That was tough to take.”
It’s a strange complaint to have. Strange, but not new to her.
She says the industry keeps filing her under “pretty girl” and leaving her there, which is frustrating for someone with a master’s degree in project management who speaks three languages and grew up in Hungary.
“I want to show more of myself than just the looks and would love to do stunts,” she said.
“I would love to shave my hair. I would love to showcase everything I can do as an actor.”
Looks, she insists, only get you so far in Hollywood.
The lingerie shoot that set off the trolls
Her 2.1 million Instagram followers mostly know her for comedy sketches and dad jokes.
Her latest post was a bit different: a leopard print bodysuit, fishnet tights and a pair of furry boots.
The men in her comments responded with their usual charm.
“Are you pregnant?” asked one. Others decided “she gained weight“.
“I’m always put into a box because I’m the ‘pretty girl’,” Mercedes said.
“When I try to embrace my looks, this is what happens. We can’t win.”
‘All the people from my favourite movies have been in my DMs’
The trolls are one thing. The famous men are another.
“Someone recently asked me what my favourite movie was and I had a hard time naming one because all the people from my favourite movies have been in my DMs trying to hit me up or telling me to do things that I didn’t want to do,” she said.
“I have a very hard time saying male names that I look up to because they’ve all ruined it for me with their off-screen behaviour.
It’s constant sexual harassment. Female actors are seen as objects by a lot of people in our industry.”
People in the business have also asked her to do “sexual favours to book more jobs or get more visibility on stage”.
She calls out harmful behaviour on social media where she can, but believes the industry shields its most powerful men. They know it, too.
“I’ve had some very famous people harass me, and I’m always surprised they aren’t more afraid I’ll expose them online.
But they’re on a different level of fame, so they don’t care.”
It took her years to stop blaming herself.
“When it first happened, I worried I was doing something wrong to encourage the attention or that I was overreacting. Now that I’m older, I realise I was never the problem.”
Followers first, names second
Female friendships might help. In LA, they come with their own catch.
“A lot of people are fake and pretend to like you just to get close enough to gain something,” she said.
“Sometimes I feel like if I don’t have enough followers, people won’t talk to me. I’ve had people shake my hand and as they do, they’ll ask how many followers I have before they ask my name.”
She treasures the small group she trusts. Everyone else gets assessed, apparently, by follower count.
Still, she wants women to back each other, especially those who stay quiet.
“I understand, they’re worried they’ll lose that next opportunity. Speaking out about how women are treated in Hollywood is a brave thing to do.”
Why It Matters
Mercedes sits where acting and creator careers now overlap, and she shows how the two can work against each other.
Her following gives her a platform to call out abuse. It also opens a direct line for that abuse, from A-listers and anonymous commenters alike.
For women creators, the comments section and the casting room increasingly enforce the same narrow rules about how they should look.
Six years after MeToo, actors like Mercedes still describe an industry where fame buys silence, and where social media stands in for a complaints process that never worked.
She hasn’t named anyone yet. She has, however, noticed they aren’t worried.
“Hollywood is a rollercoaster of emotions. Doubting yourself, super dark moments, very high times.
You have to try to enjoy the ride. It can take part of your soul and, at times, it’s heartbreaking.”
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