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One day strolling around Brooklyn, Sandra Oh ("Grey's Anatomy") learned she landed the part of Eve on BBC America's "Killing Eve."

But of all the emotions an actor may experience learning they've snagged a lead role, Sandra Oh just felt ... confused.

Photo by Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images for NAACP Image Awards.

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Before "Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle," Kal Penn was just another 20-something guy in Hollywood looking for a break.

Aspiring actors are subjected to no shortage of humiliating audition opportunities. But as a young actor of Indian descent, Penn was forced to subject himself to an extraordinary level of typecasting and stereotyping in order to work, at least according to a series of tweets the "Designated Survivor" star posted.

You can pretty much guess what some of the casting notices were like.

Penn recalled being asked to put on an exaggerated accent for comic effect more than once — though the casting people rarely admitted that's what they wanted him to do.

Often, he explained in his tweets, the roles were one-note jokes — defined by little more than skin color and a "funny" voice.

The audition experiences even soured him on some shows he was a fan of before he became an actor.

Penn also included praise for some shows he auditioned for and worked on that "didn't have to use external things to mask subpar writing" — including "24," "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," "The Steve Harvey Show," and "Angel."  

Since the years when Penn was an up-and-coming actor, the TV landscape has diversified and opportunities for non-white actors have expanded, with shows like "Crazy Ex-Girlfriend," "Jane the Virgin," "Black-ish," "Silicon Valley," and "Empire," featuring three-dimensional characters of color in starring roles.

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For the first time in Hollywood history, Spider-Man's love interest will be played by a black actress.

And she's none other than 19-year-old Zendaya — a former Disney star whose acting, modeling, and business career has taken off in recent years.

Photo by Rich Polk/Getty Images for Essence.

The rumor mill began churning earlier this year after Zendaya was first cast, with many speculating she'd play Peter Parker's friend Michelle.

But according to an inside scoop from The Wrap, Zendaya landed the coveted role of Mary Jane Watson in "Spider-Man: Homecoming" — a character we're used to seeing with red locks and white skin.

As you can imagine, the news is certainly making waves.

Reactions from around the web began pouring in with excitement and praise, proving that casting makes a difference.

Just the thought of the new Mary Jane is brightening people's day.

In an industry that tends to exclude certain groups from the big screen, this is big.

And who knows how many little girls are celebrating the casting decision this very moment?

Of course, not all reactions were of approval. Some are arguing that a black actress would break the mold of Mary Jane's original comic book look (and they clearly aren't happy about it).

But I suggest we take a step back and give this news a little context first.

For every person of color who's portrayed a character originally written as white, there are about a million examples of the opposite.

I mean, just take a peek at this list.

Not only is Hollywood hesitant to create films directed by and starring people of color, but it also has a nasty habit of whitewashing — giving roles that should be played by actors of color to white people (think, Emma Stone playing Allison Ng in "Aloha" or Rooney Mara playing Tiger Lily — a character who's decidedly Native American — in "Pan").

These systemic problems have meant certain groups are dramatically underrepresented on the big screen.

Photo by Neilson Barnard/Getty Images.

So instead of getting our feathers ruffled over the modernizing of a comic book series, shouldn't we be celebrating an evolving, more-inclusive film industry?

After all, diversity isn't just cool for the sake of diversity — representation matters.

Everyone deserves to see themselves in the heroes that capture our hearts on-screen.

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Jamie Chung heads to 'Gotham' — plus 9 more diverse casting choices worth celebrating.

The recent un-whitewashing of these Hollywood roles is adding some much-needed diversity to the screen.

Actress Jamie Chung, who you might know from "Once Upon a Time" and "The Real World: San Diego," just got cast in Fox's popular bat-TV show "Gotham" as reporter Valerie Vale.

On the surface, this might not sound particularly noteworthy — probably because most casual viewers aren't instantly familiar with the character of Valerie or her better-known niece Vicki Vale who's also a reporter (and frequent Bat-romancer).

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