Diversity in Hollywood has been a major topic of conversation this year thanks to #OscarsSoWhite and various casting controversies. As expected, lots of minority actors and actresses have come forward to advocate for further inclusiveness, and now they have an ally in a Hollywood icon.

Two-time Oscar-winning actress Sally Field, who has been in the film industry for more than five decades and originally fought for the rights of women in Hollywood, tells The Guardian that the best tools for people of color in Hollywood are strong Black men.

"There's a huge conversation about diversity happening across the boards — which is what it always should have been — that has to do with color and race and gender preferences and men and women," she said. "I think perhaps the fact it's not just women now, that there's others involved... I have to say, honestly, the fact men are involved. Thank God for African-American men. You go, boys! We're right behind you."

Field adds the fight for diversity is nothing new: "It was extremely difficult to get really interesting, diverse projects set up," she said when speaking on her company Fogwood Films, which she launched in 1984. "We were beating on the doors. But in those days, the Sundance Film Festival hadn't happened like it is, independent film wasn't available... there wasn't the same kind of drumbeat to find a way to get a film made that's so unique."

Check out how one of today's most celebrated African-American actors, Idris Elba, made history at the 2016 SAG Awards, below:

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