She told the New York Times about her first audition as a teenager and being asked to sound "more Latino." She recalled, "I had no idea what she was talking about. 'You mean you want me to speak in Spanish?' She's like, 'No. Do it in English but just sound more Latino.' I genuinely didn't realize until later that she was asking me to speak English with a broken accent. It confused me, because I thought, 'I am Latino, so isn't this what a Latino sounds like?'"
Despite incredible performances in The Last of Us, Pedro and some costars received racist backlash from a minority of fans of the video game. He told Variety, "I think that the change is really important, and that the best way to continue representation is just casting a person into a role that isn’t limiting a character to racial identity, especially if it’s an IP we’re familiar with or a book... People get so butthurt about this kind of stuff, but who cares? Because that’s the coolest way of moving the needle, is being open about the casting in every way."
She's been open about not landing roles because they want someone who looks "more Latina." You might also remember the episode of Love & Hip Hop: Miami where Young Hollywood criticized her afro. "So, I can't be elegant if I have a 'fro? Is that what you're saying?" Amara asked the producer. He replied, "Yeah, I guess so."
On the Highly Relevant podcast, she shared that she tries to fight Latina stereotypes in Hollywood whenever she can. "April Ludgate on Parks and Rec. I was very adamant about going like, 'Look, maybe she's half Cuban. Maybe her mom's Cuban.' And they were like, 'Great idea!' Obviously, it wasn't about that, but in my own way, I feel like I try to portray Hispanic characters that aren't the stereotypes because that's one thing I think we're really up against. Especially Latina women."
During an interview with Remezcla, she said, "I’m proud whenever I can represent an indigenous woman in a film. I feel as an artist, it’s my responsibility to continuously help pave the way and push the boundaries and break down those barriers within society and within Hollywood of how indigenous people are portrayed on film. I’m very appreciative of any of those roles I get. However, I am very thankful when I am cast in other roles, too, and I don’t have to wear dreamcatcher earrings or a little feather in my hair to tell people that I’m Native."
Despite his pride in his Puerto Rican roots, he's struggled to land Latino roles in Hollywood. "I’ve received nothing but love from Latino taxi drivers to business owners, talking about being inspired by seeing a Latino who’s not running from the cops or dealing drugs," he told Yahoo! Entertainment. "But within the industry, I’ve always been met with a ton of resistance by directors wanting to check my Latino heritage and see just how much I know."
7. Michaela Jaé Rodriguez
In an essay written for the Emmys website, she wrote, "When I started reaching the peak of my career as an Afro-Latina, and as a woman of the Trans experience, as much as I felt I was making strides, there were still those three identities that were holding me back from making it into a space I had always dreamed of being. My confidence began to deplete when I started realizing that I was systematically being placed in a box. It wasn't until my big breakthrough, being cast in Pose, that the pieces of that box began to fall."
She told the New York Times, "Some white, male casting director was dictating what it meant to be Latin. He decided I needed an accent. He decided I should [have] darker-colored skin. The gatekeepers are not usually people of color, so they don't understand you should be looking for way more colors of the rainbow within that one ethnicity."
During an interview with Porter, she shared how tough it was to get her start in Hollywood. "Every time I read a script, even if it was a period piece, I read it thinking that I was going to go after the lead role. It wasn’t until I would come across the introduction of a supporting ethnic role that I realized, 'Oh.' I wasn’t even allowed to try to get that main role, because 'they want to go traditional on the part.' I would hang up on that conversation from my agents, thinking, 'What about me is non-traditional?' It was a very hard pill to swallow."
During an interview with Remezcla, he shared how he influenced Dro, his character on Insecure. "In the beginning, my character was supposed to be Black and Mexican, but I asked them if he could be Black and Panamanian. If he’s already Latino, just let me be me. Later when Carlos Carrasco came, this gave an opportunity to another Panamanian actor."
He told IndieWire about the bias against actors with accents when he started in the industry. "When I was very young, like 20 years ago, there was a whole conversation about losing your accent. They used to call it 'neutralizing,' as if it was something you could just get rid of. It was a fear of understanding."
During an interview with Vivala, she shared that she's been pressured to conceal her Afro-Latina features and was even told she looks "too Latina" for a role. "We have to be 'fake Latinas.' And here’s the thing about 'fake Latinas' — when you look at Latinas who are succeeding in Hollywood, they’re super thin... I was growing up and not thinking that I was good enough. I just thought, 'Oh my god, if only I had lighter eyes. If only I had lighter hair. If only I was skinny. Oh my god, if I was a size 0, I know I would get more work."
Throughout her career, she has been mindful of the roles she plays because she doesn't want to contribute to the typical Latine stereotypes in film. She once said, "I steer away from sexually subversive content because it is the most exploited facet of filmmaking and television for Latina women."
He told BuzzFeed News about the progress the industry has made in recognizing Afro-Latinos. "[Hollywood] is becoming aware that these actors exist; they're not just lumping all Latinos into one box. Like, 'OK, you have to look like Jennifer Lopez, or you can't possibly be Latino. There's no possible way that you can be Latin.' I think the landscape has changed, and people are becoming a lot more sensitive and aware that there are different kinds of Latin; there are different kinds of Black people. I just think it's beautiful to show that diversity within our race. I think we're seeing a lot more of that now."
15. And finally, Francia Raisa
The actor has been open about the hurdles she faced in the beginning of her career. She told Bustle that casting directors commonly use a program that lists character descriptions. "And at the end of it, it always says, 'Latina. Black. Caucasian.' Growing up, those listings were so specific that even if a role sounded perfect for you, if it said white, you couldn’t go in." And if a casting director did make an exception, "then you're sitting in a room with a bunch of blondes."
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