Latino Legacy In Cinema: The Past, The Present, & The Future
From top left and right: jennifer lopez, Rosario Dawson, Edward James Olmos, John Leguizamo, Rafael Campos, Xolo Maridueña, Dolores del Rio, Rosie Perez, Zoe Saldana, and Ariana DeBose - Jose Perez / Bauer-Griffin / Keystone Features / Stringer / Gary Gershoff / Steven Simione / Harmony Gerber / Photofest / Greg Doherty /Steven Ferdman / David M. Benett / Steve Granitz
There’s no business like show business.
For over a century, Los Angeles has captivated the world as the place where movie magic happens. While walking around its glitzy bustling avenues surrounded by the vibrant colors of sun-kissed street art and as the palm trees sway with an effortless coolness in the warm breeze, one may expect at any moment for Tarantino to yell, “Cut!” The California metropolis provides a surreal feeling, as if in a real movie, and anyone who’s been can also attest to the vibrant Latino influence from the architecture to the food every corner exuberates. Making up 49% of the area’s population, Latinos have cemented their place as a pillar of Los Angeles’ history and culture. But one wouldn’t notice that from watching the big-budget films created there since Latinos are still largely invisible in the film industry with a lack of representation in front and behind the cameras— and Hollywood won’t take a memo.
Like many marginalized communities, Latinos have a long and complex relationship with the film industry going as far back as the silent film era of the-early-1900s, with Ramon Novarro and Dolores del Río, considered some of the first Latino actors to succeed in Hollywood. During their respective career peaks, they were established as “Latin lovers,” playing the roles of fiery and passionate exotic types in films of the 1920s and 1930s. Novarro kickstarted his career in 1917 by playing small bit parts in silent films and later achieved great success in films like Ben-Hur (1925), The Pagan (1929), and The Laughing Boy (1934). Del Río was initially discovered as an established entertainer in Mexico and transitioned her stardom into Hollywood as a bonafide sex symbol of her day with leading roles in Bird of Paradise (1932), Flying Down to Rio (1933), and Madame Du Barry (1934). According to bibliographer Larry Carr, Del Río was vocal about wanting to portray her heritage in a positive light, “I’d love to appear in fine, emotional dramas...and am eager to play in stories concerning my native people, the Mexican race. It is my dearest wish to make fans realize their real beauty, their wonder, their greatness as a people. The vast majority seem to regard Mexicans as a race of bandits, or laborers, dirty, unkempt, and uneducated. My ambition is to show the best that’s in my nation.”
Latino Representation in the early-mid 1900s
The 1940s saw the star power of Mexican actress Lupe Vélez, who was so often cast in cliché “exotic” or “ethnic” roles that were known to be hot-tempered that the character began to affect her real life with the media consistently referring to her as “Mexican Hurricane,” “The Mexican Wildcat,” “Whoopee Lupe,” and “The Hot Tamale.” She found great success in the early-1940s with the Mexican Spitfire film series she led for eight consecutive films --unheard of for a Latina actor then. It wouldn’t be until the 1950s that Latinos began receiving notable recognition at the Academy Awards. Puerto Rican actor José Ferrer was the first Latino to win an Oscar for Best Actor for the film Cyrano de Bergerac (1950). Ferrer followed that achievement with hit films like Miss Sadie Thompson (1953), also starring Rita Hayworth, and directed other films like The Great Man (1956). A couple of years after Ferrer’s win, classic Hollywood actor Anthony Quinn became the second Latino and first Mexican-American actor to win an Academy Award for Viva Zapata! in 1953 and again for Lust for Life in 1957. Quinn also had a long career before and after these achievements, working in the film industry from 1936 until 1995, a few years before his death. He was originally born Manuel Antonio Rodolfo Quinn Oaxaca in Mexico to Irish and Mexican parents but changed his name when he began acting in the late 1930s. By the late 1940s, Quinn had already appeared in over 50 films playing various ethnic and racial identities, an unfortunately common industry practice at the time for many actors, including Indigenous American chiefs, Arab sheiks, Hawaiian natives, Filipino freedom fighters, Mafia dons, and Asian characters. His publicist also hid his Mexican background by telling the press he was the son of an “Irish adventurer,” but Quinn later disputed that claim and was very close to his Latino heritage throughout his life. Quinn faced much discrimination growing up and was active in multiple Latino civil rights and social causes like job discrimination faced by Latin Americans.
The film industry in the 1940s and 1950s played a key role in promoting the ‘all-American’ nuclear image crafted by the misogynistic and racist ideology of the early-20th century. By this time the celebrity image had become more synonymous with elegance, glamour, and being a white American, which propelled a rhetoric to the public about people of color being less American than others through lack of authentic representation in Hollywood-produced films. Many prominent film stars of this time hid and changed everything about themselves, from their appearances to sexuality and even ethnic backgrounds. Many White and ‘White-passing’ Latino actors did so willingly to earn more job opportunities (a practice still happening today). All to fit old film studios’ demands for an image film executives believed would garner public interest and drive up box office sales— a belief proved wrong.
Mexican-American actor Rodolfo Acosta succeeded greatly in Mexican and Central American films as a romantic and heroic screen idol but was constantly cast in Hollywood films as the villainous Mexican outlaw or Indigenous American role in Western films of the 1950s and 1960s like Hondo (1953) and One-Eyed Jacks (1961). Dominican actor Rafael Campos’ biggest role in Blackboard Jungle (1955) would typecast him for much of his 30-year career playing “delinquent” types, but he also appeared in popular films The Appaloosa (1966) and Oklahoma Crude (1973).
The 1960s saw the rising star power of Academy Award Winning Puerto Rican actress Rita Moreno, one of the most well-known Latino performers to work in the industry. She was the first Latina to win the Best Supporting Actress Award for playing Anita in West Side Story (1961). After receiving the acclaimed award, Moreno had hoped to play fewer stereotypical roles, but in 2011 she said that was not the case, “Before West Side Story, I was always offered the stereotypical Latina roles. The Conchitas and Lolitas in westerns. I was always barefoot. It was humiliating, embarrassing stuff. But I did it because there was nothing else. After West Side Story, it was pretty much the same thing. A lot of gang stories.” Throughout her career, Moreno has become a Latino icon for her film, television, and stage contributions, awarded numerous accolades, including the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award in 2013. Her legacy is brilliant and passionate, and she has an unwavering commitment to the craft.
Latino Representation in the 80s and 90s
The 1980s and 1990s saw a rise in the representation of Latino-focused characters and stories. Most notably, Edward James Olmos became the first American-born Latino to receive an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor in Stand and Deliver (1988), a film inspired by the true story of a Bolivian-American math teacher in East Los Angeles who inspired his high school students to defy the odds of standardized testing. He was also in big Latino hits like My Family (1995) and Selena (1997), all films with major Latino stories told by a majority Latino cast. Raul Julia also captivated audiences with his exceptional acting skills. Some of his most notable works included The Penitent (1988), Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985), The Addams Family (1991), and Presumed Innocent (1990), which garnered him widespread critical acclaim. Julia’s immense talent was recognized with numerous accolades, including a Golden Globe and a Tony Award. Demián Bichir also began his film career with The Pertinent (1988). His arguably most notable film as of yet, was A Better Life (2011), for which he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor. The film is set in a Latino community featuring almost a majority Latino cast. Mexican-American actor Danny Trejo, the second cousin of acclaimed director Robert Rodriguez, began his career after a rough upbringing as a side character in Runaway Train (1985) and developed a long ongoing career with starring roles in Desperado (1995) and The Machete series.
The mid-90s and early aughts saw Latino powerhouses like Jennifer Lopez, Salma Hayek, and Michael Peña enter the film industry. Jennifer Lopez received widespread recognition for her portrayal of Mexican-American singer Selena Quintanilla in the 1994 biopic Selena, earning her a Golden Globe nomination and becoming the first Latina actress to earn $1 million. Since then, she has starred in over thirty films, including Anaconda (1997), The Cell (2000), Monster-in-Law (2005), and, most recently, Netflix’s The Mother (2023). Hayek began her career as a telenovela actress in Mexico and found mainstream success with Desperado (1995) and arguably her best role as Frida Kahlo in the biofilm Frida (2004). Hayek’s portrayal of the legendary Mexican artist delivered a powerful and emotionally charged performance, earning her widespread critical acclaim and an Academy and Golden Globe nomination.
Latino Representation in the early 2000s
With the white-centric legacy of its early days still glooming an ugly shadow, the film industry has shown to be almost afraid of making progress and not too different compared to itself decades ago. The frequent casting of light-skinned actors for most Latino roles disheartens a racially and culturally diverse community. Many Latino actors and filmmakers struggle to get work, especially Indigenous and Afro-Latinos. The Afro-Latino community is a vital part of the Latino community, yet their representation in films has been even more limited. It is essential to shed light on the contributions and experiences of Afro-Latinos to create a more inclusive and accurate portrayal of our society. Zoe Saldaña, known for her roles in Guardians of the Galaxy and Avatar franchises, is of Dominican and Puerto Rican descent. The actress has appeared in the three highest-grossing films of all time, Avatar (2009) and its 2023 sequel and Avengers: Endgame (2019). She began her acting career in the late 1990s, and her breakthrough role came in the film Center Stage (2000). Saldaña has also received critical acclaim for her performances in smaller, independent films such as Nina (2016) and Infinitely Polar Bear (2014). She is known for her versatility, charisma, and ability to portray complex characters easily. Saldaña is a true icon of the silver screen, and her achievements in the film industry are remarkable. Rosario Dawson, who has starred in Sin City (2005) and Rent (2005), is of Cuban and Puerto Rican heritage, with a career that began almost 30 years ago. Her activism and dedication to social justice make her an important voice in the entertainment industry. Rosie Perez is of Puerto Rican descent and has paved the way for future generations of Afro-Latino actors through her Academy Award nomination for Fearless (1994). In addition to these trailblazers, newer Afro-Latino talents in the industry are making waves. Ariana DeBose, who is of Puerto Rican descent, starred in the film adaptation of Hamilton (2020) and, like Moreno, won the Best Supporting Actress Award for playing Anita in West Side Story (2021). Anthony Ramos, of Puerto Rican descent, has also made a name for himself in the film industry with roles in In the Heights (2021), which earned him a Golden Globe nomination, A Star is Born (2018), and Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019). Their talent and representation of Afro-Latinos in these blockbuster films are helping to bring more visibility to the community and proving diversity leads to box office success.
Long-time actor and Latino activist John Leguizamo was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar (1995) and consistently advocates for more Latino representation in Hollywood. In a 2022 Instagram post, the actor stated, “I grew up in an era where Latin people couldn’t play Latin people on film, where Charlton Heston played a Mexican, where Pacino played Cuban and Puerto Rican. They told you to change your name. Stay out of the sun, that only white Latinos or white-passing Latinos will get jobs. I’ve been told so many times you can’t have two Latin people in the movie. Otherwise, people think it’s a Latin movie, So no, no appropriating our stories. No, no more of that. I’m done with that.” Oscar Isaac, one of today’s biggest Latino actors, has also talked about why he dropped his Latino surname when auditioning to avoid getting typecast as a Latino gangster.
Hollywood’s Current State of Latino Representation
Recent years have brought forth a lot of broad conversation about the general lack of diversity in today’s Hollywood film industry— like the social media campaign #OscarsSoWhite that shook the Academy Awards— but what is less discussed or known about is what a lack of representation can cause to a culture and community. Watching your ethnicity and culture accurately represented in films can be inspirational and empowering. Never seeing or only being shown stereotypical depictions of your ethnicity and culture can have real-life consequences. Scholars have referred to it as symbolic annihilation, first coined by historian George Gerbner in 1976. Symbolic annihilation happens when poor media portrayal contributes to real-life repercussions for a marginalized culture and community, and Latinos are the most vulnerable to this because of the complexities in what defines a “Latino.” ‘Latino’ is the most loosely defined constructed term of the ‘non-white’ categories in the US because it’s meant to encompass a diverse ethnic group of people with various racial identities, and when Latinos are always portrayed simply as light skin Spanish descendants, it erases a majority of that communities people and their cultural identities. Authentic representation is crucial to defeating harmful stereotypes. While many non-white Latinos have found mainstream success in Hollywood more recently, the numbers are still incredibly disproportionate. The 2022 Latino Donor Collaborative Latinos in Media Report found that white actors still represented the majority of leading roles in the top films released in theaters for 2022. Latino actors comprised only around 3% and 6% of all leading roles for theatrical and streaming releases that year respectively. The report also found that only 3.5% of screenwriters and 2.6% of directors were Latino. A similar report by UCLA concluded similar statistics.
Today the film industry is a multi-billion dollar business with great influence that, somehow, still struggles to grapple with the evidence that movies with a diverse cast can be successful at the box office and that Latinos are one of their largest moviegoing audience. It’s time for the film industry to understand that when films possess the power to entertain, unite, and influence societal perspectives through real and fictional stories, it stands to reason that Latinos, who make up around 19% of the US population and are the country’s largest ethnic minority group that will triple in size by 2055, would want accurate portrayals of their cultures and ethnicities to relate to on the big screen.
There is no one-size-fits-all approach to decades of misrepresentation in films, and change will require multiple parties involved in the industry to commit to diversity efforts. Committing to diversity efforts for Latinos and Afro-Latinos includes greenlighting stories and projects told by and for Latinos and hiring a diverse Latino group of writers, producers, cast, and crew. Film and production chair executives have this power but rarely use it. In 2021 the Los Angeles Times reported that no US Latino executives, US Latino CEOs, or Chairs work in film production companies. With representation at the top levels, there will likely be more representation on film sets.
A Brief Look Into the Future
The recently released Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse was a critical and commercial success. The film showcased a beautiful ensemble of diverse cast members with Afro-Latino and Latino main characters showing (again) that authentic representation can deliver blockbuster success. The future also doesn’t seem entirely bleak, the highly anticipated DC superhero film Blue Beetle is scheduled for theatrical release in August 2023, and the film has sparked much excitement over its majority Latino cast and crew. Angel Manuel Soto directs the film, which will star Xolo Maridueña, Becky G, George Lopez, Adriana Barraza, Elpidia Carrillo, Damián Alcázar, and Belissa Escobedo. Despite that proof and continued efforts for more representation, the film industry is still not producing enough projects that reflect its diverse audience. It’s time for Hollywood to listen and prioritize diversity and give opportunities to diverse Latino actors who truly represent the stories they are portraying. It’s not just about racial identity but also about giving Indigenous Latino and Afro-Latino voices in underrepresented communities a platform to showcase their unique experiences and to keep a culture alive.
