When they rolled the first cameras, Latinos helped shape one of the 20th century’s most enduring art forms. John Leguizamo probably said it best in Latin today when he was quoted as saying “As Latin artists, we have a responsibility to open doors for others. And if the doors do not open, we are responsible for crowning our way in.
In the 1995 movie “The Perez Family,” Marissa Tomei had to gain 18 pounds and wear a self-tanning product because the producer didn’t think she was “dark or fat enough” to play a Cuban prostitute. When the Spanish magazine coincided with its list of Latino films that year, “Phases Family” was named the worst movie of the year.
Images of the Spanish as idle, criminal, or only good for work as maids and gardeners still persist. More and more Hispanics are taking the place of actors, directors, writers, producers and executives in the television film industry, although they are taking huge steps to change the stereotypes that Hollywood has perpetuated for decades.
Hollywood is the first bad guy
Who has not seen some of the first Spanish roles played? The stereotypical drunken males and soft-spoken women almost always fell in love with English co-stars. In the early days of Hollywood under the influence of the Latin language, there was no role in the Spanish drama outside of romance or sex. In the book “Spanish in Hollywood” by Luis Reyes and Peter Rubie, the famous Latin actress, singer and dancer Rita Moreno is quoted saying, ‘We have been given gifts, however much they may ask.’
The oldest silent movies often overshadowed melodramas pitting “good guys” vs “bad guys”. Undoubtedly, the Mexicans were most often cast as criminals and were often referred to as “grasadores”; a name derived from the squalor heaped up by the Mexicans who labored to load the boats. However, as Hollywood’s stereotype of Latinos as “dark, dumb and violent” grew, so did threats of boycotts of US films in Latin-American countries. President Woodrow Wilson went public, asking Hollywood to “be a little kinder to Mexicans.
A Latin players have made a name for themselves these days, though. Dolores del Rio, Jose Ferrer and Desi Arnaz were a few. One of the most famous and often overlooked is the Latin actress Rita Hayworth, born Margarita Cansino. Hayworth was one of the original Latin actors who died under Hollywood pressure and hair, changed his name, and even underwent more electrolysis look at the white
El Futuro
Today, Latin stars Salma Hayek, Antonio Banderas, Edward James Olmos, Jennifer Lopez, and the fast-talking charismatic John Leguizamo Hollywood he explained. While many Latinos are succeeding in Hollywood, not a few others feel the need to conform to their English peers; together with Raymond Estevez, a modern actor of remarkable fame. Don’t recognize the name? Perhaps you know this actor better as Martin Shene.
For more than a century now, gifted artists have been striving to bring a measure of reality to their portraits, and to transcend the clichéd roles that often determine how other Americans and the world will consider Latinos. The foundation of today’s generation of talent was built by the first Latinos in Hollywood.
With the recent introduction of films that cast Latinos in mainstream and everyday roles, the future looked much brighter for Latino actors. Think movies like Kids Spy, in which the male lead actor was Antonio Banderas, the heroic father. A few years ago, Banderas would undoubtedly have gotten the role from someone more Caucasian.
“Human expertise is human experience, whatever color, race, religion, whatever you are. It’s the same damn thing, with different packaging. They all open up primary functions. You don’t have to be
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- Bronze Store: 100 Years of Latin Imagery in HollywoodAmerican MeStand and Free
