Gina Rodriguez: I make a call to action for Latinos
Gina Rodriguez wants Latinos all over the U.S. to show that the community has a strong buying power that cannot be ignored.
Gina Rodriguez has been riding the wave of success thanks to her hit show “Jane the Virgin,” which has already garnered her a Golden Globe win for best actress.
“I am in love with ‘Jane,’” the 30-year-old actress told Fox News Latino at the P&G Orgullosa's Nueva Latinas Living Fabulosa Forum in New York City on Wednesday. “I definitely think that it shows a perspective of the Latino community that hasn’t been seen quite yet — the dual identity, living with two languages inside the home.”
The Chicago native said that one of the things she loves the most of the show is that it speaks by itself. “There is no need to comment on it, we’re just living it.”
Our viewership is not as crazy as I believe it can be. And that is the reason I make a call to action for Latinos.
“That’s the way you succeed in this industry, when we are trying to join the same party,” Rodriguez said. “We all want to be accepted and the Latino community wants to be accepted just as anyone else. Not for having different stories – we all have the same stories – but to be represented with that authenticity that is important.”
Rodriguez, the second Latina to take home a Golden Globe after America Ferrera for “Ugly Betty,” said despite the show’s success, Latino representation in TV and films is still lacking and it’s up to the Latino community to do something about it.
“I do think that the Latino community can rise and come together and start watching ‘Jane’ even on a bigger scale and we can have numbers that are much greater,” a passionate Rodriguez said. “Our viewership is not as crazy as I believe it can be. And that is the reason I make a call to action for Latinos.”
She continued, “We are 54 million plus in this country. If we have a third , even just 10 percent of them watching ‘Jane’ … then we can bring up our numbers and they (the studios) are going to create more shows and they aren’t going to have a fear that we don’t make money.”
Rodriguez wants Latinos all over the United States to show that the community has a strong buying power that cannot be ignored.
“We have to support our own community, i.e. we have to watch shows like ‘Jane,’ ‘Cristela’ and shows that are to come like ‘Telenovela’ and Jennifer Lopez’s new show ‘Shades of Blue,’” she said. “I am going to support these women and continue to support these women because in doing so we show them how powerful we are and they make more of us.”
The actress, who said she is inspired by her older sisters working successfully in the medical and financial fields, said often Latinos are not portrayed accurately on the screen, that is, playing roles of drive and success.
“I want my nieces and nephews to see that and know that they belong, that they are just as good, that they are just as strong, they are just as intelligent and to do that with integrity and morals,” Rodriguez said.
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