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Sofia Vergara: What's so wrong with playing stereotypical Latina women?
Published January 01, 2017
ARLINGTON, TX - APRIL 19: Actress Sofia Vergara attends the 50th Academy Of Country Music Awards at AT&T Stadium on April 19, 2015 in Arlington, Texas. (Photo by Jason Merritt/Getty Images) (2015 Getty Images)
Sofia Vergara has been criticized for taking on roles depicting stereotypical Latina women, on “Modern Family” and other projects. But the actress has only one thing to say to detractors: Guilty as charged.
The Colombian actress, who was in Mexico promoting her recent release, “Hot Pursuit,” said she is not afraid of portraying stereotypes – specifically that of a Latina woman.
“What is so wrong about a Latina women’s stereotype? Generally we are women with a lot of passion, crazed by our families, by our husbands, to help our kids,” she told the Mexican press in Spanish. “We get involved in things that don’t affect us, but it’s because our family matters and we always want to help everyone.”
The 42-year-old Vergara said that regardless of the roles she plays, she understands the need to get more Latino stories into the cultural forefront, but that studios are not thinking about them – yet.
“It’s not on purpose. The writers come in and write what they know,” she said. “What needs to happen is that we need to incentivize Latino writers to share their stories, so that it brings in more Latinos and Americans to the theater.”
Vergara’s "Hot Pursuit" co-star, Reese Witherspoon, could only agree, saying change needs to happen at the writing level.
“So write your stories and get in touch with people. There are so many people ready to tell these stories, but they are difficult to find,” the Oscar winner said.
As for playing different types of roles, Vergara said she is going to stick with comedy for the time being – mostly because dramas and horror films would be too draining.
“[Comedy] comes pretty naturally to me,” she said. “I never thought I would be doing it for a living, but it’s nice to be at work where you laugh all day and then go home. It must be draining after an emotional day on set.”
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