by Roberto Leal
Eva Longoria, Gina Rodriguez and America Ferrara, three prominent TV, film and stage stars, are making network TV history during the upcoming TV season. All three Latina leading ladies have starring roles in two new mid-season TV series and one returning show.
While there have been Latinos in co-starring and even lead roles in TV shows in the past such as Desi Arnaz (I Love Lucy), Freddie Prinze (Chico and the Man), George Lopez (The George Lopez Show) and more recently Cristela Alonzo in last years short-lived Cristela, the significance of THREE TV shows with Latinas in lead roles, in the light of Hispanics becoming an emerging force in the entertainment industry, cannot be overlooked.
…”there are signs everywhere”— Salma Hayek, Fools Rush In
Eva Longoria first gained national attention as the sexy, naughty neighbor, Gabrielle Solis in ABC’s hit show Desperate Housewives. Born in Corpus Christi, Texas, Longoria parlayed that success into other roles in front of the camera and also behind the camera as an executive producer of ABC’s Devious Maids.
Despite her well-deserved image as a sex-symbol, Longoria is a committed political activist. Longoria, who comes from a family of educators and earned a Master’s Degree in Chicano Studies, works tirelessly to educate and register Hispanic voters in her native Texas.
In a CNN interview, Eva showed her political activist side expressing her views on border security.
Her new show on NBC, Hot & Bothered gives Longoria a role where she can flex her comedic muscles as Ana Calderon, a popular telenovela star. NBC’s hot new sitcom follows the daily life of this telenovela diva. The comic twist in the show is that Longoria’s character does not speak Spanish! ¡No me digas! ¿Come puede ser?
Longoria is also an executive producer of Hot & Bothered which will premiere next year as a mid-season entry. You can also hear Eva Longoria on the Canadian animated series Mother Up!. Longoria is the voice of Rudy Wilson, a former music executive who moves to the suburbs to raise a family
Meanwhile, in another part of the Latina star power galaxy not too far away, Gina Rodriguez’s profile has been glowing brighter and brighter ever since The Hollywood Reporter named her “the next big thing” and one of the “top Latinos under the age of 35”. Her breakout performance as the lead character in the movie Filly Brown, screened at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival, was the only the beginning for the Chicago-born actress.
Following her triumph as a Golden Globe and People’s Choice Award winner for Best Actress in a TV series, Rodriguez returns for a second season on The CW’s critically acclaimed series Jane the Virgin.
Rodriguez made history by winning The CW its first ever Golden Globe award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series – Comedy or Musical. But to Rodriguez it meant so much more as she so eloquently said in her acceptance speech, “This award is so much more than myself, it represents a culture that wants to see itself as heroes.”
Rodriguez whose had previous roles in Rizzoli & Isles, The Mentalist, Longmire and Law and Order, plays Jane Villanueva, a working-class, religious, young virgin, whose life is turned upside down when she becomes pregnant after being artificially inseminated by mistake.
Like Eva Longoria’s new TV series Hot & Bothered, Jane the Virgin is based on a Spanish-language telenovela titled Juana la Virgen.
“…there are signs everywhere”
The entertainment “radar screen” is increasingly becoming filled with very large, luminous Hispanic and Spanish-language influenced “blips.”
Back in the ’70’s, many popular TV network programs were clones of British TV shows; Sanford and Son (Steptoe and Son), All in the Family (Till Death Us Do Part) and currently The Office (The Office) were all originally created and aired on The United Kingdom’s BBC network.
Now we have two high-profile TV shows based on two Spanish-lanaugage telenovelas; Hot & Bothered (Telenovela) and Jane the Virgin (Juana la Virgen). I personally can’t pass up the opportunity to mention the tremendously successful telenovela La Reina del Sur starring Mexican superstar Kate del Castillo. I watched La Reina del Sur when it first aired on Telemundo in 2010 and have enjoyed it every time it has been re-broadcast.
The USA Network, the sister station of Telemundo is looking to tap into the the ratings success of La Reina del Sur and recently shot on an English language version entitled, what else Queen of the South, which is currently being revamped. All the world is a telenovela.
No doubt, we will be seeing more and more American TV shows being influenced or directly-based on popular Spanish-language programs.
During her press conference after winning the Golden Globe Award, Rodriguez spoke about the diversity presented on Jane the Virgin and how the depiction of Hispanics on TV shows like hers and others like Ugly Betty have impacted and empowered the youth in the Latino community.
The CW network has picked up Jane the Virgin for a second season. Air date is scheduled for October 12, 2015.
Although she is still quite young, America Ferrara is a veteran of TV, film and stage. Ferrara, a Golden Globe, Emmy and Screen Actor’s Guild Award winner for her ground-breaking role in Ugly Betty, has amassed a body of work that has established her as a Latina creative force to be reckoned with in the entertainment industry.
Ferrara returns to episodic TV this Fall season in NBC’s sitcom Superstore. Ferrara plays a floor supervisor in this workplace comedy. During her five-year hiatus from network TV, she was offered dozens of opportunities for TV pilots. She nixed all of them until Superstore came along. Ferrara who was the first Latina to win a Golden Globe for Best Actress in Ugly Betty, will also co-produce Superstore.
In a Huffington Post article Ferrara had this to say about the need for stories that put a mirror up to our changing society.
“We need more in art and entertainment that is reflective of the world that we live in. And there’s just not enough reflection in it for women, for people of color. There’s still a huge amount of stories that have yet to be told, and we need those voices to find those platforms so that they can share those experiences.”
America Ferrara certainly will be one of those storytellers.
Also worthy of mention is Alexis Carra. Alexis, who appeared in Bones, Anger Management and Castle, returns this season in ABC’s Recovery Road. Carra has a recurring role as a guidance counselor dealing with teen addicts in the TV show based on Blake Nelson’s young adult novel.
Powerhouse Latina superstar, Jennifer Lopez (American Idol) will star in the new NBC detective drama Shades of Blue. Lopez will play a sexy New York detective, and a single mom, Harlee Santos, in the steamy new drama which will premiere in the Spring next year.
Forbes magazine has cited Sofia Vergarra, star of ABC’s hit comedy Modern Family, as one of the highest paid actresses on TV.
When Salma Hayek spoke the line “there are signs everywhere” in the romantic comedy Fools Rush In, she was not actually referring to “signs” pointing toward a Hispanic-version of an Age of Aquarius in the entertainment industry. But who better to utter a line like that than the multifaceted Hayek herself?
What all these Latina artists represent is the increasingly obvious talent, influence and presence of the Latino community in all phases of the entertainment field as reflected by the burgeoning Hispanic demographics in the U.S.
But more importantly, its an exciting illustration of the power to create, produce, and direct projects that Latina artists like Eva Longoria, Jennifer Lopez, America Ferrara, Salma Hayek, to mention just a few, are beginning to wield in Hollywood and beyond.
Could these three TV shows—Hot $ Bothered, Jane the Virgin, and Superstore—featuring Latinas in starring roles be a harbinger of a Hispanic-style Age of Aquarius in TV, film and stage?
Could be.
There is certainly a galaxy full of bright, shining, talented Latina stars aligning the planets in that direction.
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