Latino Characters in TV/Movies and Music

There are very talented Latino actors and actresses in Hollywood, but they are sorely underrepresented. Only about 4 percent of actors are Latino. Here some major talents that can be seen on both the big and small screens now.

Aimee Garcia has worked on the television shows George Lopez and Dexter, and on the big screen in the updated version of Robocop.

Fear the Walking Dead has several Latino actors as main characters. No stranger to television or movies, actor Rubén Blades plays the head of a family attempting to escape the “infection.” His daughter is portrayed by Mercedes Mason, recently seen in Anger Management, Californication, NCIS:LA, The Finder, and more. Patricia Reyes Spíndola has starred in many Spanish and Mexican films in her long career. Other Latino actors in the show include Elizabeth Rodriguez, who is also currently starring in the Netflix original series Orange is the New Black. Lorenzo James Henrie also stars. As the male lead of the series who is cast as a Latino, is actor Cliff Curtis, of New Zealand and Maori descent. One must wonder why a Latino actor was not cast as the lead…

Keep your eyes peeled for Melissa Fumero. She got her start on the daytime soap, One Life to Live and moved up to primetime as a regular on the comedy Brooklyn Nine-Nine.

Natalie Martinez, formerly a model, has appeared in several music videos and moved on to the television hit, Under the Dome.

Dominicana Dascha Polanco is better known as Daya Diaz on Orange is the New Black. She is also going to be seen in the upcoming movie, Gimme Shelter.

Selena Gomez, young and talented has moved from a Disney girl to a pop chart regular. Also from Disney, Demi Lovato is pursuing and succeeding at a singing career. Victoria Justice from…. Not Disney but Nickelodeon, is also looking to break into singing.

Alexa Vega has come a long way from Spy Kids! She has continued her movie career and is definitely not a kid anymore.

The young actors and actresses are moving up into the Hollywood ranks to join their famous predecessors such as Salma Hayak, Sofia Vergara, Michelle Rodriguez, Penélope Cruz, Eva Mendes, Paz de la Huerta, Eva Longoria, Jennifer Lopez, and more. Hopefully this trend will continue and we will continue to see diversity in entertainment and major roles given to Latino characters.

Image via: Gage Skidmore [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons