On the latest issue of Glam Belleza Latina, actress Gina Rodriguez talks about her Golden Globe win for Jane The Virgin and diversity in Hollywood. We received a preview of her Q&A with the magazine and wanted to share a portion of it below. For the full interview click here.
Rodriguez on what the Golden Globe win meant for her…
“Obviously the win was fantastic, but the nomination itself was the win. I want to be acknowledged for what I do. For people to stop and say, ‘She can act her ass off. I want to work with her.’ That way I can tell more stories. And I can open up more doors. And God willing, I’ll get to a place where I can executive-produce shows and I can put other people on.”
Rodriguez on the purpose of her career…
“I want to change the idea of minorities in the media. Or contribute to that movement—I’m not single-handedly doing it. Growing up, I never saw my home life reflected on-screen, and that made me feel a certain way about myself. It’s not only about my ethnicity; it made me feel a certain way about my beauty. Not seeing a woman like me as a lead made me feel like I’d never be skinny enough, I’d never be pretty enough. I want to give young girls, like my niece, the tools to see a billboard and think, That [non-Latina] girl is beautiful, but that’s not the only form of beauty. Jane’s story is about a beautiful, normal girl. We don’t talk about her weight or her looks.”
Rodriguez on why the Latino community needs to understand its collective strength…
“We all have our own upbringing and that’s that. Spanish is my second language—my parents didn’t want us to be teased for having an accent the way they had been—and so I’m nervous speaking it. Yet I can dance salsa circles around people, but I’m not Latino enough for you? We just have to understand our collective strength. Because if Jane the Virgin does well, [Hollywood] is going to open the door for five new shows that are Latino focused. We’ve already seen this start to happen. Jane the Virgin got a Golden Globe, and this pilot season everybody wants a Latino lead…. The more we show them that our united front can blow something up, the more they’re going to open those doors because it’s no longer a risk. This isn’t about racism. It’s about money.”
Rodriguez on embracing the natural-beauty values that she was raised with…
“I still embrace the values that I was raised with. When people post pictures of me on social media looking crazy, in midspeech, I can still see beauty in those pictures. I’m real and I’m not put-together all the time. Like, that is just the truth. And to live up to that is just too much. It’s not sustainable at all.”