John Leguizamo has tips to boost Hollywood's Latino representation
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John Leguizamo joins SAG-AFTRA and WGA members on strike on Sept. 14 in New York City. Photo: John Nacion/Getty Images
Actor and producer John Leguizamo says that Hollywood leaders can help improve Latino representation in film and TV through mentoring and by actively sharing contact lists of qualified Hispanic workers.
Why it matters: Studies consistently show that Latinos, despite accounting for almost a fifth of the U.S. population and contributing enormously to the economy, remain underrepresented in front of and behind the cameras of Hollywood productions.
- Despite promises by studios to do better, the Latino Donor Collaborative reported last month that Latinos made up just 2.6% of leads or co-leads and 1.5% of directors on TV shows last year.
- Leguizamo has long been critical of the lack of representation of Latinos in Hollywood.
What he's saying: Leguizamo, whose road trip show spotlighting Latinos, "Leguizamo Does America," was recently renewed for a second season, tells Axios Latino it's a positive sign that the gaps are at least being acknowledged.
- He also says the general success of films like "Encanto" (in which he voiced Bruno), and hits like "The Last of Us" and "Wednesday," in which lead characters are played by Latinos, are a step forward.
- "But it's a step" Leguizamo says. "It's inching towards parity, but it's not equity."
- "We keep proving time and time again that our content is viable and super successful and our storytelling works. And yet getting that next thing greenlit is slow-going."
Leguizamo stresses that advocates and audiences need to keep pushing companies to find and hire diverse talent and recognize the financial incentives of doing so.
- One way industry leaders can do that is to share contact lists and existing databases of talent so execs can't claim they didn't know someone qualified was out there, says Leguizamo, also a co-founder of the production company and streaming service NGLmitú, which last month got picked up by Comcast for distribution.
- "I demand now, wherever I go, that they fill up the roster with Latino people," Leguizamo adds.
- He says his "Leguizamo Does America" crew was 75% people of color, and were all "chosen because they were the best at their jobs."
- He adds that Latinos who are already working in the industry can help newcomers get grants and mentoring to help them succeed.
The big picture: Leguizamo has taken his fight beyond Hollywood, holding conversations with Vice President Kamala Harris and working on Broadway shows and books that recap Latino history, much of which is missing from most U.S. school curricula.
- "Latinos are not mentioned in history or literature classes … and you're more likely to see a bird, a dog or a cat than to see a Latino child's face in a children's book," he says.
- That impacts self-worth and lets others "who never heard of Latinos as American heroes from way back to exclude us without remorse," he says.
- But he's confident that works by him and other authors, the continued work of advocacy groups and initiatives like the future Latino Museum, "are slowly changing the script."
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