They say you never forget your first, right? Well Gina Rodriguez first magazine cover was no other then LatinTRENDS. The cover says “Hollywood! Here Comes Gina!“…now she is proudly there.
Gina has an extensive resume from The Bold and the Beautiful, Law & Order, Army Wives to becoming Sundance scene stealer in “Filly Brown“. Now she is going to be a household name as she stars in the upcoming comedy-drama series on The CW called “Jane The Virgin” that premieres October 13th. The series is based on the telenovela “Juana La Virgen“.
Not only is Gina talented and humble she is very proud of her heritage and before “Jane The Virgin” she was offered a role on Lifetime’s hit show “Devious Maids“. The show is about five Latin women who are maids to the rich and elite in Beverly Hills. She spoke to Buzzfeed about why she chose to pass on the offer.
“I wouldn’t say that I chose Jane over Devious Maids. When I was presented with Devious Maids after Sundance, after I did a film at Sundance and I had an ABC holding deal, I found it limiting that that was the one that was available to me. I found it limiting for the stories that Latinos have.
For the stories that Americans have, I feel like there’s a perception that people have about Latinos in America specifically — somebody growing up in Chicago, English being my first language, Spanish being my second — that we are perceived a very certain way.”
“Our stories have been told, and they’re not unmoralistic, you know, being a maid is fantastic. You know, I have many family members that have fed many of their families on doing that job, but there are other stories that need to be told.
I think that the media is a venue and an avenue to educate and teach our next generation. And, sadly, right now the perception they have of Latinos in America are very specific to maid, landscape, pregnant teen. Mind you, I am playing pregnant but not a teen.”
“I didn’t become an artist to be a millionaire. I didn’t become an actor to wear Louis Vuitton. I have to give this dress back when we’re done. I became an actor to change the way I grew up. The way I grew up, I never saw myself on screen. I have two older sisters. One’s an investment banker.
The other one is a doctor, and I never saw us being played as investment bankers and actor. I realized how limiting that was for me. I would look at the screen and think, ‘Well, there’s no way I can do it, because I’m not there.’ And it’s like as soon as you follow your dreams, you give other people the allowance to follow theirs.”
“And for me, to look on younger girls and to say, ‘Well, Gina’s like me, maybe not necessarily the same skin color, maybe not necessarily the same background, but like that’s me. I’m not alone. I can do it too.’
So every role that I’ve chosen has been ones that I think are going to push forward the idea of my culture, of women, of beauty, my idea of liberating young girls, of feeling that they have to look at a specific beauty type. And I wasn’t going to let my introduction to the world be one of a story that I think has been told many times.”
“I wanted it to be a story that was going to liberate young girls and say, ‘Wow, there we are too, and we’re the doctors, and we’re the teachers, and we’re the writers, and we’re the lawyers, and I can do that too. And I don’t have to be a perfect size zero.
I can be a perfect size me.’ And that’s what I live. So Jane, I waited for her patiently. And now she’s here. And thank you for being here with us. Because this is a dream come true to me.”
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