Hollywood s Latino Culture Gap
Times journalists examine the complicated history of Latinos in Hollywood and the actions being taken to increase their representation, which remains stubbornly low.
Pop quiz!
Name five Mexican states, four Mexican wrestlers and three telenovelas starring Thalía. Now dance convincingly to a remix of “El Chaca Chaca,” identify Mexican candies while blindfolded and juggle a soccer ball like Chucky Lozano. For extra credit, belt out a reverberant
grito.
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Don’t worry if you failed. This is not a real test.
It’s a tongue-in-cheek plot point from the Netflix comedy series “Gentefied.” In the third episode of the series, which debuted last year, aspiring chef Chris Morales (played by the affable Carlos Santos) has his Mexican bona fides challenged by a fellow cook after he informs his colleagues that, no, he did not catch the latest Chivas match on TV.
Luis Fonsi, Shakira, Kelly Rowland and Solange Knowles appeared on Nickelodeon's "Taina," a turning point for kids TV with a pivotal role for young Latinas.
all occasions.
Created by Maria Perez-Brown (“Gullah Gullah Island,” “Model Latina”), the Nickelodeon teen sitcom “Taina” premiered Jan. 14, 2001. The show revolved around Puerto Rican diva-in-training Taina Morales and her fellow students at the Manhattan School of the Performing Arts, a fictional stand-in for the actual New York City fame factory, Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts.
With a diverse cast of young actors and featuring cameos by now-superstars Luis Fonsi, Shakira, Kelly Rowland and Solange Knowles the show marked a turning point for kids’ television in the United States, where Latino characters, and more generally actors of color, were few and far between. “Taina” came on the air following a 1999 boycott of CBS, NBC, ABC and Fox protesting the “brownout” or lack of Latino TV shows and lead characters on the major networks and just months after Nickelodeon debuted the more male-centric, Mexican American sitc
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