Gotta start somewhere.
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bellaalma — 13 years ago(December 30, 2012 02:18 PM)
It's not uncommon for Latina actresses to start out in black films while hoping to gain white acceptance in Hollywood. Black filmmakers seem so obsessed with casting any lighter skinned, straighter haired non-black woman in films opposite black men that this is an easy place for them to start. White filmmakers when casting a black lead like Will Smith in Hitch will cast a Latina like Mendez as a female lead because it makes white audiences comfortable. If they cast a black female opposite a black male, it somehow becomes a "black movie" and whites are less likely to patronize it. Casting a white actress opposite a black male lead in anything romantic is a box office no-no as well, so enter Eva Mendez, Salma Hayek, Rosario Dawson, Sofia Vergara, Jennifer Lopez and any other Latina actress who wants to get a start in Hollywood. Once they make names for themselves they start working opposite white actors, never to be seen in black films again.
What is also interesting is that these Latina actresses are NEVER cast opposite Latino actors. I guess that would be a "Latino movie" and whites wouldn't patronize that either. So these women go from black men to white men in their movie roles.
Are there an238y Latino actors even making mainstream movies, especially as leads?
] — 3 years ago(April 09, 2022 11:54 AM)