John Leguizamo Gets Real About the Colorism Problem in Hollywood

We’d have made some progress relating to various illustration in mainstream movies and tv, however we nonetheless have a really lengthy technique to go. That is particularly the case relating to how the Latinx group is depicted in Hollywood. John Leguizamo lately spoke up concerning the colorism concern that also very a lot exists inside Latinx communities and the way it usually impacts casting.

“There’s colorism inside Latin tradition that we now have to repair, however there’s colorism in Hollywood, too,” Leguizamo tells Nick Barili in his new sequence, “Seen,” which is in collaboration with the Academy of Movement Image Arts and Sciences. Like most communities of shade, the Latinx group is usually handled and portrayed like a monolithic group. We nonetheless do not see sufficient Black Latinx illustration in movie and tv, and barely can we ever see Indigenous Latinx illustration in Hollywood in any respect. The few occasions we do see Latinx actors in main roles, they’re usually occasions white Latinxs or no less than comparatively gentle skinned. Leguizamo admits that he is benefited from being a light-skinned Latino, a lot in order that he truly went out of his technique to keep away from getting darker in order that he may land these roles and transfer up in Hollywood.

“I’ve benefited from being gentle pores and skin, and I stayed out of the solar so I may work. I positively wouldn’t go within the solar,” he says. “For years I used to be so pasty so I may work. All of the Latinos who’ve made it to this point, plenty of them had been gentle skinned. What occurred to all of the Afro-Latinos and nearly all of Indigenous Latinos? They do not get a shot.”

Leguizamo, who started his profession within the early ’80s, even talked about an incident the place a task he had landed was then taken away from him as a result of a Latina actress was later solid they usually “could not have two Latin individuals within the film as a result of then it turns into a Latin film.” If Leguizamo, who’s a comparatively light-skinned Latino, needed to be aware of taking solar and getting darker with a purpose to get roles, think about how a lot tougher it has been for Black and Indigenous Latinx actors simply to get their foot within the door. There is a purpose why Lin-Manuel Miranda’s movie adaptation of “In The Heights” acquired a lot backlash and criticism, and it is as a result of the movie didn’t solid any dark-skinned Black Latinx actors in lead roles. A movie about Washington Heights, a neighborhood that include predominately Afro-Dominicans, failed to truly painting that. Somebody from Kentucky who is aware of nothing about Dominicans and is aware of nothing about Washington Heights may have watched that film and nonetheless do not know that Black Latinxs even exist. It is even worse relating to Indigenous Latinx illustration, although there are 50 million individuals who determine as Indigenous and are part of 500 totally different ethnic teams throughout Latin America. Yalitza Aparicio lately appeared in a Huluween horror brief movie, “Hijas De Brujas,” by Mexican director Faride Schroeder, nevertheless it was the primary function we have seen her in since “Roma” in 2018. Why did it take an Oscar-nominated actress that lengthy to land work once more? In the meantime, Rachel Zegler, who performs Maria within the remake of Steven Spielberg’s “West Aspect Story” remake, was solid to play “Snow White” within the live-action movie even earlier than “West Aspect Story” was out. She’s been tremendous clear about her privilege being a white Latina and the way she is aware of it is helped her land roles that might be a lot tougher for darker-skinned Latinxs to land.

We’re slowly seeing higher illustration of Black Latinxs, like with Ariana DeBose’s function as Anita in Spielberg’s remake of “West Aspect Story” and Rome Flynn within the Latinx rom-com sequence “With Love.” However we actually nonetheless have miles to go.

Picture Supply: Getty Photographs/David Crotty/Patrick McMullan