Latinos have come a long way in television, movies, and in theater.
Sofia Vergara, a proud Colombiana, is the star of TV's number one comedy (ABC's "Modern Family"), part-Cuban actress Cameron Diaz continues to be one of the highest paid actresses in Hollywood, and musicals like "In the Heights" (2008) have paved the way for more shows about Latinos on the Great White Way.
But despite this progress, Latinos still have a long way to go in entertainment, as evidenced by yesterday's 2012 Tony Award nominations and this year's MTV Movie Award nominations , announced yesterday.
When nominations for the 66th Annual Tony Awards were announced on Tuesday, two Latino actors seemed like shoe-ins for nominations: Ricky Martin who plays the everyman "Che" in "Evita," and Elena Roger, who plays the title character Eva Peron in the hit musical.
But both Martin (who's Puerto Rican), and Roger (who was born in Argentina), were snubbed for Best Actor and Actress in a Musical, and the only actor who was nominated for portraying a Latino character in "Evita" is actor Michael Cerveris, who plays Evita's husband, Juan Peron in the show, who is not Latino.
It's true: "Evita" got mixed reviews from critics when it premiered on Broadway earlier this month, so it's not entirely shocking that the show was snubbed in the major acting categories. But the fact that the show couldn't earn Ricky Martin a nomination (especially since he's a global superstar and the Tony's love nominating big stars in the acting categories), is still pretty surprising.
But what's even worse than the snubs for Martin and Roger is that not a single Latino actor was nominated for an acting award at this year's Tony Awards.
And unfortunately, this was also the case with the MTV Movie Award nominations, which were also announced this morning. In 11 categories, there was not a single Latino nominated for any award. Why is that, exactly? It may have something to do with the fact that Latinos were not a part of any of this year's biggest movies: "The Hunger Games," "The Help," "Bridesmaids" "Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows Part 2," and "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 1."
Why do you think Latinos were snubbed by both shows? Do you think Ricky Martin and Elena Roger were unfairly snubbed? Dish in the comments.
CHECK OUT THIS SLIDESHOW OF THE MOST BEAUTIFUL LATINOS IN HOLLYWOOD
