Hollywood isn't always fair to Latinos. We know this.
This year, a slew of roles that could've (and arguably, should've!) gone to Latino stars, were instead given to non-Latino talent like Ben Affleck, Naomi Watts, and Ewan McGregor. All three actors played characters based on real people -- and those real people were all Latinos...
Adding insult to injury, Javier Bardem was snubbed for what many believed was one of the finest performances EVER in a Bond film -- the role of the flamboyant Silva in Skyfall. In a nutshell, getting Latinos into this year's biggest movies -- and getting them to the Kodak Theater as Oscar nominees -- was, in two words: "The Impossible."
And it wasn't just the big screen that was unkind to Latino stars this year. Television, where we've seen some progress in recent years, had very little interest in Latinos as well. This was the year that only one Latino actor (Cuban-American actress JoAnna Garcia Swisher) had a lead role on a new major network fall show (I say "had," because Swisher's NBC comedy Animal Practice was quickly canceled). Making matters worse, out of 39 new shows for the 2012-2013 TV season, only seven shows featured Latino talent, AND, they were ALL supporting roles.
That sucks...
And, as if that weren't bad enough, when the Oscars were doing their annual "let's honor fabulous deceased people," presentation, the Academy forgot to honor -- you guessed it! -- a Latina! How ironic -- scratch that, how sad -- that Lupe Ontiveros, the actress who played a maid over 300 times in her career -- because of Hollywood's misconception that all Latinas can do is play 'the help' -- was once again deemed less important than her peers...
Obviously, none of this is encouraging. Some of it -- like when Hollywood chose to change the ethnicity of the characters in "The Impossible," from Spanish to British (for NO reason whatsoever!) hurts.
But while life for Latinos in Hollywood isn't currently where it should be, we have reason to be hopeful about our future in the entertainment industry. There's a new crop of young stars in Hollywood who aren't just the biggest LATINO teen stars on the planet -- they're the biggest teen stars, PERIOD!
From Selena Gomez -- who in addition to having a hot singing career and her own fashion line "Dream Out Loud" -- is also making the transition from small screen to big in this weekend's highly anticipated Spring Breakers -- to Cuban-American teen heartthrob Blake Jenner who makes viewers weak in the knees as Glee's new male lead, Ryder Lynn -- today's young Latino stars are in BIG demand!
The new Disney queen? Her name is Bella Thorne and guess what? She's Latina, too! (Cuban-American, to be exact)...
And there are countless other young Latino stars making their mark on Hollywood: Demi Lovato is one of the judges of FOX's hit singing competition The X-Factor, Victoria Justice is a talented singer (and the former star of Nickelodeon's Victorious), Ryan Guzman is being touted as the new Channing Tatum and Naya Rivera continues to steal scenes from her costars as bitchy fan-favorite Santana Lopez on FOX's Glee.
Today's young Latino stars dominate the Olympics (Marlen Esparza, Danell Leyva, Ryan Lochte). They are being tapped to star opposite George Clooney (Nick Krause in The Descendants) and Tom Cruise (Diego Boneta in Rock of Ages), and they're stealing scenes on television's biggest comedies (Rico Rodriguez in Modern Family).
Back in the day Michael J. Fox played the Teen Wolf. Today, it's Mexican-American heartthrob Tyler Posey....
Viewers who watched Saturday night's Kids Choice Awards probably noticed the abundance of Latino stars who attended Saturday night's show -- and several of them, like Selena Gomez, Jake T. Austin, Victoria Justice and Carlos Pena, were also nominated for awards (Selena walked away with Best TV Actress, while Victoria won for Best TV Show (Victorious).
The future certainly looks bright for Latinos in Hollywood!