Thursday, January 14, 2016

America Ferrera Talks Diversity

America Ferrera recently appeared at the Television Critics Association press tour, where she talked about diversity. The Hollywood Reporter quotes her as follows, when talking about her new show Superstore:

“When you’re a person of color, you notice those things, like, 'Oh wow, they’re not casting all white people.' This is the first role I’ve ever been offered in my career that wasn’t written Latina...You would think that a hit show starring a Latina and with a Latina family would be some sort of watershed moment [speaking about Ugly Betty]. But we went off the air and it wasn’t years until we saw another Latina, so I think when it comes to diversity and breaking stereotypes and finding opportunities for non-white actors, progress gets made in these individual steps. … 

I applaud NBC for what they’re doing this season. Three shows starring Latina leads is history — it’s groundbreaking. I don’t know [if] it’s ever happened before. The more we talk about it and the more we talk about how it’s succeeding and the more we talk about how people are hungry to see stories like this — not necessarily to check the diversity boxes but to say, 'Hey, that cast and that world looks like the world I live in' — will encourage other networks and showrunners and writers to enrich their storytelling by reflecting the world that we actually live in."

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