Actress America Ferrera praised Hollywood's push for diversity, especially as it relates to race, in her acceptance speech for the 2024 Critics' Choice Awards.
The “Barbie” actress became the eighth person to win the “” award.meet her The awards were sponsored by the brand conglomerate, whose mission is to increase “representation and accurate portrayals of all women and girls in marketing, media, and entertainment.”
“I'm so grateful to the Critics Choice Association! Your powerful voices shape the way people think and value the stories we tell, and I'm so grateful for this honor,” the 39-year-old said. After that, we got into talking about the content. She felt it was important to see specific races in movies.
“Receiving [this award] Because I grew up as a first-generation Honduran-American girl who loved television, movies, and theater, and longed to be part of the storytelling tradition. “She couldn't see herself reflected,” she continued.
Ferrera added that while she does empathize with the characters she sees on screen, it's more important to her that they share the same ethnicity.
“Of course I could see myself in these strong, complex characters, but these characters rarely, if ever, resembled me,” she explained. . “I wanted to see someone like myself on screen as a full human being. When I started over 20 years ago, I wanted to build a career portraying fully dimensional Latina characters. “Nobody thought it was possible,” she added.
The actress then praised Hollywood for being “bold” enough to write content specific to her race.
“But thanks to bold writers, directors, producers, and executives who rewrite outdated narratives and challenge deeply ingrained biases, I and my beloved Latina colleagues are proud to be part of some fierce and amazing women. I couldn't have been more fortunate to be able to bring this to life…and because of that, we had the opportunity to express some deep Latina characters that I didn't get to see until I was growing up. But now you can see her,'' Ferrera said, seemingly conscious of including the award's tagline.
The actress then stated that she believes the main purpose of film and television is to affirm “humanity” and different identities.
“To me, this is the highest and best use of storytelling. It affirms the full humanity of each other and supports Black, Brown, Indigenous, Asian, transgender, disabled, and all body types. Gender is a relationship. No. We all deserve a rich and true reflection of our lives,” Ferrera said.
In the end, she thanked many industry figures and even actors like Ryan Gosling, who also starred in the movie Barbie, for being “man enough to support women in their work.” expressed his intention.
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