“So go out there and kick some ass.”
Gina Rodriguez has become a household name recently thanks to her award-winning performance on The CW's newest hit Jane the Virgin, and the incredible and inspirational way she speaks about women and people of color.
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Last July, at the Television Critics Association summer press tour, Rodriguez spoke openly about why she wanted to be an actor, being Latina, and how she hoped Jane, which had yet to premiere, would change the way minorities are represented on television.
"I didn't become an artist to be a millionaire. I didn’t become an actor to wear Louis Vuitton. I have to give this dress back when we’re done. I became an actor to change the way I grew up. The way I grew up, I never saw myself on screen. I have two older sisters. One's an investment banker. The other one is an doctor, and I never saw us being played as investment bankers. And I realized how limiting that was for me. I would look at the screen and think, Well, there’s no way I can do it, because I’m not there. And it’s like as soon as you follow your dreams, you give other people the allowance to follow theirs.
And for me, to look on younger girls and to say, ‘Well, Gina’s like me, maybe not necessarily the same skin color, maybe not necessarily the same background, but like that’s me. I’m not alone. I can do it too.’ So every role that I’ve chosen has been ones that I think are going to push forward the idea of my culture, of women, of beauty, my idea of liberating young girls, of feeling that they have to look at a specific beauty type. And I wasn’t going to let my introduction to the world be one of a story that I think has been told many times.
I wanted it to be a story that was going to liberate young girls and say, ‘Wow, there we are too, and we’re the doctors, and we’re the teachers, and we’re the writers, and we’re the lawyers, and I can do that too. And I don’t have to be a perfect size 0. I can be a perfect size me.’ And that’s what I live. So Jane, I waited for her patiently. And now she’s here. And thank you for being here with us. Because this is a dream come true to me."
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In December, the morning she was nominated for a Golden Globe, Rodriguez told BuzzFeed News that people of color should think, Why not me?
"The fact we got recognized and that I'm the first person to get recognized from The CW and I'm a Latina, I would be empowered by that … I am empowered by that. Because if I can do it, that means there are so many other people who are going to be able to do it. It’s that idea that when you make your dreams come true you allow other people to dream and try to make their dreams come true. That's all I did, I opened the floodgates. Now everybody can see that if I can do it, what makes you any different? This little lady from Chicago in the little-engine-that-could show on the smaller network? It’s not where you're from, it’s where you're going, and we’re trying to go where everybody else is at and it feels like we just arrived there ...
For so long so much of my life has been trying to make my parents proud, and I realized in my search for acceptance from my parents that I was really creating a movement that I needed as a kid. I needed to know I could do it. I needed to see somebody do it before me. There are so many women who paved the way for me, so to think I can open the door for the next, that’s everything. That's what this is about. That's what I do Jane for ... If the show can touch one more person, maybe now one more person can get out of the 'hood because they said, 'Hey, she did it, why can't I? Why am I any different? Why not me?' If you start to see yourself in the worlds of television and film and on billboards and in magazines — everything we're driven by as a culture and a society — you start to think, Why not me?"
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In January, Rodriguez won the Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Comedy Series and her acceptance speech included a powerful message to the Latino community.
"This award is so much more than myself. It represents a culture that wants to see themselves as heroes. My father used to tell me to say every morning, 'Today's going to be a great day. I can and I will.' Well, Dad, today's going to be a great day. I can and I did."
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