In a new interview, singer and actress Jennifer Lopez talks awards snubs, lack of representation in Hollywood, and how she fought against Latina stereotypes in her early career, asking, “Why can’t I be the ‘Girl Next Door?'”
While speaking with Variety’s ‘Awards Circuit‘ podcast, Jennifer Lopez, 55, reflected on her decades-long career and how, in every project she does, she pushes the boundaries, not just for herself, but for an entire industry still lacking representation. She also talks about how there are only two Latinas in Hollywood who have won an Oscar: Rita Moreno and Ariana DeBose.
When asked about her thoughts on the lack of representation in film and how she remains positive in Hollywood, Lopez said, “I heard someone say, ‘Change is slow. Positive change is low.’ Sometimes that can be frustrating. But, I think so long as we’re moving in the direction, that’s a good thing. When we take steps back, that’s when it gets really scary. And that’s why, sometimes, the state of what’s going on is scary.”
She continued, ‘But, it’s our responsibility — I think more than ever in this time — to not be divisive and to not concentrate on the negative, but to really do what we do. Which is to use our voices, to use our art, to put love out into the world, and be that love, and be that positive, kind of, vision for what we want our lives to be. And little by little we do it, right?”
RELATED: Jennifer Lopez On ‘Hustlers’ Oscar Snub: ‘Felt Like I Let Everyone Down’
Jennifer Lopez continued to talk about how she navigated around Latina stereotypes, “Because when I started, there wasn’t a lot of roles and now I’ve played in Romantic Comedies. I’m one of the Romantic Comedy actresses that’s a ‘go-to.’ That was unheard of back when I started. I was auditioning for roles with accents and all kinds of things, not just a person. I was like, ‘I’m just a girl, too. I’m just a romantic girl, too. Just like any other girl.’ [I thought], ‘Why can’t I just play that role?'”
J.Lo said, “I kept thinking, ‘Why can’t I just play a romantic lead? Why can’t I be the girl next door?’ That belief — that conviction that I belonged — was what helped me break those molds.” She continued, “And that’s, kind of, how I saw it, and because I believed that, I believe that’s why it happened. We go little by little.”
She went on, “But, it still blows my mind that I can make a movie like [‘Unstoppable‘] go — make it come to fruition — because they believe in me. They go, ‘Yeah. We think Jennifer starring in that movie is gonna do well.’ That’s amazing. That’s not how it was 25 years ago, in my 20s. It seems like it’s not happening, but it’s happening, slowly, and it’s our responsibility to keep pushing as hard as we can in that direction with our voices as loud as we can.”
RELATED: Jennifer Lopez Secretly Breaks Down Over Oscar Snub In Netflix Trailer
Jennifer Lopez also spoke on her latest film, ‘Unstoppable,’ which is directed by Billy Goldenberg and co-stars Jharrel Jerome. The film tells the real-life story of Anthony Robles, a one-legged wrestler who defied the odds to become a champion.
Lopez told Variety, “It’s not often that you have a movie like this. I identified with her. I understood the upbringing they had, the struggles, the relationships, and the sacrifices Judy made for her son. She realized, early on, that if she didn’t accept her child, how would he ever accept himself? That moment of love and growth — it’s universal.”
#Socialites, be sure to check out the post below, then leave us your thoughts in a comment!