America Ferrea urges for improved Latino representation in film during academy keynote

In a room filled with several influential Hollywood figures, “Barbie” star America Ferrera used her platform to address an ongoing industry issue: Latino representation in film. “According to the numbers, the dominant narrative our industry puts into the world is that Latinos either don’t exist or they are poor, immigrant criminals,” the Emmy winner said before a gathered crowd Thursday at the Academy Women’s Luncheon. The actor said she was taken aback after she learned that Hispanics and Latinos remained underrepresented in film over the past 16 years, according to a recent report by the University of Southern California’s Annenberg Inclusion Initiative.