[upbeat percussive music] ♪ - Welcome to Hollywood, or as I like to call it, Hollywouldn't.

But I say it with love.

Yeah, because it's for all the times I've been told no as a Latin actor.

Now, Los Angeles, surrounded by beautiful mountains, palm trees, magnificent sunsets.

And without a doubt, the best Mexican food in the country.

This is a melting pot with a little bit of all of us Latinos.

Even its name is Latino, 'cause it ain't Los Angeles.

Nuh-uh!

It's... [in Spanish pronunciation] Los Angeles.

♪ Now, Hollywood has become a global mecca for film and a place that many of us wanna reach.

But what if I told you that a Latino was behind one of the most prolific TV empires in the world?

Well, it's a fact.

In the 1950s, Cuban actor and producer Desi Arnaz and his wife Lucille Ball were not only the stars of "I Love Lucy," but they also produced it, along with many other shows.

And they even helped create the multi-cam sitcom genre.

So even though we're still in the struggle, Hollywood isn't new territory for us Latinos.

Nuh-uh, 'cause we've been here.

You hear me?

So today, an LA icon is taking me to his old stomping grounds in East LA to get this conversation about Hollywouldn't going.

And I bet at some point, I'm gonna get some tacos al pastor.

'Cause you know me, I don't play, I need to eat.

♪ [upbeat horn-driven music] ♪ - ♪ [trills] ♪ - When you think of LA, I bet your version of it has to do with Rodeo Drive, Beverly Hills, and celebrities.

♪ But the reality is that Los Angeles is a city of Latinos.

You can see that Latin influence everywhere, right down to the street names.

And if you think it has something to do with colonization, well, you're right.

The indigenous Tongva and Chumash people lived in the LA Basin for centuries before it was claimed by Spanish conquistador Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo in 1542.

In 1821, this land became part of Mexico until the end of the Mexican-American War in 1848 when Mexico ceded 55% of its territory, including California, to the U.S.

But trust me, Los Angeles still oozes all things Mexican, and I couldn't think of a better person to welcome me to the real LA than this iconic Mexican American, native Angeleno, George Lopez.

And guess what?

He's taking me to East LA, and we're eating at his favorite spot.

♪ [car horn playing "Tequila"] [laughing] Yes, sir.

[John imitates horn] I love that.

I love a funky horn.

- Don't slam that door!

- I didn't, I didn't, I didn't.

I'm mad careful.

[George laughs] - [speaking Spanish] - Here we go, man.

- All right.

- Let's eat!

- This is the truck, huh?

So why this truck, bro?

- These are the best tacos.

There's great tacos-- - All my friends tell me, who are foodies, say this is the spot.

- That's right.

This is the spot.

So I think we try a little of everything.

- Sure, sure, let's do it.

I'm down with that.

- I think we get you a little pata.

- All right.

[laughs] We're doing "Fear Factor" here.

- No, no, no-- - I didn't know it was gonna be a "Fear Factor" situation.

- Let's try something.

[upbeat music] ♪ - Even the white foodies tell me this is the spot to come.

- This is the spot.

[speaking Spanish] - Yeah, yeah.

- Like, white people?

They do?

- Yeah, yeah, they do.

- And what do they eat?

Mostly quesadillas-- - With any meat in it, or qué?

- Some of 'em.

Most of them?

- See, this is what I'm talkin' about.

- Ah, come on.

- Nah, some of 'em want-- - They can't handle it.

The Villegas family has been slinging tacos from their iconic Los Originales Tacos Arabes, the Original Arab Taco Truck, for over ten years, bringing the flavors of Puebla, Mexico to the streets of Los Angeles.

What is the Lebanese taco you guys have?

- Oh, that's a taco árabe.

- Taco árabe, the Arab taco.

- Yeah, yeah.

- There's some debate about when and how exactly tacos árabes were born, but one thing is for sure, it all started with shawarma.

- Yeah, that's why I really like this taco, 'cause it's not only a taco, it's, like, history in, like, a taco.

- Right.

- And when you look it up, you're like, oh, okay, so there was a big migration from the Middle East to Mexico and of course they needed money, so they started selling their own food, shawarma.

And us Mexicans, we saw that.

We're like, "That's a taco."

- That ain't shawarma, that's a taco.

Straight up taco.

Traditionally, the Lebanese used lamb in their tacos, but the Mexicans weren't a fan, so they switched it out for pork and added some spices, and of course, hot sauce.

So what are we eating?

What do-- - Give us a little bit of the specialties, all right?

♪ - It's a taco árabe.

- Oh, a taco árabe.

We got it.

Oh, awesome.

- And this one, this isn't supposed to be hot.

This is more, like, mild so everyone can enjoy it, but I've seen people drink this.

- What do you mean everyone?

What do you mean?

White people?

- Pour me some, man.

Don't leave me out.

- Even some white people.

- [indistinct] - Is it too strong for white people?

- This is--oh, wow, man.

- Sometimes.

But this is a recipe-- - It's a little spicy?

- Mm-hmm.

- Oh, there you go.

- Only a little bit.

No, no-- - It's spicy for him.

[laughs] Darme otra.

- [strained voice] I'm okay.

- Not too much-- - [laughing] Oh, yeah.

- [coughs] It's okay.

- [laughing] "It's okay."

His whiteness is showing.

[John laughs] - [laughing] Ah, damn.

- Too-spicy-for-John Hot Sauce?

Uh, I'm gonna get my Latinx card revoked for that one.

- [speaking Spanish] - So this is a pig's head.

- This is a pig head.

- Wow.

- There's another one of our specialties.

- Whoa!

- These are molotes.

- This is very gourmet.

- One for you and one for you.

- Oh, I know what this is.

- These are quesadillas.

♪ - Mmm!

Wow, that's amazing.

So how did you get started in comedy, man?

As a young man, how did that happen for you?

- I think, you know, I'm an only child and, you know, I wasn't raised with my mother and I never knew my father, my grandmother had six kids.

A very dysfunct-- very disconnected.

It's a disconnected family.

My grandfather that raised me was not my biological grandfather.

- Oh, wow.

Look at that.

- So television--I needed it.

- Yeah, yeah.

- There's no way I could've survived without it.

- It was a stand-in for family, for parents, for everybody.

- A stand-in for--yeah.

And then you gravitate towards the things that you like, you know.

- What did you like?

- "The Tonight Show."

- Yeah, yeah, Johnny Carson.

- I liked, you know, "Chico and the Man."

- Oh, yeah, Freddie Prinze.

- "Sanford and Son."

- Yeah.

I mean, obviously, Freddie Prinze, he is an important icon for any Latin performer, any Latin comedian.

Freddie Prinze was their first, and he let you know that you can possibly do this.

For young performers like George and myself, it was so inspiring to see Freddie Prinze on "Chico and the Man" as a star of one of the very few shows that put Latino stories on television back in the '70s.

- [speaking Spanish] - I wanna know what he's saying.

- You'll find out as soon as I leave.

[studio audience laughter] - He made us believe that maybe one day, we too could crack that code.

- So in the summer of, like, '75, '76, one of my friends started to drive and almost every day we would go to Hollywood Boulevard, and we'd stop and we'd get out, and we'd walk up and down the Hollywood Walk of Fame, then you'd go to the Grauman's Chinese.

- Yeah, yeah.

- And then, you know, I would see George Burns' star, and I would be like-- I would imagine my name, you know, George Lopez and George Burns.

- Right, so close.

Can we just cross out a few letters?

- We'd look at it, and, you know-- - Imagining yourself in the future, like what you could be.

- So my friend Ernie, who-- my first friend ever... - Yeah.

- He showed me comedy.

Showed me Richard Pryor on HBO.

- Yeah.

- And there was a guy, and he comes over to my house one day and he says, hey, man...

So we spent, like, maybe four months writing some stuff.

- Yeah, yeah.

- And then on June 4th on 1979, I went to Westwood and I went on stage for the first time, and-- - And how old are you now?

How old are you?

- Petrified.

I was 18.

- 18.

Damn, man.

That's a young kid.

- That's a long time ago.

- That's a young kid.

- A kid.

- And that Latin kid in an all-white game.

- Afraid of his own shadow.

- Yeah, I bet, I bet.

- I mean, I didn't know what I was doing.

So I'm telling my jokes, talking fast, and they're laughing, and I'm looking, and they're laughing.

And I mean, I just-- probably maybe four minutes, but four minutes of an emotion that in the 18 years of my life, I never felt that, never felt that acceptance or looking at people look up at you and then see them laughing, and-- - Dude, I think that's the "a-ha" moment, you know?

- Right.

- And then more than that, because the chemistry in your body changes a little bit, you know.

- Mm-hmm.

- I had a similar moment, but mine was in acting when I was 17 around that time.

I did a scene in my acting class about this kid who hated his dad, was in therapy, was in gang problems, kinda like my life... - Mm-hmm.

- And I did the scene and I killed it.

And I felt like this was what I--a calling... - Right.

- This is what I was meant to do.

- Almost like something turns on, huh?

- Yes, yes.

- Like, it turns on.

- George kept grinding in local clubs, eventually becoming one of the biggest names in comedy.

But after years of traveling and performing around the country, the road took its toll.

- About '95, '99, drank a lot, toured a lot.

Just hammered all the time, kinda dark-- - Yeah, touring is rough.

People don't understand how rough touring is and being alone in hotels.

Different city every night.

- And I was--oh, man.

And I was in Austin, and they got a call from the club... And, you know, I'd been drinking.

I said, "Man, I don't want her to see me, man."

I get on my knees in the green room, and I'm like, "Please don't let her show up, like, please."

I mean, we're in bad-- I was in bad shape, man.

And then he opens the door, the guy I saw, he said, "Hey, she's not coming."

I was like, "Oh, my God."

And then cut to two years later, she comes and sees me, we go to the green room, and she's like, "I have an idea for a show, "and I think we should meet, and let's look at if there's something in your family."

- Mm.

- So I go, we sit there for like three hours, we talk about everything.

And on the way out, I looked at her in the doorway and I said, "Hey, what we're gonna try to do, "what you're gonna try to do has not been done successfully.

"And just--if we never see each other again, or whatever, just let me say thank you, I appreciate it."

And then she said, you know, "Why don't you just worry about being funny, and you let me worry about all that."

But nobody ever told me that, John.

Like, I never had anybody on my side.

- Yeah, yeah.

With Sandra Bullock's star power and support as executive producer, in 2002, "The George Lopez Show" had its nationwide premiere and in doing so, showed millions of people what a Mexican American household really looked like.

- Happy birthday.

- The show was a hit and before long, George got that Hollywood star he'd dreamt about.

He now has another show, "Lopez vs Lopez," where he stars alongside his daughter.

- That was all you needed.

You just needed somebody who wouldn't take no for an answer regarding you.

- Yeah, that's massive.

- I think the thing that she said to me was, "You know, people always ask me, like, "'Were you responsible for finding George?'

"I said, 'Yeah, you know, I found George, "'and I brought him to people that needed to see him, "'but also, the thing I'm proudest about George is that I didn't create a monster.'"

- Right, right.

- But I think I was aiming toward being a monster in my early life.

But I think every day that you get to look around, I mean, I can see City Hall, Downtown, from my house and all the things that meant so much about being from Los Angeles is just, you know, I'm bless-- I mean, people say it, I'm blessed, but this place is like-- it made me what I am.

- Yes, yeah.

- And it made me a fighter when I didn't wanna be a fighter, and it made me not quit when I wanted to quit.

And, I mean, that's-- I'm glad that you asked me to come out to the park.

- Yeah, I'm glad, man.

Glad you made it.

Cheers.

- Yeah.

- Salud.

- Yeah, salud.

- This town and the industry of Hollywood is one I have a very complicated relationship with.

On the one hand, I am part of it, and like George, have had success in it.

On the other, we are just two of the very few Latinos who've broken through.

But we are the exception, not the rule.

That's why sometimes, rules have got to be broken.

[upbeat music] - Yo, so, check it: I'm about to meet up with another Hollywood legend.

Ever since making his industry debut with "El Mariachi," this visionary director has been one of the industry's great assets.

That's right.

It's the one, the only, Robert Rodriguez.

What's up, buddy boy?

- Hey.

How you doin', John?

Good to see you.

- Caffeination for the nation.

- Thank you.

- Robert has directed huge hits such as "Desperado," "From Dusk Till Dawn," and "Spy Kids."

And since coming on the scene, he's helped reenvision what working in the film industry can be.

So I wanna understand how you started, man, because you're really, truly, one of the pioneers who brought independent films to everyone, and allowed everyone to believe that they could possibly make an independent film.

You were one of those guys.

- It's just something I always loved to do.

I love being creative.

I wasn't very good in school.

I'd be sitting in the back of the class making flip cartoon movies in the Spanish-English dictionaries.

[John chuckles] And people would laugh.

I'd go, "God, I can entertain them with my drawings "and my art and my little movies, but what job could I ever get?"

No one had ever come out of Texas as a filmmaker, really, so it wasn't like that was a dream that seemed possible.

I didn't know anybody in LA, But I kept making these things as a hobby.

And I love drawing, I love photography, I love music.

Movies kinda let me put all my hobbies under one umbrella.

- Right, right.

- Like, if I did a movie project, I could draw the storyboards, I could edit it, I could photograph it.

I just kinda did 'em and they started winning local contests.

But even then, I didn't think it was a way in.

But I just did the work.

- Right, right.

- And when I decided to go make "El Mariachi," not to break it into the U.S.-- I was just gonna go make it in Spanish, and sell it to the Spanish home video market... - Right, that was the plan.

- To see if I could make money.

I'd be the king if I could just make money doing what I love.

- Right, right, right.

- I just wanna do what I love.

- It's just so pure.

- I just wanted to be self-sufficient.

I don't need to live off my-- I'm from a family of ten kids.

We know how to survive on nothing.

- Right, right.

- Let me just go make stuff for a living.

Went to go sell it to the Spanish home video market, sent it to an agent out of the blue.

And he sent it around town and it got bought by Columbia Pictures, and we're doing a sequel with Antonio Banderas.

Before I knew it, I was 23.

I mean, it happened so fast.

- First of all, you only did it for $7,000, which is a miracle, I mean-- - Well, I mean, you said "only."

It's like, who had $7,000 hanging out of their pocket back then?

That was a lot of money.

When people would say, "It only cost seven--" Seven?

You got 7,000 right now I can borrow?

That's a lot of money to a kid in college.

- Right, right.

- I had to go do a medical research study to make money in one month to go do that.

- You became a guinea pig for cash.

- I was a guinea pig for cash.

- Yeah.

- I wrote it over that month that I was in that hospital.

I was writing leisurely, you know.

It's like, "Hey, I'm getting paid to write," I kept telling myself.

[John laughs] And my producer and star of that film, Carlos Gallardo, who is the Mariachi, he sold some land for the other half, so I only had to come up with half of it.

And we went in and did it together, thinking we could sell it for hopefully 10,000 or 15,000.

- Right, right.

That's incredible, man.

15,000?

Get this: "El Mariachi" made over 2 million in the box office, and holds the Guinness World Record as the lowest-budgeted film to gross a million in theaters.

- And what blew people away was the story of how it was made, that somebody with no money, no contacts, no crew-- there was no crew, it was just me.

I was doing everything with the camera.

- And how long did it take you to shoot that?

- Two weeks.

- Two weeks.

- So I tell people you can change your whole life in two weeks if you apply yourself.

You can look at your lack of situation as a negative.

Oh, I don't have any money.

I'm selling my body to science.

- Yeah, yeah, yeah.

- I'm never gonna get anywhere.

There aren't any other Latins in the business.

No one's even come out of Texas.

- Right, right.

- What chance do I have?

You don't see it that way.

You look at it the other way.

Like, "I'm gonna go make this.

"Maybe I can sell it and double my money.

Maybe if I can't, at least I know I tried."

- All in all, Robert has brought this town more than 1.5 billion from his films.

And that's not even counting the TV shows he's produced.

- People will sometimes go to Hollywood and find that it's not for them.

Especially, you know, Latinos.

- Right, right.

- I never even bothered to go, I figured I didn't fit in there, but because I made "Mariachi" out of my apartment, and when they bought it, I thought, "Maybe I can stay home," where my inspiration and my family and everything is.

- In 2000, Robert opened up Troublemaker Studios, a production company in his hometown of Austin, Texas.

- Well, I found that was a big gift, was to be outside in the element, you just found you had ideas no one else was coming up with, telling stories no one else is bothering to tell.

- And you're original.

- And so it feels fresh and it's original and it's ours 'cause no one's told these Latin stories yet, so it's been cool to create so many franchises.

The "Mariachi" series, the "Spy Kids" series, the "Machete" series, you know.

Filmmakers don't usually create their own series of films that way, but because you're able to and you're away from the industry, I didn't need permission.

- No, no.

You didn't need permission.

- That's the thing.

When you don't have to go hat in hand and ask somebody before you can make your dream happen.

That's empowerment.

- That's what happened to me.

It was like I was trying to pitch stories to Hollywood, Latin movies, Latin stories, and nothing was getting done, so I went to theater... - And that was powerful, though, man.

- Where there was the least point of resistance in my neighborhood with my friends, my brother, where I would do all my one-man shows to and then perform them in these tiny spaces where I had to ask nobody for permission or I had to pass through a committee.

I just wrote my stories, and boom, there they were.

- Even for me, seeing that, it'd be like, "Mambo Mouth!

He just went and made his own show."

- I mean, both you and I started not in the system, but outside the system.

- You were creating your own system.

- Yeah, right.

- 'Cause it didn't exist.

- 'Cause there was no entryway into that system.

- There's a real power and joy to that.

- Yeah.

With the economic independence that came from his success, Robert began to unapologetically staff and cast his projects with Latinx powerhouses, advancing the careers of actors like Salma Hayek, Danny Trejo, and many more.

He hasn't cast me in anything yet, but I forgive him.

- So I had to create my own star system.

Because you watch "Desperado" now, and you're like--it feels like it's from another planet.

- [laughs] - Everyone's Latin.

- Yeah.

- Everyone's awesome.

Wow, I never saw anything before that or since.

- Right, right.

- And I remember being really proud of "Sin City" 'cause I had Jessica Alba, Benicio del Toro, Alexis Bledel, Rosario Dawson.

- Yes!

- And none of them were playing Latin characters, 'cause that book was written with non-Latin characters.

- Right, right.

That's what I've been asking Hollywood forever, is just, like, take all those white roles and just cast Latin people and cross out, you know, Mr. Leighton and put Mr. Lopez.

You can do that.

It ain't that hard.

- I also was just so inspired by the reaction I got from people... - Yes.

- Who were just stunned.

- Absolutely, absolutely.

- I mean, like, a dad told me, "You changed my kid's future when they saw 'Spy Kids' "and they saw your name at the end.

"'Written and directed by Robert Rodriguez.'

He's got a name like ours."

That blew his mind and it made him laugh with joy... - [laughing] Yeah, yeah.

- And that he now can do that.

- Well, thank you, Robert.

That was the bomb, man.

Thank you so much, thank you for sharing so deeply.

- Oh, absolutely.

- Much love, man.

- So I've been talking a lot about the film and television industry but believe it or not, this town has a lot of fine arts and music as well, and Latinos are making their mark there, too, including Lina González-Granados, the LA Opera's new and first Latina resident conductor ever.

How dope is that?

- [operatic singing] - So here we are, in one of the most prestigious jobs in America, one of the few Latin women in a position of fine arts... - Yes.

- Here in the LA Opera.

How does that feel?

- It feels fantastic.

It's been a long time coming.

I'm the resident conductor, and I am in charge of my own productions and my own agency, which is fantastic for... - That's unbelievable.

- You know, for a woman of color, for a woman in general, and most, like, Latina, here in LA, it's just fantastic.

- It's incredible.

Yeah, because they don't believe in America that Latin people can hold this space.

For as long as classical music has existed, it's been recognized as a Western art form.

We all know what that means: European and white.

But in recent years, Latinos have made their way in.

And though we still make up only a small percentage of conductors in the United States, people like Lina are changing the game.

The same is true for Venezuelan Gustavo Dudamel, who has been the music and artistic director of the prestigious LA Philharmonic since 2009.

You came from Colombia, came to Jackson Heights, where I grew up in Queens... - Yes.

- How was that journey?

- I'm an only child.

I was coming from middle class home in Colombia with a lot of privilege.

When I was 18, I moved to Bogota.

That's where I studied.

And then I came here on January 5th, 2010.

- So what were the big first moves in your life that happened?

- When I was living in New York, I remember that there was this huge Latina conductor that wanted volunteers in her orchestra.

Her name is Alondra de la Parra.

And I became her assistant conductor.

That was like one of the, like-- my dreams come true to meet her because she was like my real role model.

[orchestral music] She taught me a lot about the love for Latin American music.

And fast forward, I moved to Boston.

- Lina continued her education while in Massachusetts, earning multiple graduate degrees in conducting, but the lessons she learned while in New York City stayed with her in Boston.

- Then I start to, like, looking, you know, my surroundings, and there was nothing Latin America-centric in a city that has so many Latinos.

I said, "I'm just gonna make my own orchestra."

- When you say you're putting Latin-centric music in your orchestra, is it salsa, is it cumbia, or is it classical Latin music?

- Well, it's a little bit of all music that integrates our folkloric roots.

- As the artistic director of her orchestra, the Unitas Ensemble, Lina showcased the music of Latino composers and brought our special flair to Massachusetts.

- In 2017, a couple of very big institutions took interest in me at the same time.

That was the Chicago Symphony, where I won a competition, and then Seattle Symphony and Philadelphia.

So when people started seeing the contributions that I have made as a Latina, repertoire-wise, I caught the eye of this fantastic house, which is LA Opera.

The LA Opera took a very high chance on me and said, "You know, in a year and a half, "we want to see you doing this production.

Are you in?"

And I said, "Yes!"

- And now you're conducting at the Hollywood Bowl, you're conducting here, you're conducting all over America.

I mean, it's incredible.

So how do we create access for the Latin youth to get into the fine arts like this place?

- You know, that is a very loaded question.

I think it has to be an effort in every single education system, because we are cutting arts more and more in the public schools.

And the people who are responsible for education legislation to start thinking that this is something that belongs to us.

It's always been, you know, something, a cultural heritage.

It's not only for the people in Vienna.

You have to give someone that opportunity, and I hope some more people fall in love and can have the access, and if not, we'll have to create them, for sure.

- Right, right.

- As mad as I get about the lack of representation in front of the camera, the truth is there's still a lot of work to do to get proper representation behind the camera, something we're trying to change with this show.

I'm talking about the writers, producers, directors, and the executives, the people making the decisions about what and who we see, but there's one Latina who's broken the mold.

[upbeat music] Gloria?

Oh, I got the right trailer.

[Gloria laughs] Definitely got the right trailer.

How you doing?

- Hello.

- Good, good, good.

- So good to see you.

- Awesome.

Oh, you look sharp.

The daughter of Cuban immigrants, Gloria Calderón Kellett spent years writing for and producing shows like "Rules of Engagement" and "How I Met Your Mother."

♪ So here we are, on your set.

You are our Shonda Rhimes.

[Gloria laughs] The biggest Latin talent out there in the streaming world, in the writing world, in the showrunning world.

After years of fighting for her vision, Gloria became executive producer of the acclaimed series reboot of "One Day at a Time," and is now executive producing and starring on Amazon Prime series "With Love."

- So I'ma sit here, you take a seat right there.

- Thank you, thank you.

Yeah, such a great-looking set.

I'm so happy for you.

I wanna hear about your struggle as a woman, as a Latin woman-- - Wait, well, first, let me go way back.

I'm gonna go way back, okay?

- Yeah.

Please do.

- My parents came here... - I love origin stories.

- In 1962, 15 years old, both of them, with... Have you heard of it?

- Yes, of course.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

- Most people don't know the history of Pedro Pan.

So during 1960 to 1962, 14,000-plus Cuban children came to Miami... - Right, right.

- And they were gonna be held until America got Castro out of power.

- Yeah.

- That didn't work out.

Now it's too many people in Miami.

- Got you, got you, got you.

- So we ended up in Portland, Oregon.

- And then you get to Hollywouldn't... and what happens?

- Well, first, I went to England and I went to graduate school, and I studied playwriting and performance.

- Yeah, yeah, yeah.

- So I came back like, "Let's do this, Hollywood."

But they were really not buying what I was selling at all.

- And they want you to be what?

- Maid.

Maybe a prostitute.

- How do you get out of that?

How do you have the strength and the wherewithal to get out of that trap?

- 'Cause I don't have a choice.

There's no choice.

I will succeed.

- But they're not giving you that chance.

- So then it's hustle.

The hustle is so real.

They say women aren't funny.

Okay, I'm gonna do standup.

I did standup for a year and a half, went up in all the rooms, I was the only woman.

Forget Latina, I was the only woman.

There's all these white guys and me, that was it.

- That's gonna be your biography.

- That's the name of my-- [laughs] both: "All These White Guys and Me."

- "The Gloria Story."

- That's really true.

And then I was doing monologues, I was writing for women of color.

'Cause we're nowhere, right?

- Right.

- I'll do that, and I'll put up a show in Hollywood, and I'll book a theater.

- Boom.

- "LA Weekly."

They will review your show if you have a six-week run.

I get Tuesdays for six weeks.

- Ooh!

- Pay 150 bucks, get my actors, write the stuff, workshop it, put it up.

And I would invite all of the assistants that I knew.

- Wow.

- "Assistants, come, come."

And then if the assistants like it, they tell their boss.

- Right, right.

both: And then the boss comes.

- Creating your own opportunities, creating your own workshop.

- Couldn't wait.

Then I become an assistant.

I was Cameron Crowe's second assistant.

- Wow.

- That was my first big break.

And he was lovely, lovely, lovely to me.

And I was like, "I gotta infiltrate in television."

- Yeah, yeah.

- So I met with showrunners.

I was like, "I just wanna ask them a million questions."

And I would write down everything that they said.

And all of them were like, "You're gonna be okay."

- Yeah.

Yeah.

- Like, "You're gonna be okay."

And so one of those showrunners was kind enough to give me my first job.

That was "Quintuplets."

That was my first WGA job.

And on that show, I met Carter Bays and Craig Thomas, who created "How I Met Your Mother."

- After years of hustling and writing for non-Latin shows, the job of showrunner, or the boss, still eluded her.

That's because Latino writers are barely considered for these jobs.

In fact, as of 2022, only 1.5% of television showrunners were Latinx.

Now, if we're nearly 20% of the population and the largest minority ethnic group in America, how can these numbers be a thing?

- Things changed in 2016 when Norman Lear wanted to meet with me.

- Yeah, yeah.

- I went to the meeting 'cause I just wanted to meet Norman Lear.

I had no intention-- - Who doesn't wanna meet this legend?

Legendary producer Norman Lear created the original "One Day at a Time" in 1975, and in 2017, he asked Gloria to reboot the sitcom but now, with a Latin twist.

- He said, "Well, we're thinking about doing a Latino version."

I was like, "I don't know, Norman.

I don't know if you should."

And he was like, "Well, why not?"

I said, "'Cause people try to do it, and we as an audience, we're a hard audience."

- Yeah, yeah.

- Because there's been such a starvation for representation that when one thing exists, we're like, "It better represent all of us."

- No, yeah.

Because all we have is one show!

- One!

He's like, "So what do you think would change it?"

And I said, "I'll tell you what I think would change it.

"For me, its I'm gonna tell one story "about one Cuban American woman that lives in Los Angeles "that's super, super, super specific to me and my experience."

- Yes, yes.

- He's like, "Let's do that."

So I was like, "Okay."

So I walked out of there, and I'm like, "I guess I'm making a show with Norman Lear."

- Wow.

- And so with that, I finally really had a position of power.

- "One Day at a Time" ran for three seasons on Netflix and then a fourth on Pop TV.

Gloria is now on the second season of her show, "With Love," a story about a Latinx family that shows the diversity and joy within our community.

- This show, you know, came out of the pandemic.

This show came out of my Instagram being a barrage of, like, oh, Black hate, oh, Latino hate, oh, Asian hate, oh, queer-- [mumbles] It's already rough, so it was like how do I make something where we get to see joy, where we get to see love, where we get to see acceptance, where we get to see food and dancing and sexy and all of the things that I just need.

- Oh, yeah, absolutely.

- That, for me, was what this was.

And so it really healed me.

all: Three, two, one!

- It's not New Years unless someone chokes on the uva!

- Salud, everybody!

all: Salud!

- So what is the ultimate goal for you?

Where do you see yourself ten years from now?

- I wanna truly be Shonda.

I'm so grateful for the Shondas of the world, who have laid a track of, like, that's what that looks like, 'cause I didn't have it before Shonda.

You know?

So that's what that looks like to have many shows, to create many spaces.

- Yeah, yeah.

- I'm not afraid anymore.

- No, yeah.

- This is the first time I'm really not afraid anymore.

I'm like... - Yeah, yeah.

- That's where we have real power, is that we can say stuff when other people can't say stuff.

- Right.

- Because they're trying to keep the job, they're trying to stay under the radar so they can keep moving up, so we owe it to them... - Yeah.

- To be so loud and proud.

- Well, I'm your ally forever.

- Thank you, thank you.

- Yeah.

- Shall we?

- Gloria's success is a combination of hard work with the celebration of her culture.

She truly represents what Latinos are capable of if we're given the chance.

- Mwah.

- An example of excellence for the next generation to follow.

[laughter] - So for as long as the Hollywood film industry has existed, colorism has, too.

Now, I've definitely struggled to work over the years because I'm Latin, but I sure got more roles than most Latin actors whose skin was darker than mine.

This is something actor-producer Gina Torres knows all too well.

So you know, we've known each other for years, now.

- Yeah, yeah, yeah.

- Like, maybe a decade.

- Oh, yeah--[mumbling] - I was on "House of Buggin'."

- ♪ B to the U to the G to the G ♪ ♪ To the I to the N ♪ To the B to the U to the G to the G ♪ ♪ To the I to the N That's a couple decades, now.

- That's a couple decades ago.

Yeah, I was so happy to get that call.

- That was amazing.

- I was starving.

- Yeah, we were all starving, especially for Latin representation.

- Absolutely.

- Known for starring in "Suits," "Pearson," "Firefly," "Alias," and "9-1-1: Lone Star," Gina has been shattering glass ceilings throughout her career, while staying true to herself and properly representing the Afro-Latino community.

But I wanna know about you now.

I mean, you-- born East Coast.

- Bronx.

BX, yeah.

Absolutely was, you know, raised in the Bronx primarily until I was, like, ten, 11 years old.

And then we moved downtown to Washington Heights.

There was somebody from every corner of the planet.

[Gina laughs] - Love that, love that.

- And then being, like, first generation Cuban American, feeling like there was an extension of myself beyond the Bronx, beyond Washington Heights, because my family came from somewhere else.

- Beautiful, beautiful.

Then you wanna be an actress.

- Right.

- Where did that come from?

- Uh, loving movies.

[laughs] - Yeah, yeah.

- Loving movies, being, you know, a mimic, wanting to be a part of that world, wanting to make people feel, you know, whether it was making them laugh or making them cry or just-- I just wanted in.

- Yeah, yeah.

- And that was so incredibly seductive.

- Yeah, the promise of that is-- - The promise, right?

- Yeah.

The promise of that is so beautiful, that we can be anything we wanna be.

- Exactly.

And so I started primarily in theater, which was beautiful.

I mean, it was Shakespeare in the Park, always, like, a completely integrated cast.

- And the theater was giving you the freedom... - Yes.

- To be whoever you wanted to be.

- Yes.

Yes, absolutely.

TV, not so much.

- Right.

- TV was trickier.

- Yeah, it was.

Much trickier.

- And then I show up and because I look the way I look, they're like, "What are you?"

[laughs] - Right.

- I'm like, "Well, I'm Cuban."

- Yeah.

- "So are you mixed?"

Because it's all about what you look like.

- Mm-hmm.

- And they did not know what the hell to do with me because I had this Spanish, Latin last name, right?

I presented Black.

- As Latinos, it's hard to find your place in this world, let alone the industry.

In my case, there were lots of times I wasn't white enough.

But in Gina's case, she wasn't Latina enough or Black enough.

- And in the Latin world, they weren't seeing me, either.

- At all.

- At all.

It was like, "Oh, we love Gina.

"Gina's great, but she's not really right for--" "They're going another way," or they're-- you know, and the other way was always, like, that European standard of... - Latin person.

Basically, a white-passing Latino, yeah.

- Yeah, preferably with an accent so that we-- there's no confusion.

- Right, right.

- Coming into the industry and facing, like, what felt like complete erasure.

- Right, right.

Wow.

Many Latin American countries have large Black communities, and in the U.S. alone, there are about 6 million adults that identify as Afro-Latino.

But Hollywood isn't writing Afro-Latino roles or casting Afro-Latino actors.

I mean, get this: in a recent analysis of the 1,300 top-grossing films from 2007 to 2019, only six lead roles were held by Afro-Latinos.

And the numbers for our Indigenous brothers and sisters, well, those numbers are just abysmal.

And so you feel accepted in the Black community.

Do they accept you as equally even though you're Latina?

- That was also very tricky because it was-- at the beginning, when they, you know, are like, "Oh, yeah, absolutely, you know, you're one of us," and this is great, and then, you know, you have conversations and you go deeper, and of course, they're fascinated.

And you're not ostracized.

- Right, right, right.

- But it was like feeling like I have to give this up to be that?

- Oh, you felt like you were asked to give up your Latinaness because you had to present more Black.

- I had to present more Black, and then I'm straddling both worlds until such time that I could talk J.J. Abrams into making my character on "Alias" a Russo-Cuban assassin.

- Wow.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

- And he was like, "Wait, what's happening?"

[laughter] - But you did it.

You got his ear.

- Yeah, exactly.

And that was the beginning of my being able to say, "By the way, this is what this is, and we need more."

- 'Cause we need to see ourselves... - Yeah, yeah.

- In film.

That's the importance of film and photography and anything that's a picture.

If we can see ourselves, then we feel like we have value.

- And it brings people together, and it gives them a commonality.

- Right.

- I think the more we can support each other, and pull each other up... - Absolutely.

Yep.

- And create situations where we're mentoring, when we're having honest discourse about what can happen and we're not-- we're not our own worst enemy.

- Well, thank you.

- Oh, my God.

[laughs] - Thank you for sharing.

Yeah, beautiful.

- My pleasure.

- Thank you for bringing all of yourself.

- What else am I gonna bring?

[laughter] [upbeat music] - So check it out-- over the past few days, I've spent a lot of time meeting with game-changers in my industry.

Our conversations have been eye-opening and left me with the need to go even deeper into the issues we Latinos face in Hollywood.

But if you know me and this show, you know that when we talk, we eat.

♪ [both greeting in Spanish] - Welcome to my place.

- Tonight, my friends and I are eating here at Coni'Seafood, a Michelin-recognized Nayarit-style family-run Mexican restaurant that has been in the middle of Inglewood since 1987.

I know my homies and I are in for a real treat.

Hey, thank you for coming, everybody.

- All right.

- This is so exciting, bro.

You don't even know how thrilled I am to see all of you here, for real.

♪ There's a popular word in Latin America, "sobremesa," that describes that moment when we gather at the dinner table to share what's on our minds.

And for this sobremesa, I brought together the future of Latinos in the film industry.

Charise Castro Smith is an amazing writer, producer, and the first Latina to ever co-direct a Disney animated film.

She did that with "Encanto."

Victor Rasuk is one of the industry's top young Latinx actors, with shows like "The Baker and the Beauty" and "How to Make It in America."

Carolina Garcia is the director of original series at Netflix, and one of the few Latinx executives who can make decisions that will affect representation.

And Clayton Davis, this guy right here, is a senior awards editor at "Variety," and he covers all things Hollywood.

I love that he's always keeping everyone checked with all the stats that uncover the inequity in this industry.

I invited you all because I wanna deal with one topic here, and that's Latin representation in Hollywood.

I know you all come from different aspects of it, which is so great.

So let's talk about representation.

How has it been, being a Latin woman, writer, director, in the biz?

- It was funny.

When I was a little kid, I used to watch TV and movies and everything, and I thought, "Maybe they just don't know we exist."

- Right.

- Right?

Like, maybe they just haven't heard of us.

And then I realized that it wasn't necessarily they didn't know about us, it just-- maybe they didn't know how to tell our stories, right?

And so, that's what I have spent my career trying to do, is tell those stories and get them out there.

- You're an exec.

- Yes.

- So I wanna know what your point of view is.

Why you think we Latin people aren't put on networks, streamers, television-- why we're missing.

- To your point, like, there are so many different experiences of being Latino.

And the people who have been making decisions historically, haven't necessarily come from an immigrant experience or a Latino experience.

- Right, right.

- You've been put in a box, right, because that's what people are comfortable knowing as Latino.

- And then when I was growing up, we were only drug dealers... - That's right.

- Or help, or the help.

- Yeah.

On a good day.

- Yes.

- Like, we never saw a Latino as a doctor, as a lawyer, or even as a princess, right?

Like, we didn't have those hero roles, or even those everyday roles.

- I feel that-- playing devil's advocate... - Yeah.

- If I sat back here and I said, "Hey, you know, things are the same how they were when John was young," I'd be lying, because I know you specifically have opened the doors for me.

- That's right.

- And, like, I love that we collectively want more because we know what we are as a people.

We know what we can bring.

- Right.

- Now, do we wanna see more and bigger?

That's why we're all sitting here.

And I totally see that, but my question to you is have you seen the changes from when you first started to now?

- Definitely improvements, but it was miniscule, bro.

And until Black Lives Matter and COVID hit, the studio system realized from all of us speaking out, all of us, and giving stats, why are we missing?

'Cause it's not for lack of trying or talent.

It's lack of access.

- Yeah.

- Because we're not in the pipeline.

White shows, white movies, white plays are in a pipeline.

- Mm, yeah.

- Hundreds of stories being developed, half of them don't make it, three-quarters of them will get canceled, but they're allowed to fail.

It's only, like, one-offs like myself, Lin-Manuel, Cherise, creating our own stuff and forcing it through.

- But unfortunately what happens is we put all our hopes and dreams on the shoulders of a John Leguizamo, a Lin-Manuel Miranda.

Everyone that gets a shot at it, we're like, "Please," like, "Represent for all of us."

We can't get 500 million people represented in one piece of content.

- Right.

- We hold each other to this impossible standard.

- And, like, that's not fair to anybody.

- 'Cause white people get to fail big time all over the place, and fail upwards.

We don't get that.

- Right.

- I wanna have big failures on camera and still keep going.

- That's right.

♪ - Plantain!

- Oh, man.

That's beautiful, man.

- That's my signature dish.

It's a robalo that comes from Mazatlán Sinaloa.

- Perfect.

- And we have langostinos here, the baby lobster, and borracho drunken shrimp over there.

- Fantastic.

- Wow.

- Enjoy.

- Gracias, gracias.

- I think I'm gonna have to take a little bite, though.

- Okay, so since we're grubbing, right, I wanna tell you the 17-year-old Victor who approaches John throwing out his garbage.

Let's talk about that later.

- Oh, man!

- We'll talk about that, 'cause I wanna know if he even remembers.

- I remember.

I totally remember you, man.

- You do remember?

- And when I saw this kid, I was, like, so happy because you were a brother with brown skin, and I was so glad that you had those dreams and that you felt like you could do it.

- Yeah.

- Because you know this colorism thing is so real.

I mean, they cast white Spaniards who are not Latin as Latin people.

- Yeah.

- And we all know we let it go because we were so hungry to see any kind of representation, even if it wasn't us.

- Yeah.

- Now I want only Latin people playing Latin roles and Latin roles being told by us, and I want Latin people who look more like Victor.

- Yeah.

- More like you.

- I remember one of my first articles I wrote at "Variety" was I was like, "Let me start from a basic standpoint."

I celebrate Penélope Cruz and Antonio Banderas and Javier Bardem.

- Oh, of course.

- Like, I love them.

- Yeah.

- When I'm talking about representation, that's not what I'm talking about.

- No.

- And it's been infuriating to continuously have the same discussion about when a person that is non-Latino get a Latino role.

- I know where you're going at, the elephant in the room.

- Most notably, James Franco cast as Fidel Castro.

- Unacceptable.

Unacceptable in today's times.

For so many years, they've been taking our stories.

I mean, I love Brando, but playing Zapata with brownface and wide nostrils-- you know, it's just--enough.

Enough of that nonsense.

And I don't care if you're Portuguese from Portugal or Spaniard, you're not Latin.

Your parents have to be born in Latin America, or you have, and we're mostly all mixed race.

- That's right.

- How does this white guy feel like he can speak for the Latin community, for Latinidad?

I just don't get it.

- When we have real equality... - Yes, exactly.

- Then everyone can play whoever they want.

- Beautifully said, beautifully said.

Hey, everybody, it was so great to have you here.

I'm so glad to have you as allies, as colleagues, as activists in this battle.

I mean, I'm a lucky man, I feel.

all: Cheers.

- Well, John, thank you for heading the ship too, man, so we gotta thank you, as well.

- Thank you, Victor.

Thank you.

♪ The road here has not been an easy one, let alone a fair one, but if there's something all these stories have in common, it's the willpower Latinos have.

So for all the doors that continue to be slammed in our faces, or the ceilings that keep being raised, there's true power in continuing the fight until the day that Hollywouldn't becomes Hollywould.

♪♪