The big screen performance of actors like Tenoch Huerta, Diego Calva or Ana de Armas marked 2022 as the year of their consecration in Hollywood, an industry that continues to underrepresent the Latino community.
Only 7.1% of lead roles and 7.7% of supporting roles this year went to Latino performers, whose community comprises 18.7% of the US population.
In this context, Huerta, Calva and De Armas, as well as Jenna Ortega and Xochitl Gómez, managed to break through in 2022 in the mecca of cinema.
After appearing before international audiences in Narcos: Mexico (2018-2020), Huerta won over Marvel fans with his role as Namor in Wakanda Forever. The Mexican’s good work has attracted so much attention that it is possible that he could be nominated for Best Supporting Actor at the Oscars.
Huerta may not be the only Mexican finalist, because his compatriot Diego Calva presented a strong candidacy with his performance in Babylon. Calva accumulates a decade of experience in his country with productions such as I promise you anarchy.
It was director Damien Chazelle’s (La la Land) call to star in Babylon alongside Margot Robbie and Brad Pitt that catapulted him to stardom. He has already been nominated for the Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor, awards in which the Spanish-Cuban Ana de Armas is a finalist in the category of Best Actress for the blonde.
De Armas was already a frequent face in Hollywood, but her portrayal of Marilyn Monroe in the Netflix film marked a turning point in her career. After her much-maligned appearance in Blade Runner 2049 (2017) and her reinvention in Knives Out (2019), she’s taken it one step further with Blonde and is aiming for the shortlist for best actress.
The other two Latinas who captivated the industry this year were Jenna Ortega and Xochitl Gómez, two young Californians with Latina roots who stood out in Merlina (Netflix) and Doctor Strange: Multiverse of Madness.
Thus, despite the barriers that Hollywood usually erects, a new group of Latin actors aspires to redirect the course of the industry and join figures of the caliber of Salma Hayek, Gael García Bernal or Penélope Cruz in the international elite of the small and the big screen.
