Gina Rodriguez from Jane the Virgin started Movement Mondays on her Instagram to garner support for working Latino actors. She points out that studios feel more confident in hiring Latino actors for high-profile roles if the numbers back it up. TV shows and movies with Latino actors need to pull in higher ratings and more revenue.
This approach is the same for all minorities and extends beyond the acting community—into all aspects of creative professions. Inspired by Gina, I am starting the series Monday Meetings to highlight Asian movers, shakers, and makers. We should be seeing them and hearing from them more often—not just sporadically.
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Meet Alan Yang, a writer and producer for comedic favorites such as “South Park” and “Parks and Recreation.” When he accepted his Emmy award for “Master of None,” he advocated for an increase of Asian Americans in Hollywood:
There’s 17 million Asian Americans in this country, and 17 million Italian Americans. They have “The Godfather,” “Goodfellas,” “Rocky,” and “The Sopranos.” We’ve got Long Duk Dong. So we have a long way to go. But I know we can get there, I believe in us, it’s just gonna take a lot of hard work. Asian parents out there, if you can do me a favor: Just a couple of you, get your kids cameras instead of violins, we’ll all be good.
Photo by Erik Tanner for Getty Images.
