Jennifer Lopez has shared his experience facing Latino stereotypes at the beginning of his career, in the new episode of the podcast Variety Awards Circuit. The actress and singer, 55, spoke about her struggle to break away from the limited roles offered to Latinas in the entertainment industry.
Lopez, who grew up in Bronx With Puerto Rican parents, he recalled the difficulties of finding roles that were not loaded with accents and stereotypes. “I always wondered why I couldn’t play the romantic lead or the girl next door.”he commented. This conviction that he deserved those roles was key to challenging and overcoming the limitations imposed.
“My goal as an actress and producer has always been to break the mold of playing the Latina, the maid, the housekeeper or the person who works in the store. Whatever, those kinds of stereotypes, and breaking them. But also being the protagonist of the film,” Lopez said about her career on the big screen.
During her participation in the podcast, Lopez also reflected on her childhood and the feeling of not belonging to certain spaces due to her humble origins. He stressed the importance of listening to your inner voice and replacing external voices with your own confidence and determination.
“When you come from very little and have grown up in the neighborhoods that we grew up in, you think that you don’t belong in certain places or that you don’t belong in certain rooms. I always find that it is the inner voice. The most important thing is to be in tune with that inner voice and what you tell yourself. And sometimes it can be your mother and father’s voice in your head, and at some point it is your responsibility to replace that voice with your own strong voice. Let him say: ‘I can do it. This is my place. I’m good enough. I do things well. Hard work. I have talent.’”
JLo has already spoken openly about how hard she had to fight to enter the entertainment industry. In a press conference held in 2017, she recalled that in her years as a dancer she barely ate anything. Despite the financial difficulties, he assured that he would not change this experience for anything.
“I remember I only ate one slice of pizza a day when I was a dancer. That was how he lived. “I did this for a few years before I got my first big job and I wouldn’t change it for the world,” JLo shared at the time.
And, after a complicated childhood in one of the most marginal areas of New York known as The Bronx, JLo managed to establish herself as one of the most successful artists of the last 20 years, to the point of accumulating a fortune above USD 150 million dollars.
In his most recent film, UnstoppableLopez plays Judy, the mother of wrestler Anthony Robles, who won the national championship in 2011 despite having only one leg. Lopez expressed her identification with the character and the struggles she faced, such as challenging relationships and striving to be a good mother while finding her own path.
The actress stressed that, like her character, many women are forced to mature quickly and find their identity later in life. “I understood his upbringing and the challenges he faced,” Lopez said about Judy. “Wanting things to work, having children and being the best mother possible are experiences that I share.”
