Latinos Still Least Represented In Popular Movies But Attend More Movies Than Any Other Group [REPORT]

Latinos are still the most under-represented minority in American cinema. The LA Times reports that a new study by USC's Annberg School for Communication and Journailsm has found that Hispanics have only 4.2 percent of speaking roles in American films, despite the fact that Latinos are now the biggest ethnic minority in the US. The findings are even more shocking when you realize that 26 percent of movie tickets are bought by Latino viewers annually. So despite the fact that Hispanics buy a greater per capita percentage of movie tickets in America, we are still the least represented group on the silver screen.

Latinos are also hugely underrepresented in network television. In the last 30 years, Latinos have been represented in just 2% of network coverage. In its report in April this year, Aljazeera reported that, despite a rise in popular Hispanic figures in the media (i.e. Sofia Vergara, Pope Francis, Alfonso Cuaron), Latinos were vastly underrepresented across media outlets. University of California-Los Angeles Professor Otto Santa Ana demonstrated in his recent book that fewer than 1 percent of the evening news coverage on ABC, CBS, NBC focused on Latino stories. Of the nearly 50 anchors on CNN and MSNBC, only three are Hispanic.

The USC study also found that Hispanic women are the demographic most likely to be shown nude or in lingerie. "At the core, this is a visibility issue," said Katherine Pieper, research scientist at Annenberg's Media, Diversity & Social Change Initiative. "Who we see in film sends a powerful message about who is important and whose stories are valuable, both to international audiences and to younger viewers in our own country.... Are films communicating to audiences that only certain stories are worth telling?"

Latino actors often find it difficult to score roles outside of Hispanic typecasting. In a recent interview with Interview Magazine, Eva Mendes opened up about racism in the film industry. The Cuban-American actress said "What makes it frustrating is when a director or a studio head doesn't see me for the same part that they'll see, let's say, Drew Barrymore for," she said. "Drew's a great friend of mine. But it's like, 'No, we want more of an American type of girl.' And it's like, America has opened up. I'm an American girl, born and raised."