Ugly Betty Is Gone. Now Where's The Latina TV?

The series finale of Ugly Betty, a delightfully unrealistic, fish-out-of-water story of a young Latina working in the magazine industry, aired last night. (Don't worry, no spoilers in this post.) Betty wasn't just unique in its popularization of dental hardware, but also because of its multi-cultural cast, which included two Latinas in prominent roles (America Ferrera as Betty Suarez and Ana Ortiz as Hilda Suarez) and roles for Latinos and African-Americans.

It's rare that television pretends to give a damn about the fictional portrayals on non-white, female characters. After all, when was the last time you saw a Latina in a starring television role? (Go ahead and think about it. I'll wait.) And while Latino men don't fare much better (George Lopez had a sitcom before his current talk show gig), Latinas are in an especially challenging position to infiltrate primetime in any role of substance (or that doesn't involve the descriptions "fiery" or "saucy").

A recent report from the Screen Actors Guild puts the number of Latinos/Hispanics acting on television and film at just 6.4 percent), which is less than the African-American number of 13.3 percent, but more than the pitiable numbers for Asian or Pacific Islanders (3.8 percent) and Native Americans (less than one). All of these numbers are compared to the 73.4 percent of the work given to Caucasian actors.

Ferrera, who called the show "truly unique" because of its "young, smart Latina girl" lead, expressed anxiety at her future acting roles in the February issue of Bust magazine, saying that she hoped Betty wouldn't be her last role. As much as I'd like to think that a beautiful and talented actress with a resume like hers shouldn't and won't have trouble working again, I'm not convinced.

Actresses of color and their projects are often pigeon-holed and thought to only appeal to a certain audience, even more so than men of color. For proof, look at the careers of men of color like Denzel Washington, Will Smith, Wilmer Valderrama, and Mario Lopez, who have all played men of color in works that didn't call for a female of color counterpart (an occurrence that rarely happens in reverse, unless a Latina is playing a non-Latina role). When Latinas do get a chance to break into mainstream, it's often by playing white (think Jennifer Lopez), playing black (think Jessica Alba) or going blue (think Zoe Saldana).

With the cancellation of Betty, network television is now totally devoid of any dramas or comedies with a minority lead of any kind (the cast of Glee does feature a minor, sterotypically slutty Latina role). It's sad that we don't see more Black, Native American, Asian, Pacific Islander, and biracial people on TV, because everyone's story matters. But it's particularly perplexing why there's no representation for the largest and fasting growing group of non-whites in the country who, I assume, watch just as much television as white people. Seriously TV, where are the Latinas?

Photo credit: veni markovski