September is Hispanic Heritage Month. To celebrate we are shouting out a few Afro-Latinos who are movers and shakers in Hollywood.
In 2020, there were about 6 million Afro-Latino adults in the United States of America. They made up about 2% of the U.S. adult population and 12% of the adult Latino population.
Below is our pick of young Afro-Latina men and women making an impact on the culture.
Jharrel Jerome
Actor, Best Known As Korey Wise in Ava Duvernay’s When They See Us
First Afro-Latino to win an Emmy for acting
“It’s a blessing, and I hope this is a step forward for Dominicans, for Latinos, for Afro-Latinos. It’s about time we’re here.”
-Jerome on receiving his Emmy Award in 2019 for his haunting performance as Korey Wise in Netflix’s “When They See Us.
Ariana DeBose
Actress, advocate
Best known for her performance reviving the iconic role of Anita in Steven Spielberg’s version of “West Side Story.”
First Afro-Latina and the first openly queer woman of color to win an Academy Award for acting.
“Imagine this little girl in the back seat of a white Ford Focus. When you look into her eyes, you see an openly queer woman of color, an Afro Latina, who found her strength in life through art.”
Y’Lan Noel
Actor
Best known for his role as Daniel in HBO’s Insecure, The First Purge, The Weekend, and Lee Daniels’s The Spook Who Sat by the Door
Afro-Panamanian
La La Anthony
Television personality, actress, and New York Times best-selling author
Best known for her roles in Starz’s Power series, BMF, and The Chi.
Afro-Puerto Rican
“A lot of people don’t realize I’m Latina, which is fine…. I don’t expect people to know my cultural background just by glancing at me. I do however, expect that when I tell people that my family is from Puerto Rico, that I will be believed and not accused of trying to be something that I am not.”
“Auditioning for roles isn’t always easy for me. For instance, there’s a show that’s out right now that my manager was trying to get me to go out for, but they were like, ‘Oh, we want Latinos.’ My manager responded, ‘He is Latino.’ It would just be easier for them to say they want Euro-Latinos or European descent than Afro descent. But they don’t want to say that because they know it sounds ridiculous. It’s mad disrespectful because Latinos come in all shapes, colors and sizes.”
Best known for her roles in the Avatar saga, Guardians of the Galaxy, and Columbiana
Afro-Dominican/Puerto Rican
“People think of Latina women as being fiery and fierce, which is usually true, but I think the quality that so many Latina’s possess is strength. I’m very proud to have Latin blood.”
Best known as Gabriel Maddox in the Netflix Series’ How To Get Away With Murder and as Anderson Fisher in Fantasy Football
Afro-Cuban
“I think there is this misconception that Latinos in general, but specifically Cubans, are only one color. Cubans can be really dark, too. There are so many outside voices of people who probably aren’t privy to Cuban culture. They’re kind of just analyzing Cuba from a perspective of what they can see from the media. We got a lot of flavors there, man. A lot of music, and a lot of people speak differently there.”
Thompson is best known for playing Adonis Creed’s love interest in the Creed movie saga and portraying Diane Nash as a civil rights activist in Ava DuVernay’s historical drama Selma. The British Academy nominated actress, whose father is Afro-Panamanian and her mother of Mexican descent, has also appeared in Dear White People, For Colored Girls,Men In Black: International and the Marvel universe as Valkyrie in Thor: Ragnarok, Thor: Love and Thunder and Avengers: Endgame.
“My mom is a woman of color even though she might not be readily identified as such and I feel like because of that she always gave me space to explore my identity; get in touch with who I am. She understood the void of not having enough guidance, in that. Even though she is not a Black woman, throughout my life, she filled me with such pride of being one.”
Best known for his roles in Euphoria, The Scottsboro Boys on Broadway, Candyman, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom and The Color Purple (2023)
Afro-Guatemalan and Belizean
“They’re [his parents] from Belize and Guatemala and all over Central America and I feel very proud. I’m sure they’re screaming in the streets for me, they’re very proud of me being a part of this and representing not only Afro-Latinos, but also representing humble people for West Philadelphia as well. You know, working class parents and step-fathers and mothers, so I think I represent so many of them so it feels really, really good.”
Jayla Strong is a senior mass communication student with a concentration in public relations at Albany State University. She is an independent, hard worker with a profound passion for...
