Gina Rodriguez Starts A Movement In Response To #OscarsSoWhite

Jane the Virgin star Gina Rodriguez launched a new campaign aimed at highlighting actors of Latino descent. “With all this Oscar Talk and lack of diversity,” she wrote on Instagram earlier today (Jan. 25), “I decided to start a movement and speak from the perspective of a Latina American who desires to see more Latinos on screen.”

READ: Gina Rodriguez Takes Epic Usie: “Puerto Ricans In The White House!”

The digital crusade she’s calling #MovementMondays encourages Latino communities around the country and beyond to use their voices and dollars in an effort to help transform the Hollywood landscape.

“If you want to see us represented on film and tv, if you want to see Latinos nominated for Oscars, we NEED to support one another,” she added. “Let us use our numbers and powerful voices to prove we support one another, to prove we can make a box office hit, to prove they need to support all the various Latino cultures in the media.”

The other part of the solution is to celebrate Latino thespians from all walks of life and their contributions to the art. Rodriguez chose to shine a light on Guatemalan performer and Ex Machina actor Oscar Isaac in her first entry (below).

Who will be your #MovementMondays pick?

READ: Gina Rodriguez’s Love Letter To Rita Moreno: “You Are My Icon”

Movement Monday’s. This is Oscar Isaac. He is a Guatemalan American actor. This is a picture from Ex Machina directed by Alex Garland and was released this past year. With all this Oscar Talk and lack of diversity I decided to start a movement and speak from the perspective of a Latina American who desires to see more Latinos on screen. There are 55 million Latinos in this country and although we all come from various backgrounds our unity can make a movie explode at the box office or a tv show sore to the highest viewers possible. The better these projects do financially, the more money they will spend on putting Latinos In blockbuster films, as leads in tv shows Etc. My solution is this, support is needed. Right now there isn’t one Latino that can Greenlight a movie. That means no studio will put their money behind a Latino face as a lead of a movie because they don’t believe we can make their money back. I am told time and time again “Latinos dont watch Latino Movies. Latinos don’t support each other” and sadly that is true. I’m not saying go and see a movie you don’t like to blind support, im saying if you want to see us represented on film and tv, if you want to see Latinos nominated for Oscars, we NEED to support one another. The industry sees money, the excuse can’t just be racism. We can make a difference in a very powerful way if we unite our support as one Latino community. Oscar Isaac, in my opinion had an Oscar worthy performance in this film. Let’s start making noise with where it matters most, where we put our dollars. Go support these films, watch these shows (mine is on tonight by the way, shameless promotion feel free to watch on the CW) and we can take making a change into our own hands. Each Monday I will highlight a latino artist we can support. Let us use our numbers and powerful voices to prove we support one another, to prove we can make a box office hit, to prove they need to support all the various Latino cultures in the media. That can be one part of the solution, so next year we have many movies that are worthy of Oscar contention! #MovementMondays Pick any Latino currently working we can support!

A photo posted by Gina Rodriguez (@hereisgina) on Jan 25, 2016 at 10:00am PST