Who's Missing From The Big Screen? LATINOS!

by Wendaline Perez

The National Hispanic Foundation for the Arts (NHFA) hosted their annual awards ceremony, Noche de Gala at the Renaissance Mayflower hotel in Washington DC last week celebrating the organization’s 13th year of existence. Actors Jimmy Smits, Esai Morales and Sonia Braga, along with attorney Felix Sanchez, created the National Hispanic Foundation for the Arts in 1997 to advance the presence of Latinos in the media, telecommunications and entertainment industries. Today, NHFA offers graduate scholarships to Hispanic students at eight colleges and universities across the United States and expands career opportunities for existing talent in all aspects of entertainment and the performing arts.

Photo via Photo-op, Inc.

NHFA’s Noche de Gala was definitely a star-studded affair, among the celebrities in attendance were Television Icon Cristina Saralegui, who was named the NHFA’s recipient of the 2010 Raul Julia Award for Excellence, Puerto Rican Actor Jimmy Smits, who is one of the founding members of the NHFA, and Mexican-Brazilian Actress, Giselle Itié, who was an honoree of the NHFA’s Horizon Award. Other celebrity guests included Tony Plana (Ugly Betty); Benito Martinez (Shield, 24, CSI, Lie to Me); Jesse Garcia (Bajo la Misma Luna); Aimee Garcia (George Lopez Show; Trauma); Jeremy Ray Martinez (La Mission)

Tr3s caught up with actor and co-founder of the National Foundation for the Art’s, Jimmy Smits, to find out more about his passion for philanthropy and his thoughts about Latinos in the media today:

"I always want us to be able to do more, but when I look at the young people who are going to Harvard, NYU… I realize that begging corporate sponsors to give a helping hand does pays off…that’s what we started 10-15 years ago with Rock the Vote, we came together to figure out how to do things so that its not just a photo-op and you really do see some kind of results.

What you realize is that the common denominator is education because if you have that springboard people who are in positions of power cant say 'well there's no real talented writer or performers who are trained.' They are out there, like yourself, so it's just about using education as a tool and having that confirmation from the outside, while believing in your talent and networking, that makes a well rounded individual which goes a long, long way.”

Jimmy Smits on the Immigration front:

"The whole immigration issue deals with the economic issue that confronts our country. Because its always been the country's policy to be lenient with immigration when there’s a necessity for a workforce, but times are tough now and people are feeling it, so they kind of displace and this is an easy way to displace but you go to every major urban area around the country and then places that are not-so urban and there are Latinos doing jobs that nobody else really wants to do, so you know I take all of that with a grain of salt but that doesn’t conclude me from saying that there are laws in this country that need to be followed and if there are set of rules that are established and people have to follow a path to citizenship, then we should. I think that most of the people are down with that."

We also caught up with actor Jesse Garcia who gave us some words of advice to share with you:

"Dream big, dream bigger than big, whatever you want just reach for it. I came from a small town in Wyoming I grew up in a town with 700 people and I’m living my dream and my dream is still bigger and I’m still achieving that."

What do you think about the NHFA's mission?  Do you think we need more Latinos representing in the media?  Sound off in the comments or @MTV3!

Tags 2010 Raul Julia Award for Excellence, Agentes De Cambio, Benito Martinez, cristina, Cristina Saralegui, entrevista, Esai Morales, Giselle Itie, Immigration, Jesse Garcia, Jimmy Smits, National Hispanic Foundation for the Arts, NHFA, Noche de Gala, Rock the Vote, Tony Plana