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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

Shakira recently sat down with MTV News to explain her 'Did It Again' video frame by frame.

Shaki and video director, Sophie Muller, scoured the globe to find inspiration for the video, taking cues from Moroccan dancers and 19th-century British painters, and recruiting a Florida-born dancer and an Icelandic choreographer for the project.

It was a collaboration between this friend of mine who's a dancer, and me. She showed me this contemporary dance piece that was produced in Iceland. So we said, 'Hey, maybe we could do something like this for "Did It Again." So we brought this choreographer from Iceland from this contemporary dance company, and we worked on this piece.

And I decided to bring a little bit of this painter, [Lawrence] Alma-Tadema, who portrays women in these bathrooms, these Turkish bathrooms, and I wanted to bring a little bit of that poetic imagery to this video. And I remember not too long ago having watched a few women turn their heads in a trans in Morocco. So we brought all these pieces — Moroccan women twirling and turning their heads, and the poetry from Alma-Tadema's paintings, plus this Icelandic contemporary dance piece — and we mixed all these pieces together for the video.

It was a lot to cram into one video, and Shakira needed a male counterpart to pull it off. Luckily, she found a (more than) able body: Daniel "Cloud" Campos, a dancer who's worked with Madonna.
He's sick! What he does is unbelievable.

But did she have any problem getting close to a guy she barely knew? Not really — as she put it, people often do more with folks they know even less.

[We worked on the routine] for a few days. Hey, some people just get in bed after one night.

Truer words have never been spoken! What do you think of 'Did It Again?'

Photos via GettyImages

[mtv.com]

Tags Daniel Campos, Did It Again, entrevista, Madonna, MTV NEws, Shakira, Sophie Muller, Video

Want to get up close and personal con tus bachateros favoritos?  We've got a special treat for all you Aventura fans este fin de semana!  No te pierdas 'Aventura: Past, Present and Future' on Saturday at 2pm and 10pm EST to learn everything you ever wanted to know about the Bronx-born bachateros!

We'll be giving you the history on how the Latin Grammy-winning bachata super-grupo got started, from their New York origins and going through their old-school pictures to what they have coming up para el futuro.  Plus, we've got two exclusive performances by the K.O.B. themselves.

Make sure to tune-in este sábado a las 2pm EST and again at 10pm to watch 'Aventura: Past, Present and Future' - we guarantee que no to lo vas a querer perder!

Tags Aventura, bachata, entrevista, Exclusive, MTV TR3s shows, Past Present and Future, Performances

Rihanna's second single from her upcoming album Rated R, "Wait Your Turn," leaked online over the weekend. The track continues the dark vibe of the album's first single "Russian Roulette," which was met with mixed reviews two weeks ago. The hook on the song,"The wait is ova, the wait is ova," is a phrase that was used last month as a teaser announcing the album's November 23 release date.

The wait it seems is also over on RiRi's silence surrounding the February assault by former boyfriend, Chris Brown. Since the incident, Rihanna has made no statements, however the R&B star will appear on Thursday's Good Morning American for her first interview since the altercation, and on 20/20 the following night, and the world will finally hear her side of the story. [MTV News]

Will you tune in?

Photo via MTV News

Tags Chris Brown, entrevista, good morning america, interview, new single, Rated R, Rihanna, Russian Roulette, Wait Your Turn

"Manos Al Aire" cantante Nelly Furtado gets personal with host Carlos Santos esta noche on Entertainment As A Second Language, spilling on una cantidad de cosas, from her upcoming Spanish album, Mi Plan, to una conversación interesante about her biggest fear.  Take a bite out of the clip below for a taste of la entrevista!

We guess la cantante trilingüe is safer and more at ease performing in front of a ton of screaming music fans than spending una tarde en la playa. Bueno, mejor para nosotros!

Don't miss el resto de la entrevista en Entertainment As A Second Language, esta noche at 9pm EST solo por MTV Tr3s!

Tags Carlos Santos, entertainment as a second language, entrevista, ESL, Manos Al Aire, Nelly Furtado, Video