Friday, December 17, 2010

(e)merge

More about (e)merge here including an interview by Isabelle Spicer with Mera Rubell.

Seen on Univision

Modern Family's Colombian-born actress/model Sofia Vergara is currently doing an ad for Comcast on Spanish-language TV.

Something seemed a little off from the Vergara on the ad and the Vergara Gloria character on Modern Family.

I could be wrong, but it looks to me that Vergara's Colombian character requires that the actress dye her hair black and darken her skin; I guess to make her fit the stereotype that Hollywood has for "Hispanics/Latinos."

Apparently Vergara is a natural blonde and has hazel eyes. According to several internet websites, although she was well-known in Spanish-language TV, she could not get any Hollywood gigs unless she dyed her hair dark to force her into a more "Latina" look. In fact Vergara has stated that:

“I’m a natural blonde. But when I started acting, I would go to auditions and they didn’t know where to put me because I was voluptuous and had the accent - but I had blonde hair. It was ignorance: They thought every Latin person looks like Salma Hayek. The moment I dyed my hair dark, it was, ‘Oh, she’s the hot Latin girl.’ I loved it. I’d always felt a little ‘too much’ as a blonde, like a big-mouth version of Pamela Anderson. Being brunette toned me down a bit.”
I'm just curious if now she also has to tan her skin a few shades in order to fit the way Hollywood wants her character to look like.

Makes my head hurt.