The Cast Of Gentefied On The Power Of Telling Latinx Stories 'Without Apologizing'

"Right away, you visualize it and you're like, 'Oh, this is real, this is raw, this is how we speak in our everyday lives,'" actress Julissa Calderon remembers of reading the Gentefied script for the initial time. That wasn't an accident: piece of what makes the new Netflix show, which follows a public of Latinx people defining the American dream for themselves, so truthful is the fact that it was created by Latinx people. And that reflects in the nonstop Spanglish flow that invites viewers to pay attention, and to step in the direction of the Morales cousins, who are staring down the threat of gentrification in Boyle Heights, California.





Nevertheless they're not the only people attempting to navigate change in both their backyard and personalized lives. Ana (Karrie Martin) is also navigating what it means to follow her dreams as an artist, while her girlfriend Yessika (Calderon) is holding tight to protect and sustain the Heights's multicultural truth. Meanwhile, Lidia (Annie Gonzalez) is juggling a pregnancy and an on-and-off relationship, along with deciding if she can emotionally afford to leave Boyle Heights for a new job opportunity.


Those storylines particularly discussed to Gonzalez, who tells MTV News, "A lot of the time, you visualize Latinx representation on TV and either we're over-sexualized, or we're the virgin, or we're so one-dimensional." On Gentefied, nevertheless, "there are steamy scenes, although we'll still tear a mother-sucker down and let you know what our community's about and why empowered we are... in our bra and panties," she adds with a laugh.


And shows like Gentefied, and also because the diverse, Latinx-American shows like On My Block, Jane the Virgin, Ugly Betty, and others that came before them, are only the starting. "We need to keep telling these stories," Martin urges, "without apologizing or asking for permission. Just do it! And I think slowly – it's not a fast pace, slowly although surely, the industry is starting up for that."