On Friday, Sept. 21, NBC will broadcast a celebration of the Latino community: “The 2012 NCLR ALMA Awards.” As in past years, Eva Longoria and George Lopez will take the stage to host the thrill ride of an event , which Longoria is executive producing along with Janet Murguia and Barry Adelman. In a recent conference call interview, Longoria talked about the importance of the NCLR and the advancements of Latinos in entertainment.
The NCLR honors the best in Latino entertainnment with the ALMA Awards
The event is mounted each year by National Council of La Raza, the organization created the ceremony in 1995 to honor the contributions of Latinos in film, television and music. The community’s presence continues to grow the U.S. And Latinos currently represent the largest moviegoing and TV viewing audience in America.
Now one of the biggest Latina stars in the country, Longoria has been a long time supporter of the NCLR. Since she was an up-and-coming actress on “The Young and the Restless,” she participated in many of their events. And when a new version of the awards was introduced in 2006, the “Desperate Housewvies” star agreed to get involved in front of and, eventually, behind the camera.
Longoria believes that the ALMA’s help Latino’s put their best foot forward
Longoria explained why she felt the NCLR and the ceremony are vital in today’s society. “The media tends to define a lot of things whether it’s politics, political candidates, ethnicities, communities. And so at a time when some of those communities are under attack, it’s responsible for the NCLR and our community to showcase positive portrayals of Latinos in music, in television, in film and to make sure we’re showing them our best. We’re putting our best foot forward and saying this is really what we look like, these are our contributions.”
For her part, Longoria has done a lot to help further the images of Latinas. She is not only a succesful actress, but she is a restaurantuner, an activist, a philantrhopist. Just last week, she spoke at the Democratic National Convention and she is co-chair of President Barack Obama’s re-election campaign. All that while she plans to open a steak house just for women and is ramping up production on a new TV series she’s producing for Lifetime.
‘Devious Maids’ presents four complex Latino women
Born to Mexican-American parents, Longoria said while opportunities for Latinos have approved there’s still progress to be made. She remarked, “As a community we have to get behind the camera and we have to start creating our own stories and our images. A great example of this is ‘Devious Maids,’ which I’m an exec producer on. And being able to put four lead Latinas on a show, telling the remarkable stories of these four complex women it’s an example of what we need to continue to do as writers, as producers, as directors we need to create our story.”
“The 2012 NCLR ALMA Awards” airs on Friday, September 21 at 8 p.m. EST/7 p.m. Central on NBC. Watch the pre-award show red carpet broadcast, “The NCLR ALMA Awards All Access Special,” prior to the main event at 6:30 p.m. PST/5:30 p.m. Central on mun2. And see a rebroadcast of NBC’s awards ceremony on Saturday, September 22nd at 1 p.m. EST/12 p.m. Central on mun2.
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