Award-winning actor, producer and comedian John Leguizamo has been sounding the alarm on underrepresentation of Latinos in Hollywood for years. Now, a new report from research and consulting firm McKinsey & Company has the data to back it up.
“The math is not matching up because the executives are not, they don’t look like us. They’re not Latinos,” Leguizamo told ABC News. “We’re a growing demographic and yet aggressively underrepresented.”
According to the McKinsey report, Latinos are underrepresented in Hollywood both on and off screen. Though Latinos make up 19% of the U.S. population, they account for 24% of both box office ticket sales and streaming subscriptions. And yet, Latino performers “account for just 4% of lead or co-lead roles in U.S. films,” the report says.
Further, Latinos make up just 5% of U.S. film executives, according to the report, which the authors say looked at “more than ten years’ worth of the most recent industry data available.” Additionally, the report examined “more than 26,000 films; more than 6,000 episodic television shows across broadcast, cable and steaming; and more than 30 industry reports.” The authors say they also conducted more than 100 interviews with Latino industry professionals.
Camilo Esteban Becdach, a partner at McKinsey & Co. and co-author of the report, said that putting Latinos in executive positions creates a “network effect,” where more opportunities are created for Latinos in other parts of the film industry. That includes more opportunities to tell a diverse array of Latino stories with roles that aren’t violent, criminal stereotypes.
“Latinos aren’t a monolith population. They’re a very diverse population. And they are stories of community, of perseverance, of family that aren’t being told,” Becdach said. “When you have Latinos in positions and decision-making positions, what you get are more stories about family, more positive stories.”
According to the report, 27% of Latino-depicting films without Latinos in executive off-screen positions are centered on crime, with only 8% of those films centering on family. For films with Latinos making decisions behind the camera, the numbers are reversed: 28% of those films focus on family and 13% center on crime.
John Leguizamo attends the 24th Annual Latin Grammy Awards at FIBES Conference and Exhibition Centre on November 16, 2023 in Seville, Spain.
Patricia J. Garcinuno/WireImage/Getty Images
“We have our uncles and aunts who are doctors and accountants and heroes and firemen and policemen, we know the diversity in our community,” Leguizamo said. “We know that, we see it. It’s in our family. But executives don’t see that.”
Leguizamo — whose first credited screen appearance was playing the son of a drug lord in a 1986 episode of the TV cop drama “Miami Vice” — said that Hollywood perpetuates harmful Latino stereotypes, such as drug dealers and murderers.
“Hollywood needs to stop continuing that myth,” he said.
The report also found that Latino films — that is, films written, produced and directed primarily by Latinos and focusing on Latino stories — perform 60% better than their counterparts with 25% less budget. Those numbers suggest that Hollywood is missing out on millions in additional revenue that could be generated if Latino representation in Hollywood improves.
From pitching his own Latino projects, Leguizamo has personally experienced the challenges of being given a smaller budget.
“Every time you pitch a Latin project, they tell you all, you know, we have to do it for less,” Leguizamo said, “You’re getting less because it is a Latin story, because it’s Latin stars, but you’re not going to get great content unless you put it the same money in, the same value.”
ABC News’ Sabina Ghebremedhin contributed to this report.
