You go, girls! A handful of Hollywood’s leading ladies spoke with Us Weekly Video at the 2017 Bentonville Film Festival about why they believe inclusiveness is so important in today’s film and television industries. See what they had to say in the video above!
From Brooklyn Nine-Nine’s Melissa Fumero and Marilu Henner to pop star-turned-actress Becky G, several celebs revealed why it’s better to embrace diversity in showbiz.
“When we first did the pilot [for Brooklyn Nine-Nine], and we first got picked up and did the first season, it was something a lot of people were talking about,” Fumero, 34 — who is of Cuban descent — told Us of the diverse Fox series. “It was something that my [costar] Stephanie [Beatriz] and I couldn’t believe — that they hired two Latinas. At the time, that never happened. We thought one of us was going to get fired, for sure. … So it’s been this incredible experience for me since the beginning and it’s also been really fun now, [on] season 4, to see that that’s more the norm, that we see that much more.”
Asked how Hollywood can be more inclusive, Fumero’s costar Henner, 65, told Us that aspiring actresses can make a change by committing to becoming the most authentic versions of themselves. “It’s so important to be able to say, ‘OK, maybe I’m not gonna get a huge blockbuster feature … but maybe I can do a smaller thing. What am I passionate about?’” she said. “And don’t just feel like you have to think in terms of stereotypes.”
Becky G, 20 — who stars as Trini, a.k.a. “Yellow Ranger,” in the 2017 film revival of Power Rangers — told Us that she decided to break through the industry’s status quo despite her young age. “I decided to direct my last music videos after filming Power Rangers,” the Latin beauty told Us. “… I was like, ‘Why not?’ And writing as well, script-writing, and producing shows. I feel like the possibilities are endless!”
