“When I became an actress I quickly realized that the world liked their Latinas to look Italian. And not like me. And so I wasn’t going up for Latina parts, I was going up for African American parts. Regardless of the fact that I spoke the language better and understood the culture better. Those weren’t the parts that I could take seriously. I didn’t feel like I was doing a disservice or telling a lie because the fact of the matter is, that my experience as a young woman in the world, was that of an African American woman—based simply and solely on perception. I walk through the door and they think I’m a light skinned African American woman or half-black half-white, until they see my name, and then it dawns on them “Oh, are you part…?” Yeah, all my parts, actually.” [x]