America Ferrera gave a passionate and inspiring speech at the Critics Choice Association’s 5th annual Celebration of Latino Cinema & Television, held Friday in Los Angeles.
The Emmy-winning actor received the Trailblazer Award, presented by The Lost Bus producer Jamie Lee Curtis, and used the moment to reflect on the urgent role of storytelling in a divided world.
“At a time when discourse and conversations fail to create connection, empathy and understanding, storytelling becomes more important,” Ferrera said, noting that film and television “have the power to take people beyond their deep-seated logic and into their hearts.”
The activist said she recently spoke with a scholar who studies authoritarianism and warned that the US is “heading to a crisis point.”
She continued, “Us [in Hollywood] are not a cute aside for civil society – we are civil society. Artists and the stories we tell are playing a role right now.”
She urged her colleagues to be brave and purposeful: “Find our courage, find our heroism, be as brave as the characters we write and as brave as the characters we play and stand up and use our voice and our art – create art that inspires and evokes the world we want to live in.”
The Critics Choice Association event, which celebrates excellence in Latino film and television, also honored Andy Garcia, Oscar Isaac, Anthony Ramos, Camila Perez, Dolores Huerta, Frida Perez, Gabriel Luna, Kleber Mendonça Filho, Dolores Fonzi and Tonatiuh.
