Ariana DeBose has made history at the SAG Awards.
DeBose is the first Latina to win a film award from the guild, as well as the first queer woman of color to be acknowledged for acting, after earning SAG’s best supporting actress award for her role as Anita in Steven Spielberg’s “West Side Story.”
In the virtual backstage media room, DeBose told reporters, “It’s indicative that doors are opening. It’s an honor to an Afro Latina queer women of color and a dancer and a singer and an actor.”
DeBose understands the significance of the firsts she is achieving for Afro Latino performers, but she also recognizes the fact that “it’s indicative that I will not be the last. That’s the important part. Whatever firsts are attached to my name, they’re important to me, but I’m focused on the fact that if I’m the first of anything it means I will not be the last.”
DeBose also mentioned Chita Rivera and Rita Moreno as forerunners in the role of Anita in “West Side Story” on stage and screen. It was an honor for her to join their ranks, she said. The role’s history “includes both Chita and Rita, as well as now Ariana, and it’s really precious to me.” We’re all various kinds of Latinas, too. There is no one-size-fits-all approach to being Latina or Hispanic. There are many lovely ways, and everyone of us is living proof of that.”
The SAG Awards, like other award events, haven’t had a lot of Latino nominees in the film category. The only Latinas in the lead actress film categories were Salma Hayek in “Frida” (2002) and Catalina Sandino Moreno in “Maria Full of Grace” (2004).
