When Karla Souza arrived in Hollywood, the Latino explosion in the film industry was only just gathering pace. The Mexican actress landed in Los Angeles in 2014 on the back of the popularity of Nosotros los Nobles, a comedy where a millionaire businessman simulates a crisis of the family finances to teach his spoiled children a lesson. The movie was a box-office sensation and became one of the most watched films in her country.
Her fair complexion and her green eyes became even more well-known to American audiences that same year with the television drama How to get away with murder. However, a few days ago, the actress sparked controversy by referring to herself as a “person of color” in the country where she works.
On the Creativo podcast, Souza recounted her first months in the mecca of the film industry. Her inexperience got her into what she now believes was a poor salary negotiation on a series starring Viola Davis that was a smash hit for ABC, which extended it for six seasons. Her experience prompted her to take the next opportunity, another series for the same broadcaster, called Home Economics.
“When I started to sense that the white actors were being paid more than the two women, myself, a Mexican, and an African American woman, I kicked up a fuss”, she told host Roberto Martinez. Souza took the issue up with the production. “They should rectify it so that we women of color on the show are paid the same as white people,” she told the producers.
“I’m mindful of my skin color and the privilege that comes with it. The segregation of certain groups on the grounds of race or nationality is a social construct that differs according to the region of the world you are in,” Souza told EL PAÍS in a telephone interview. The actress believes that her words about her were taken out of context. “In the U.S., Latinos are considered as people of color, and this goes beyond skin color, as it includes the cultural heritage and nationality. It may sound ridiculous, but that’s how I’m regarded as here”, added the actress, who has been promoting The Fall, a low-budget, more intimate film that deals with sexual abuse in sports.
The actress talks about the latest rules of an industry striving to become more diverse on a global consumer scale. However, these guidelines are not entirely clear to even the most seasoned professionals. Variety stirred up similar controversy to that involving Souza when it said that Anya Taylor-Joy was the first “person of color” to scoop the Golden Globe for a miniseries. The magazine was compelled to modify the tag it used for the unclassifiable star of Queen’s Gambit, who has British, Argentine, Spanish, Scottish and Zimbabwean heritage (although she defines herself as a ‘white Latina’).
This also happened with Deadline and Vanity Fair, which used the same categorization for Antonio Banderas after his Oscar nomination for Dolor y Gloria. The publications backpedaled upon seeing the backlash.
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