Actor Esai Morales: Hispanic roles in Hollywood are the four H’s

Actor Esai Morales: Hispanic roles in Hollywood are the four H’s

WBEZ brings you fact-based news and information. Sign up for our newsletters to stay up to date on the stories that matter.
(WBEZ/Tim Akimoff)

“I bemoan the fact that to this day, [Hispanics] rarely ever play heroes in anything. We’re usually, I call it the four H’s of Hispanic Hollywood: Either overly hormonal…overly hysterical…overly hostile…or overly humble,” said Easi Morales (with appropriate vocal impressions) on Tuesday’s Afternoon Shift. He and the cast of La Bamba, including Lou Diamond Phillips and Elizabeth Peña who starred with him in the 1987 biopic of Chicano rock ‘n’ roll star Ritchie Valens, reunited for the first time in 25 years; here’s the full audio of their conversation: