When award season comes around, actors and actresses throw their hat into the ring with a pricey campaign—called a ‘for your consideration’ (FYC) campaign. Studio heads allocate funds to promote their shows with large campaigns including billboards, screeners and show-themed freebies.
Ahead of this year’s Emmy Awards in September, Jane The Virgin actress Gina Rodriguez won’t be spending her campaign money on glam events, she will be using it to allocate funds to pay for an undocumented Latinx high school student to attend college.
“FYC is a bizarre dance. Whatever you do requires an insane amount of money,” Rodriguez, 33, told The Hollywood Reporter. “Our show has always jumped at any opportunity to help me do something for the Latinx community. So I asked my showrunner Jennie [Snyder Urman], if we could do something different with the money this year.”
According to reports, Rodriguez partnered with youth mentoring organisation Big Brother Big Sisters of Los Angeles and found a young female student headed to Princeton University, who will now be able to attend college without the stress of financial debt.
“It’s taboo to talk about the money being spent, but it’s the reality,” she said. “I think this sharing might inspire other people to do something similar. You can desire recognition and, at the same time, decide to not play in the confines of the game as it’s set up.”
It’s not the first time American-born Rodriguez, who is of Puerto Rican descent, had put her efforts towards supporting the Latinx community. She is on the Hispanic Scholarship Fund’s board of directors, and has been vocal in support of protecting undocumented immigrants against legislation changes in the US.
Rodriguez is also a vocal advocate for people of colour working in Hollywood. Earlier this year she penned an essay calling for more Latin voices in Hollywood. “Latinos are not only prominent and loyal in the consumer market but also make up one of the largest demographics at the box office every opening weekend," she wrote. "The fact that we are not seen on screen despite our vast contributions is devastating."
And on Rodriguez's Instagram she has a regular post called #MovementMondays, where she shares the stories of other actors from minority communities.
At a time where the US government seems to be making life harder for people coming to the country, Rodriguez and her inclusive message is a breath of fresh air.
