"Jane The Virgin" Star Gina Rodríguez On Seeing Yourself (And Your Cultural Identity) On Screen

Gina Rodríguez.

"I didn’t become an artist to be a millionaire. I didn’t become an actor to wear Louis Vuitton. I have to give this dress back when we’re done. I became an actor to change the way I grew up. The way I grew up, I never saw myself on screen. I have two older sisters. One’s an investment banker. The other one is an doctor, and I never saw us being played as investment bankers and actors. And I realized how limiting that was for me. I would look at the screen and think, ‘Well, there’s no way I can do it, because I’m not there.’ And it’s like as soon as you follow your dreams, you give other people the allowance to follow theirs.

And for me, to look on younger girls and to say, ‘Well, Gina’s like me, maybe not necessarily the same skin color, maybe not necessarily the same background, but like that’s me. I’m not alone. I can do it too.’ So every role that I’ve chosen has been ones that I think are going to push forward the idea of my culture, of women, of beauty, my idea of liberating young girls, of feeling that they have to look at a specific beauty type." –GINA RODRÍGUEZ, star of the upcoming The CW television series "Jane The Virgin", at the Television Critics Association summer press tour in Beverly Hills on July 18, 2014.

"Jane the Virgin" premieres Monday, October 13, 2014 on The CW. It is a loose adaptation of the Venezuelan telenovela "Juana la Virgen" (created by Perla Farías). The television series also stars HOLA member Andrea Navedo, Justin Baldoni, Brett Dier, Ivonne Coll, Yael Grobglas and Jaime Camil. For more information on the show, check out its official website by clicking here. To read the rest of Gina Rodríguez's speech, click here.