Banner Ads Now Available on HOLA Website

Wanna promote your upcoming stage production? Your upcoming film screening? Your upcoming special event?

HOLA members often get publicity in our Members in Performance page, but what if you could promote on our main homepage, or in our directory (The HOLA Pages), where more people can see your ad?

What if you had a project with no HOLA members that you wanted to promote?

What if you wanted to promote something that wasn’t a show (like your production company itself or a new website)?

Now you can do so by BUYING A BANNER AD on the HOLA website.

Banner ads come in half-page and full-page sizes and can be on the HOLA website for one week, two weeks, three weeks or a whole month. HOLA can also link your ad to a particular website at no additional cost.

Prices on the banner ads are affordable. Also, not-for-profit organizations receive a 10% discount on ad prices.

The HOLA website receives thousands of visits each month. The HOLA website is viewed by many professionals in the industry and is a unique way of reaching the Latino/Hispanic and mainstream audiences, which make buying a banner ad a smart investment for you.

Wanna buy a banner ad? Call (212) 253-1015 or e-mail us for prices and ad dimensions.

HOLA Regional Membership Available For Those Outside New York Metropolitan Area

If you are an actor who lives in an area of the U.S. outside of the New York metropolitan area, New Jersey or Connecticut (HOLA's programming and administrative headquarters region), HOLA is proud to announce its Regional Membership level - for only $65 (versus a $125 regular NYC region membership price) for one full year!

As an HOLA Regional Member, you'll be entitled to the following member benefits:

• Your headshot, resume, reel and voiceover demo* showcased on the HOLA Pages, the internet's only concentrated source of Latino acting talent. The directory is a trusted resource for casting directors, producers and talent agents receiving, on average, over 5,000 visits per month. (* There is an additional charge of $15 for adding your voiceover demo.)

• Your performances listed and promoted via HOLA's website and social media pages (Facebook and Twitter) that reaches thousands of people in the entertainment industry.

• Casting notices that will alert you to employment opportunities tailored to the Latino actor.

• Advocacy to combat stereotypes of the Latino/Hispanic community in media and entertainment as well as the opportunity to join in solidarity with the Latino/Hispanic acting community.


Application for regional memberships accepted by telephone order only. Call HOLA toll-free at (212) 253-1015. (VISA, MasterCard and American Express accepted.) Please submit your headshot (in .jpg format) and resume in a Word document or in Portable Data Format (.doc or .docx; or .pdf) via e-mail to HOLA.

Why Join HOLA? Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) About HOLA

WHY JOIN HOLA?

Frequently Asked Questions

• Is HOLA an agency or management company?

No. While we work similarly to an agency or an artist management company, we do a lot more. In essence, HOLA is a membership organization, a not-for-profit arts service and advocacy organization that offers jobs and casting opportunities, workshops and seminars and special events to its membership.

• Does one have to audition for HOLA?

No. HOLA is a membership organization. Just pay the annual membership and you become an HOLA member.

• I am a new actor. Does HOLA apply to me and how so? (Or conversely, I have a fair amount of experience. How does HOLA apply to me?)

HOLA members range from the beginner to the established and everywhere in between. HOLA will apply to you at every stage of your career.

• Do I have to speak Spanish (or Portuguese) to be an HOLA member?

No. HOLA members speak English only, Spanish only, or both languages fluently. Our Brazilian members speak Portuguese as well as English. There is no requirement for any member to speak Spanish (or Portuguese) to be an HOLA member.

• What kind of casting notices do you receive?

HOLA receives all kinds of casting notices— from union and nonunion, through the disciplines of film, television, theater and voiceover. The majority of our notices are distributed to our membership. There are some instances, whether because of short notice or because of the search for something very specific, that HOLA makes referrals to certain talent.

• I have signed representation. Would that be in conflict with HOLA?

No. In fact, we would put your signed representative’s name and number on your online profile. It would be another way to promote yourself without conflict.

• If I book a job through HOLA, do I owe you a commission?

No. We are not an agency or artist management company. You are under no obligation to give us a commission. (But if you want to show your appreciation with a donation, we’ll be forced to take it, I suppose.)

• I am in the process of getting my citizenship. Could I still join HOLA?

Yes. As long as you can legally work in the U.S., you can join HOLA.

• Does HOLA have a social media presence?

Yes. We are on Facebook, Twitter and have our own channel on YouTube. In addition, we are on Wikipedia and have our own blog, titled El Blog de HOLA.

• What if I am not an actor but I like what you do?

You could support HOLA by becoming a Friend of HOLA and donating to the organization. If you are a producer or director, a Friend of HOLA donation allow us to promote your productions!

All About Becoming an HOLA Member or a Friend of HOLA

Wanna be an HOLA member? Wanna know more about HOLA first?

HOLA is a not-for-profit arts service and advocacy organization founded in 1975.

HOLA members get their headshots and resumes on our web directory. In addition, HOLA receives casting notices from various sources that we pass on to our members (or in specific cases, help refer actors to the casting director).

HOLA offers low-cost workshops and seminars, professional counseling, special events and networking activities. We also produce the HOLA Awards which honor outstanding achievement by Latinos in entertainment.

HOLA has a Facebook page and a Twitter page in addition to this blog (imaginatively titled El Blog De HOLA). Whenever a member is doing a project, we can promote via e-mails we send out, through our Members in Performance page on the website or in El Blog on our HOLA Member Bochinche column (only good bochinche, never bad bochinche). It functions as another outlet to promote your work. HOLA is also on YouTube and on Wikipedia.

What if you are not an actor? You can support HOLA by being a Friend of HOLA. For more information, click here.

To become an HOLA member online (New York metropolitan area), fill out the member application form here.

Lauren Luna Vélez To Join The Cast of ABC's "How To Get Away With Murder"... As Annalise's Boss

Actress and former HOLA Award honoree Lauren Luna Vélez has been announced as having a recurring role in the third season of ABC's "How To Get Away With Murder". She will play the boss of the main character, Annalise Keating (played by Emmy Award winner Viola Davis), in the hit series created by Shonda Rhimes. Vélez will play the President of (fictional) Middleton University, where Keating works as a professor. The third season of "How To Get Away With Murder" is scheduled to premiere Thursday, September 22, 2016 on ABC. For more information, read Andrew Stehney Vargas' article in Remezcla by clicking here.

HOLA Member Bochinche

Bochinche refers to “gossip”. In this sense, we use it to mention HOLA members or Friends of HOLA who are getting acting, performance or similarly artistic gigs and/or recognition in the media. The names of HOLA members and Friends of HOLA are listed below in boldface. To see what other HOLA members are doing currently, click here.

Andrea Navedo, shown at right, was featured in Latina magazine, where she talked of her life and career, specifically referencing both her role as Xiomara Villanueva, the titular character's mother in "Jane The Virgin" (The CW), and her return to the New York stage with a starring role in Jerry Sterner's Other People's Money. The play (which is being produced by James Price and Navedo) will be directed by John Grabowski and run in July and August at Chelsea Repertory Company @ Theatre 54 at Shetler Studios in the theater district of midtown Manhattan. To read the article, click here.

Erick Betancourt was profiled in an article in the daily Providence, Rhode Island newspaper Acontecer Latino, where he talked of his life and career as an actor. To read the article, which is in Spanish, click on the image at left.

Víctor Cruz can be seen co-starring in the upcoming Noah Baumbach film Yeh Din Ka Kissa. The feature film, written and directed by Baumbach, stars Adam Sandler, Ben Stiller, Emma Thompson, Dustin Hoffman, Candice Bergen, Elizabeth Marvel, and Sakina Jaffrey.

Rénoly Santiago co-starred in the HBO miniseries "The Night Of". Based on the British television series "Criminal Justice", it stars John Turturro, was written by Richard Price and directed by Steven Zaillian. 

If you are an HOLA member or a Friend of HOLA and want to submit a bochinche item, send us an e-mail. If you live in the New York metropolitan area and want to be an HOLA member, why not join? If you live outside the New York metropolitan area and want to be an HOLA member, you can find out more information on how to do so by clicking here. If you are not a Friend of HOLA, why not become one?

Porchlight Music Theatre in Chicago is Presenting IN THE HEIGHTS With An "Authentic" Cast... and Cast a Non-Latino to Play Usnavi... And Here's What Happened Next...

Guest Blog by Tommy Rivera-Vega.

The Porchlight Music Theatre is presenting the award-winning Lin-Manuel Miranda-Quiara Alegría Hudes musical In The Heights this autumn at Stage 773 in Chicago, Illinois. The production is to be directed by Brenda Didier, and co-choreographed by Didier and Chris Carter, with music direction by Diana Lawrence and assistant direction by Adrián Abel Azevedo.

And now, even before the Chicago production of “Hamilton” begins performances here on Sept. 27, Porchlight Music Theatre will open its production of that first Miranda hit with an unusually “authentic” cast.... In a prepared statement, Michael Weber, Porchlight’s artistic director, noted: “After an exhaustive audition process, during which we saw hundreds of the Chicago-area’s diverse music theater talent – both established and new – and even reached out to our city’s vast hip-hop dance community, we are excited to introduce the cast of Chicago’s newest production of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s revelatory musical. –Hedy Weiss, The Chicago Sun Times

On Monday, July 18, 2016, reacting to the theater's official announcement of the cast, the Chicago Sun-Times released this article congratulating the theater for its "authentic" cast. It started a spark in the Latinx community, first, because of the use of the word "authentic", and also because the lead role (Usnavi), the narrator of the story, was not Latinx. 

Perhaps if stylebooks were all more advanced on language surrounding race and ethnicity, the Chicago Sun-Times wouldn’t have run a headline this week that read, “Porchlight’s ‘In the Heights’ names its authentic cast.” Those who see anything beyond the title of the show, the theatre and the word cast, might wonder about the presence of the word authentic. Aren’t all casts authentic, in that the actors are who they say they are and will be playing the roles they’re announced to play?... Without ever using the word Latino (let alone Latino/a, Latin@ or Latinx), this statement comes off as Weber patting his own theatre on the back for working so very hard to meet the basic requirements of the musical he chose. –Howard Sherman, Arts Integrity

Two days after the press release, on Wednesday, July 20, 2016, Howard Sherman, director of the Arts Integrity Initiative at The New School College of Performing Arts and interim director of the Alliance for Inclusion in the Arts, shared this article in the The New School of Performing Arts/Arts Integrity blog.

While Evita is a British musical written by white men telling an Argentine story, In the Heights is a Latin@ musical in every regard and, as such, has been well-received by the Latin@ community. This is to say that to miscast Evita is one thing, but to whitewash In the Heights takes the issues of race, ethnicity, and casting to a new level. By all means and purposes, casting white actors in roles written for Latin@s in professional theatre is unacceptable. –Trevor Boffone

That same day, Dr. Trevor Boffone, a Hispanic Studies professor at the University of Houston, published this article on his website, from where the above quote originates.

Later on that day, I released an open letter to Porchlight on Facebook, where I wrote, "I understand that you cast some Latinxs in the show (people that I have worked with before, respect their work, and love.) But when the person actually narrating the story is not Latinx, you are creating an atmosphere, an ecosystem, a perfectly created barrio around him, where the white folks behind it can now feel safe telling our story. You are essentially 'building a wall.' Not giving us a chance."

"Your 'exhaustive' search was obviously not 'exhaustive' enough. Let me just ask this: When you were casting Dreamgirls, did it ever cross your mind to have Effie not be black? You knew you couldn't make that choice because you couldn't let down the Black community. You had the chance to do something special and powerful with that production, and you did. All the Latinxs in that audition room saw that, they trusted you, and once again it didn’t matter."

On Tuesday, July 26, 2016, José T. Nateras wrote about the issue in the Chicago Art Institute's F News Magazine (see below quote).

In a city like Chicago, with a huge Latinx population and a vibrant Latinx theatre community, the decision to cast this particular role [Usnavi] with a non-Latinx actor is supremely out of touch. But this sort of discussion isn’t without its subtleties — after all, the process of casting is highly subjective.... When faced with complaints regarding issues of whitewashing in casting, theaters often respond with the arguments that they’ve “cast from the pool of actors who auditioned” or that they’ve “made an effort to cast the best actor for the role.”... The truth of the matter is, often, actors of color aren’t able to get an audition in the first place. For instance, Porchlight makes audition appointments available through a website that has only so many audition slots open for signing up on a first-come, first serve basis. It is well known that these slots fill up fast and whether or not the roles looking to be filled are for actors of color, a large portion go to white actors. –José T. Nateras, F News Magazine

Even the esteemed American Theatre Magazine wrote of the controversy, in an article titled, "Whitewash ‘In the Heights’? Chicago, You Can Do Better", where Diep Tran writes, "Hispanics/Latinos make up 29 percent of the Chicago population (roughly the same percentage as New York City, where In the Heights originated). There are a number of Latino theatre companies there (including Teatro Vista and Teatro Luna); the Goodman Theatre regularly holds a Latino Theatre Festival; and Latino Theatre Commons held its 2015 Carnaval of New Latina/o Work in Chicago. Is the talent pool really not deep enough?" 

What does Lin-Manuel Miranda think about the controversy? One can only surmise his thoughts based on his 2015 interview with Howard Sherman for Sherman's personal blog, which talked about race and casting with regards to his musical Hamilton and other projects. He said, "My answer is: authorial intent wins. Period. As a Dramatists Guild Council member, I will tell you this. As an artist and as a human I will tell you this. Authorial intent wins. Katori Hall never intended for a Caucasian Martin Luther King. That’s the end of the discussion. In every case, the intent of the author always wins. If the author has specified the ethnicity of the part, that wins."

For their part, Porchlight Music Theatre responded to the controversy with an official statement.

To our colleagues in the Chicago Theatre community, please know that we at Porchlight Music Theatre have been intently listening to and have clearly received the messages of concern regarding our upcoming production of In the Heights. 

The thoughts that have been expressed are accepted with the utmost seriousness and consideration, and we humbly wish to contribute to this needed conversation. 

In the casting of In The Heights, as with all productions at Porchlight, we did not invite nor require potential employees to state their racial self-identification as part of our casting and hiring process. All actors who attended were considered based solely on the content of their audition. 

Our continual objective is to create and encourage an environment of inclusion in all our work here at Porchlight Music Theatre. 

Moving forward, we are committed to expand our efforts in regard to inclusion and representation as well as furthering our relationships with the diverse talent and institutions that make up the Chicago Theatre community. 

Porchlight Music Theatre.

The story continues.... Further wrap-ups of the controversy can be found here and here. [Note: Some people refer to Latinos or Hispanics as "Latin@" (in order to include the gendered terms Latina/Latino), while others use "Latinx" (pronounced Latin-ex) so as to have a neutral, non-gendered term.]

Special thanks to Bear Bellinger for his contributions to this blog.

Tommy Rivera-Vega is an actor-singer. Born and raised in Puerto Rico, Tommy has proudly called Chicago his new home. His credits include Mother Road (Goodman Theatre); Chino in West Side Story (Drury Lane); Barney the Elf (The Other Theatre Company); Latino Theatre Festival in Los Angeles and Chicago; A View from the Bridge, Lampshade, and Momma’s Boyz (Teatro Vista); Usnavi in In the Heights (Skylight Music Theatre); In the Heights and My Fair Lady (Paramount Theatre); Three Sisters (Steppenwolf Theatre); Kiss of the Spiderwoman (BoHo); Pippin (Music Theatre Company); Theo Ubique in CATS; AIDA (Bailiwick Chicago). Puerto Rico credits include Moritz in Spring Awakening and Ren in Footloose (Black Box Theatre). He is a proud Teatro Vista and The Other Theater Company Ensemble Member.

HOLA and Prime Latino Media Present HOLA After The Curtain: OTHER PEOPLE'S MONEY

HOLA and PRIME LATINO MEDIA 
invite you to attend an 

HOLA After The Curtain event

on Sunday, July 31, 2016 

taking place after the 2pm matinee 

of the theatrical production

OTHER PEOPLE’S MONEY

written by Jerry Sterner and directed by John Grabowski 
and starring and co-produced by 
Andrea Navedo

winner of the 2015 HOLA Elizabeth Peña Breakthrough Artist Award 
for her portrayal as Xiomara Villanueva, mother of the title character in

The CW's "Jane The Virgin"

Moderated by Founder and Executive Producer of PRIME LATINO MEDIA
Louis Perego Moreno (Tío Louie)

Tickets are $18. To buy tickets, click here. 

OTHER PEOPLE’S MONEY
Friday, July 29, 2016 – Sunday, August 14, 2016

Only 15 Performances!!
Chelsea Repertory Theatre at Shetler Theatre 54
244 West 54th Street (between Broadway and 8th Avenue), NYC

Check out El Blog de HOLA's interview with Andrea Navedo by clicking here.

"Sesame Street" Moves To HBO, Cuts Three Long-Running Cast Members

In August 2015, Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit behind the classic children's show "Sesame Street", announced a new partnership with HBO that will bring the next five seasons of the series to the premium cable channel and its streaming services. The partnership means that "Sesame Street" will be able to produce almost twice as much new content in each season. The show will still be made available to PBS and its member stations, which has aired the program since 1969, only now it will be free of charge for them after a nine-month window.

Left to right: Emilio Delgado,
Roscoe Orman, Matt McGrath.

With the transfer to HBO, the program is undergoing several changes, including a switch from hourlong to half-hour episodes, the addition of some new faces, and a major overhaul of the set. However, some of these changes include the departure of three-long-running cast members: Bob McGrath, Roscoe Orman and HOLA member (and former HOLA honoree) Emilio Delgado.

McGrath has played Bob since the series premiered in 1969. Orman is the fourth actor to play Gordon, joining the series in 1974. Delgado has played Luis since 1971; on the show, he married María (played by Sonia Manzano, who retired in 2015) and had a daughter named Gabi. [Delgado and Manzano received an HOLA Ilka Award for Humanitarianism in 2005 for their work on the program.]

For more information, click here.

Update on Joselyn Martínez Solving the Cold Case Murder of Her Father and Finally Getting Justice

Joselyn Martínez, holding a photo
of her late father, José Martínez.

In 2013, actress-singer Joselyn Martínez was able to solve the cold case murder of her father in 1986, leading the police to the accused killer, Justo Santos (who fled New York to his native Dominican Republic and later returned to the United States, living in the Miami area, where he was apprehended).

While Santos served a short prison sentence in connection with the murder of José Martínez upon his return to the Dominican Republic under his country's law against killing another Dominican national, he was never tried in the United States.

Joselyn Martínez, at right, with her
mother, Idalia Martínez, in court.

While the Manhattan District Attorney's office brought a murder indictment, the case was deemed too old to stick by a judge in 2014. However, Santos failed to disclose to immigration officials that he was connected to the Martínez murder when he re-entered the United States. As a result, he was charged with immigration fraud and tried.

Thirty years after the murder of José Martínez, a Miami court found Santos guilty of immigration fraud on Wednesday, July 27, 2016; he faces a maximum of 10 years when sentenced this October. Both Joselyn Martínez and her mother Idalia Martínez were present in court for the decision.

For more information, click here, here and here.

HOLA Member Bochinche

Bochinche refers to “gossip”. In this sense, we use it to mention HOLA members or Friends of HOLA who are getting acting, performance or similarly artistic gigs and/or recognition in the media. The names of HOLA members and Friends of HOLA are listed below in boldface. To see what other HOLA members are doing currently, click here.

The Luigi Laraia play Too Close, helmed by Pablo Andrade, shown at right, won the Best Drama Award at Capital Fringe Festival in Washington, District of Columbia. The two-hander was presented in July at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Library and starred Richard Tanenbaum and Daniel Owen. For more information, click here.

Fabián Zarta will be presenting his self-penned and self-directed solo show Nariño. It will be presented in August at the Teatro Bernardo Romero Lozano at the Círculo Colombiano de Artistas in Bogotá, Distrito Capital, Colombia. For more information, click here (note that the website is in Spanish).

Modesto Flako Jiménez, shown at left, and The Bushwick Starr (the theater located in the Bushwick area of Brooklyn) received honoraria and The Princess Grace Award for Theater and Playwriting. For more information, click here.

Alberto Bonilla is a finalist for a 2016 Backstage Reader's Choice Award in the category of "Favorite On-Camera Teacher (NYC)". The voting process for finalists opened Monday, July 25, 2016 and will continue until Sunday, August 7, 2016. Winners will be announced in Backstage's Thursday, September 1, 2016 print issue. For more information, click here. To cast your vote, click here.

Olga Merediz performed alongside such luminaries as Audra McDonald, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Idina Menzel, Wilson Cruz, Lena Hall, Ben Vereen, Idina Menzel, Roz Ryan, Sharon Gless, Tyne Daly, Tom Wopat, Darius de Haas, and Rosie Pérez, among others, as part of the supergroup Stars on Broadway, who performed its charity single, "What The World Needs Now Is Love" (written by Hal David and Burt Bacharach) live at the 2016 Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. To see a full list of the performers, read the article in Playbill Online by clicking here. To see the performance, click on the video below (she can be seen soloing between 01:48 and 01:51 of the video, and again between 03:33 and 03:35 of the video).



If you are an HOLA member or a Friend of HOLA and want to submit a bochinche item, send us an e-mail. If you live in the New York metropolitan area and want to be an HOLA member, why not join? If you live outside the New York metropolitan area and want to be an HOLA member, you can find out more information on how to do so by clicking here. If you are not a Friend of HOLA, why not become one?

Tío Louie Reporta: "Jane The Virgin" Star ANDREA NAVEDO Plays With OTHER PEOPLE'S MONEY

HOLA is proud to present Tío Louie Reporta, where filmmaker and Executive Producer of Prime Latino Media, Louis Perego Moreno (affectionately known as Tío Louie) interviews actors and multimedia-makers in the business of show.

In this edition, Tío Louie interviews actress, producer, HOLA member (and HOLA Awards honoree) Andrea Navedo, where she talks of her role on The CW's "Jane The Virgin", winning an HOLA Award, and her role as actress and producer of the stage play Other People's Money, playing in New York this summer.

Can a proud Puerto Rican from the Bronx play an Irish woman in a small New England town? When I asked actor and acting coach Rosie Berrido to describe working on stage with Andrea Navedo– who not only plays the lead actor in this revival of Other People’s Money (directed by John Grabowski) but is also the co-producer of the theatrical production– she said, "I have only two words [to describe] Andrea– Wonder Woman".

With Gina Rodríguez on
The CW's "Jane The Virgin".

For a career that has stretched 20 years, she is most recently known for playing Xiomara Villanueva, mother of the title character (played by Gina Rodríguez) in The CW's "Jane The Virgin". Now she takes it up a notch making the jump from television to theater and turning the spotlight on a particular plotline resonating with so many today. Jerry Sterner, who wrote Other People’s Money in the 1980s, wove a tale of the infamous financial industry’s wheeling-and-dealings through a play about a Rhode Island wire and cable factory’s attempts to fend off a hostile takeover by a Wall Street financier. The play originally premiered in the West Village’s Minetta Lane Theatre in 1989 and in 1991 was made into a feature film starring Danny DeVito and Gregory Peck. Now, its revival is being co-produced by the production company Navedo owns, Nicava Entertainment, along with the Chelsea Repertory Company. Funny how life has a way of making a full circle as Andrea returns to the Chelsea Repertory Company where she trained as an actor at The Acting Studio. Here is my interview with her about her role as Kate Sullivan in this theatrical production and the journey that got her there.

Tío Louie: I can’t imagine that it wasn’t slightly intimidating to do a theatrical production of a project that was previously a 1991 film with Danny DeVito and Gregory Peck, directed by award-winner Norman Jewison that generated $25 million at the box office. How do you compete with that kind of pressure?

Andrea Navedo: I still have these moments where I’m like, "S---, what have I gotten myself into?" The playwright is deceased, but his two daughters are coming with their children. They are coming to see the play! You want to talk pressure? The lead character for which this project is scripted is Irish and I’m going against that as a Latina. Plus, my peers are coming to see the play.

  

TL: It’s challenging enough that you are producing for the first time, but on top of that you are acting in this play. Are you a glutton for punishment or embracing a new challenge at this stage in your professional life?

AN: I’m embracing a new challenge. There are several mornings when lying in bed, I’m wondering, Why am I not just chilling during hiatus from the TV series? Why not just lie around and get my nails done? Why not take my kids to camp? Am I paying enough attention to my kids… my husband? And there are times that I feel self-empowered. Doing a play was an idea in my head in January/February and here I am doing it. No one is 100% satisfied with all their choices.

TL: For a change the tables have turned on you. Rather than auditioning for a role, you actually cast the actors for this theatrical production? How was that experience?

AN: It was a great learning experience as an actor to learn what casting directors go through. It’s not about being the best actor necessarily. It’s about having the right sensibility, look and even height that came into play. My director wanted certain dynamics between two actors in conveying a power play with one being taller than the other. Sometimes it even came down to aesthetics and as an actor, I hated that. But these were important elements in delivering the story for the audience. In the future I will not be insulted when I don’t get a role. I was also shocked to see people come in who were not prepared– after years of beating myself for not being good enough. It even boils down to what they wore to the audition that sometimes impressed me or not. The roles are around Wall Street people and some actors came in suits and others came wearing jeans. It helps me envision you in the role depending on what you wore. One of the actors had read the entire play and it made a difference in what they delivered. You got to see who had training and who didn’t. That’s why my mantra is, Train, train, train. I am training myself by being part of this play.

With A.B. Lugo at the
2016 HOLA Awards.

TL: What did it mean for you to receive the 2015 HOLA Elizabeth Peña Breakthrough Artist Award?

AN: It meant a lot being recognized for "Jane the Virgin". But it took 20 years and all the work I have accomplished. Because of HOLA, I got one of my first, professional SAG jobs and it just came full circle. If someone had fast-forwarded years ago and said this was to happen, I would not have believed it.

  

TL: What $0.10-worth of advice [originally 2¢ for your thoughts, but increased by Tío Louie for inflation] do you have for a young person who yearns for fame and fortune and assumes that you have it all?

AN: Not to put value on numbers. The most important thing for a creative person is their training– that is nothing that can be taken away. You can be hot one day and not the other. Who knows what will happen to me after "Jane"? This could be my last gig. I have heard Dustin Hoffman wonders if he will ever work again. Study and train. The numbers on Twitter will not feed your soul. Doing this play feeds my soul and they are stepping stones. Your last step is when you die. Rita Moreno is still working.

Other People's Money starts performances on Friday, July 29, 2016 and runs until Sunday, August 14, 2016 at the Chelsea Repertory Theatre at Shetler Theatre 54, located at 244 West 54th Street (between Broadway and Eighth Avenue) in the theater district of midtown Manhattan. For more information, click here.

Louis E. Perego Moreno (Tío Louie)

Founder & Executive Producer of PRIME LATINO MEDIA, the largest network of Latino multimedia-makers and actors on the East Coast that hosts the PRIME LATINO MEDIA Salón, New York metropolitan area's only network gathering in which over 60 narrative & documentary filmmakers, programmers, casting agents, TV & digital media producers and actors have been interviewed. PRIME LATINO MEDIA is happy to partner with the Hispanic Organization of Latin Actors (HOLA) on events that serve the Latino/Hispanic artistic community. An interactive content producer and educator who for the past 34 years has owned Skyline Features, a bilingual (English- and Spanish-language) multimedia and educational production company developing documentaries, television programming and advertising commercials featuring Latinos, Blacks, Women, Urban Youth and LGBT, he has produced 70 documentary shorts with 1,500 Latino and Black Youth. Producer/Director/Writer of documentary feature, Latina Confessions (2010) and airing on PBS nationally was co-producer on American Dreams Deferred (2012-2014).

Check out Louis E. Perego Moreno (Tío Louie) on Facebook (here and here), Twitter, Instagram, Vimeo, and LinkedIn. To follow PRIME LATINO MEDIA on Facebook, Twitter, and/or Instagram, click on the links in this paragraph.