After Oscars snub, Jennifer Lopez preaches importance of diverse representation in Hollywood

Jennifer Lopez may have been snubbed by the Oscars for her role in "Hustlers," but the actress is continuing on with her mission to make Hollywood look a little more like the rest of the country.

In a Vanity Fair interview published Tuesday, Lopez explained how she's working to tell diverse stories in the entertainment business. The actress, 50, has previously opened up about aspiring early in her career to star in romantic comedies to represent women who don't normally see themselves in on-screen love stories.

"When I first started, one of the things that I wanted to do, because I was Puerto Rican, Latina, was that I wanted to be in romantic comedies because I felt like all the women in romantic comedies always looked the same way, they were always white," Lopez said in a November Hollywood Reporter roundtable discussion. "And I was like, if I can do it and just show that I'm every girl – because I am the hopeless romantic, I am that – I am the single working woman, I was those things."

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After her starring debut in "Selena" 22 years ago, she's been able to push for rom-com roles. But Lopez still thinks "action and superhero films need to be a little bit more represented at this point."

She wants the people behind the camera to diversify, too. Lopez said she's intentionally working only with female directors on future projects. She also wants to put on the directing hat herself.

"It’s about breaking the mold of what people are used to," Lopez said. "There are so many great female directors; why aren’t we using them more? It’s hard to break patterns, even in yourself, so we have to make a conscious effort to change the paradigm."

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In keeping with her push for diverse representation, Lopez added that her Super Bowl halftime show performance next month is not only a "perfect moment in my life" but a "great time for a Latina women to take the stage at the biggest all-American event, with everything that’s going on in the country right now."

She added: "I’m super-happy to represent my community, to represent women, and to represent everybody, you know? It’s a big platform to bring people together. … It gets a lot of eyeballs. So if you can spread a little bit of love and positivity, and make people know that we’re all in this together? I look at it as a blessing."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Jennifer Lopez preaches Hollywood diversity after Oscars snub