Watch Gina Rodriguez's Tearful Tribute To Rita Moreno
Gina Rodriguez attended the Kennedy Center Honors Tuesday night, where she got the chance to pay tribute to one of Hollywood's living legends, Rita Moreno.
The "Jane the Virgin" star opened the night with a beautifully touching (and tearful) speech directed at Moreno. She talked about how her mother introduced her to Moreno's work when she was young, and recalled asking her why there weren't more actresses on TV that looked like her.
These days, Moreno, who was honored alongside George Lucas, Carole King, Cicely Tyson and Seiji Ozawa at Tuesday night's event, plays Rodriguez's paternal grandmother on "Jane the Virgin."
"Your bright smile, your fierce persona, that independent voice that burst through every performance and every interview. I just wanted to be just like Rita," Rodriguez said to the crowd. “You gave me hope, you gave me a reason to fight and to speak up, you gave me a voice and how can I thank you? I’m not sure how, but I can tell you this: when you followed your dreams, Rita, you gave me the allowance to follow mine."
Rodriguez continued, getting teary-eyed as she wrapped up her speech, "You are my icon, my living legend and, what matters most, my friend. Rita, this is my love letter to you."
Also on HuffPost:
When She Made It Clear How Actors Can Stop Perpetuating Stereotypes
Roundtable with The Hollywood Reporter
When She Practiced What She Preached And Waited For An Opportunity Like “Jane The Virgin.”
![<p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7181818181818183; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 11pt;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia;"><span style="font-size: 14.6666669845581px; line-height: 25.2000007629395px; white-space: pre-wrap; background-color: #ffffff;">"</span></span><span style="line-height: 1.71818181818182;">There were times when I was like, 'Why am I pulled so strongly to be a voice, to not keep my mouth shut? Why can’t I just keep my mouth shut, take the job, take the money and walk like everyone else?', Rodriguez <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/13/gina-rodriguez-jane-the-virgin_n_5976606.html">told The Huffington Post.</a> </span></p> <p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7181818181818183; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 11pt;"><span style="line-height: 1.71818181818182;">"[But] if I don’t speak up, I’m just going to what? Sit around and complain and hope that somebody else will?," she added. "No. I wasn’t raised like that. If I want change, then I've got to do it. And if I want to do it, I've got to be that change. And that takes sacrifices that sometimes don’t pay the bills, you know? And I’m OK with that." </span></p> <p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7181818181818183; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 11pt;"> </p> <p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7181818181818183; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 11pt;"> </p>](https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/9m2l4vSPl0vmPLYiW7Ryww--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTk2MA--/https://img.huffingtonpost.com/asset/55b993a61d000030001433d0.jpg)
"There were times when I was like, 'Why am I pulled so strongly to be a voice, to not keep my mouth shut? Why can’t I just keep my mouth shut, take the job, take the money and walk like everyone else?', Rodriguez told The Huffington Post.
"[But] if I don’t speak up, I’m just going to what? Sit around and complain and hope that somebody else will?," she added. "No. I wasn’t raised like that. If I want change, then I've got to do it. And if I want to do it, I've got to be that change. And that takes sacrifices that sometimes don’t pay the bills, you know? And I’m OK with that."
When She Spoke Her Mind About The Need For Diversity Before “Jane The Virgin” Even Premiered
Interview at the Television Critics Association in June 2014
When She Told A Childhood Story That Really Drove That Point Home
![<p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7181818181818183; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 11pt;"><span style="font-size: 14.6666666666667px; font-family: Georgia; color: #333333; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; background-color: #ffffff;">“I asked [my mom], ‘When were Puerto Ricans born? When did Puerto Ricans come about?'," Rodriguez <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/03/30/gina-rodriguez-childhood-story_n_6971520.html">said at P&G's "Orgullosa" event.</a></span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 14.6666666666667px; white-space: pre-wrap; line-height: 1.71818181818182; background-color: #ffffff;"> "And she’s like, ‘What are you talking about?’ And I was like, ‘Like when did it happen, was it in like the '50s?’ And she was like, ‘What are you saying?!’ And I was like, ‘Well because I don’t see us anywhere. I don’t see us on the TV, I don’t see us in the movies I love. When did it happen?!’ And she’s like, ‘We’ve always been around and you will tell those stories one day.’”</span></p>](https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/_iYldj02inlxXxfMVEA8KQ--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTk2MA--/https://img.huffingtonpost.com/asset/55b9838c1700002600565fc3.jpg)
“I asked [my mom], ‘When were Puerto Ricans born? When did Puerto Ricans come about?'," Rodriguez said at P&G's "Orgullosa" event. "And she’s like, ‘What are you talking about?’ And I was like, ‘Like when did it happen, was it in like the '50s?’ And she was like, ‘What are you saying?!’ And I was like, ‘Well because I don’t see us anywhere. I don’t see us on the TV, I don’t see us in the movies I love. When did it happen?!’ And she’s like, ‘We’ve always been around and you will tell those stories one day.’”
When She Became Only The Second Latina To Win A Golden Globe For Best Actress And Brought Up Diversity During Her Acceptance Speech
Read more of her awesome Golden Globe speech here
When She Spoke About How TV Representation Can Affect Body Image
![<p><span id="docs-internal-guid-d4281d2b-dd02-249b-f987-6655737b2c54"><span style="font-size: 14.6666666666667px; font-family: Georgia; color: #333333; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; background-color: #ffffff;">“It’s not only about my ethnicity; it made me feel a certain way about my beauty,” she told <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/06/09/gina-rodriguez-hollywood-racism_n_7543044.html">Glam Belleza Latina.</a> “Not seeing a woman like me as a lead made me feel like I’d never be skinny enough, I’d never be pretty enough. I want to give young girls, like my niece, the tools to see a billboard and think, 'That [non-Latina] girl is beautiful, but that’s not the only form of beauty.' Jane’s story is about a beautiful, normal girl. We don’t talk about her weight or her looks.”</span></span></p>](https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/PDfivQ5fC97YtWB.KY3EDg--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTk2MA--/https://img.huffingtonpost.com/asset/55b99a1e1d00002f001433d4.jpg)
“It’s not only about my ethnicity; it made me feel a certain way about my beauty,” she told Glam Belleza Latina. “Not seeing a woman like me as a lead made me feel like I’d never be skinny enough, I’d never be pretty enough. I want to give young girls, like my niece, the tools to see a billboard and think, 'That [non-Latina] girl is beautiful, but that’s not the only form of beauty.' Jane’s story is about a beautiful, normal girl. We don’t talk about her weight or her looks.”
When She Gave A Shout Out To “JTV” Showrunner Jennie Urman For Setting An Example When It Comes To Latino Representation
Read more of her interview with The Huffington Post
When She Pointed Out That If Money Talks In Hollywood, Latinos Shouldn’t Be Silenced
![<p><span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Georgia; color: #333333; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“We just have to understand our collective strength,” Rodriguez <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/06/09/gina-rodriguez-hollywood-racism_n_7543044.html">told Glam Belleza Latina.</a></span><span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Georgia; color: #333333; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> “Because if 'Jane the Virgin' does well, [Hollywood] is going to open the door for five new shows that are Latino focused. We’ve already seen this start to happen. 'Jane the Virgin' got a Golden Globe, and this pilot season everybody wants a Latino lead... The more we show them that our united front can blow something up, the more they’re going to open those doors because it’s no longer a risk. This isn’t about racism. It’s about money.”</span></p>](https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/Ul98F4xt8pYBTodBasKObQ--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTk2MA--/https://img.huffingtonpost.com/asset/586c0a021900002b000e2bc9.jpg)
“We just have to understand our collective strength,” Rodriguez told Glam Belleza Latina. “Because if 'Jane the Virgin' does well, [Hollywood] is going to open the door for five new shows that are Latino focused. We’ve already seen this start to happen. 'Jane the Virgin' got a Golden Globe, and this pilot season everybody wants a Latino lead... The more we show them that our united front can blow something up, the more they’re going to open those doors because it’s no longer a risk. This isn’t about racism. It’s about money.”
When She Says It's Her Mission To Change The Perception Of Minorities In The Media
Interview with HuffPost Live. More on her mission in this interview with The Huffington Post.
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This article originally appeared on HuffPost.
