Ariana DeBose says she didn’t feel ‘good enough’ to represent Latinas in 'West Side Story'

star explained that she didn’t feel like she could represent Latinas because she’s not a fluent Spanish speaker.

“You met me when I first got to New York and I was just trying to be an actor,” DeBose, who worked with Miranda on “Hamilton” seven years ago, said in avideo. “I remember I was like, ‘I’m Puerto Rican,’ and you were like, ‘Ah, soy Puertorriqueña!’” she recalled, making an awkward face. “Because I do not speak Spanish. I’m not fluent.”

“And I thought for the longest time that that made me less of what I was. And maybe I shouldn’t talk about my background because perhaps I didn’t represent the community well enough,” she added, noting that when the “West Side Story” opportunity came around she didn’t feel like she could take on the role. “I was like, ‘I don’t know if I’m really what you’re looking for.’”However, she was “pleasantly surprised” that the Latinx community accepted her and told her, “No, you are very much enough.

“I was hesitant to go in for many reasons. Latinas in the industry don’t really look like me — or hadn’t — and roles like this had not really been manifested in Black Latinas — not for nothing. I also was hesitant because I was like, ‘Do we need to tell this story again?’” she said. “And then ultimately the answer for me was, well, if I was going to do it, I would want to give it a new perspective, and my being gives it a new perspective.

“My Afro Latinidad, my heritage, my lived experience as a Black woman can give this something new, maybe something we’ve yet to see. But I also questioned whether there was space for that,” she candidly stated, adding that she questioned if there was space for her.

Source: Entertainment Trends (entertainmenttrends.net)

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