Actress Gina Rodriguez Features Rahul Kohli in #MovementMondays to Encourage Diversity in Hollywood

"Jane the Virgin" star Gina Rodriguez features British-Indian actor Rahul Kohli in her #MovementMondays series, encouraging diversity in Hollywood.

[Photo Source: Instagram/Gina Rodriguez]

While many are talking about the lack of diversity in Hollywood, actress Gina Rodriguez, star of The CW’s “Jane the Virgin,” is doing something about it.

Following the #OscarsSoWhite controversy, Rodriguez started her own hashtag to promote culturally diverse actors and the roles that they are playing. #MovementMondays began on Instagram in January with Guatemalan-American actor, Oscar Isaac. Isaac’s career has been taking off at the speed of light thanks to his roles in “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” and Oscar-nominated “Ex Machina.”

Movement Monday’s. This is Oscar Isaac. He is a Guatemalan American actor. This is a picture from Ex Machina directed by Alex Garland and was released this past year. With all this Oscar Talk and lack of diversity I decided to start a movement and speak from the perspective of a Latina American who desires to see more Latinos on screen. There are 55 million Latinos in this country and although we all come from various backgrounds our unity can make a movie explode at the box office or a tv show soar to the highest viewers possible. The better these projects do financially, the more money they will spend on putting Latinos In blockbuster films, as leads in tv shows Etc. My solution is this, support is needed. Right now there isn’t one Latino that can Greenlight a movie. That means no studio will put their money behind a Latino face as a lead of a movie because they don’t believe we can make their money back. I am told time and time again “Latinos dont watch Latino Movies. Latinos don’t support each other” and sadly that is true. I’m not saying go and see a movie you don’t like to blind support, im saying if you want to see us represented on film and tv, if you want to see Latinos nominated for Oscars, we NEED to support one another. The industry sees money, the excuse can’t just be racism. We can make a difference in a very powerful way if we unite our support as one Latino community. Oscar Isaac, in my opinion had an Oscar worthy performance in this film. Let’s start making noise with where it matters most, where we put our dollars. Go support these films, watch these shows (mine is on tonight by the way, shameless promotion feel free to watch on the CW) and we can take making a change into our own hands. Each Monday I will highlight a latino artist we can support. Let us use our numbers and powerful voices to prove we support one another, to prove we can make a box office hit, to prove they need to support all the various Latino cultures in the media. That can be one part of the solution, so next year we have many movies that are worthy of Oscar contention! #MovementMondays Pick any Latino currently working we can support!

A photo posted by Gina Rodriguez (@hereisgina) on Jan 25, 2016 at 10:00am PST

“With all this Oscar Talk and lack of diversity, I decided to start a movement and speak from the perspective of a Latina American who desires to see more Latinos on screen,” Rodriguez wrote in the first post of her new weekly tradition. However, the actress recently realized that this issue extends beyond the Latino community.

In March, Rodriguez dedicated her #MovementMondays post to iZombie actor Rahul Kohli, a British-Indian whose parents were born in Thailand and Kenya. “One thing I have realized over the past few weeks is how important and necessary diversity is for so many ethnicities under-represented and even though I may not know about every culture I want to learn,” Rodriguez wrote.

#MovementMondays This is Rahul Kohli. He was born in London to Hindu Parents. His mother was born in Thailand and his father is from Kenya. He is such a delight to watch both dramatic and comedic and is smashing the game in CW’s IZombie. When I first began Movement Monday’s it was in the wake of the Oscars diversity talk and I wanted so passionately to celebrate Latino Talent and unite the Latino community under one cause, to bring more representation into the homes and eyes of the viewer. But one thing I have realized over the past few weeks is how important and necessary diversity is for so many ethnicities under represented and even though I may not know about every culture I want to learn. I want to celebrate all artists. I want to uplift all ethnicities, cultures and religions. I want to grow in my knowledge and use my voice to highlight all those doing great work that aren’t often seen on screen. That is what we are missing, a unity amongst all humans, to have the desire to make art colorblind and allow every culture to feel proud about where they come from and how they fit so perfectly in this puzzle of life. Today, I celebrate you Rahul and will continue to watch IZombie and any other art piece you bless us with! Check him out!!!! And please champion your artists, use Movement Monday’s to spread the word about how many wonderful and diverse actors grace our screen and would be lucky to have our support! #MovementMondays

A photo posted by Gina Rodriguez (@hereisgina) on Mar 7, 2016 at 8:25am PST

Though this movement is new, lack of ethnic diversity in Hollywood has always been close to Rodriguez’s heart and she has used her increasing stardom to push this issue into the spotlight.

During her 2015 Golden Globe acceptance speech for best actress, Rodriguez tearfully said, “The award is so much more than myself—it represents a culture that wants to see themselves as heroes.”

As a young child, she recalls asking her mother when Puerto Ricans were “born” because she didn’t see people like her on the TV shows and movies that she loved. Her mother told her, “We’ve always been around and you will tell those stories one day.”

She is now not only telling those stories through “Jane the Virgin,” but also using her Instagram movement — which has also featured Taiwanese-American Constance Wu, Brazilian actress Morena Baccarin, Laz Alonso who is of Afro-Cuban descent — to lift up actors of all cultural backgrounds.

“I want to grow in my knowledge and use my voice to highlight all those doing great work that aren’t often seen on screen,” Rodriguez wrote in her post about Kohli. “That is what we are missing, a unity amongst all humans, to have the desire to make art colorblind and allow every culture to feel proud about where they come from and how they fit so perfectly in this puzzle of life.”