I realized how Latina I was, and then also, at the same time, how not Latina enough I was, because I’m born and raised in Los Angeles. I speak Spanish, but I don’t speak perfect Spanish, not like a native speaker

I don't think running for office is anything I'm prepared for or could even prepare myself for.

It's so reassuring to have a woman heroine who triumphs with more than just what she has on the outside who has more to offer the world than just a pretty picture.

My parents were both Spanish-speakers and they used to speak to me and my siblings in Spanish and we'd answer them in English.

What's so kind of beautiful about the whole thing was that everything that made me not right for all of those hundreds of commercial auditions that I went on and no one ever wanted me for is what made me perfectly right for 'Real Women Have Curves'.

Finding the one is not just a feeling, it's an educated guess. I feel like I chose someone to share my life with who is my friend.

Latino actors and actresses have had to struggle for decades, but when I came around with Real Women Have Curves, attitudes were starting to change. We screened the film all over the world - in Jewish communities, black communities, Greek communities, German communities - and people across the board said, "That's my family."