Eva Longoria was once told she didn't have "dark enough skin" to play a Latino character.
Eva Longoria
Longoria is proud of her Latin American heritage and recalled her shock at being told she wasn't right for the part of a Latino character because of her accent and the colour of her skin.
Discussing diversity in Hollywood, she told the New York Times newspaper: "Some white male casting director was dictating what it meant to be Latino. He decided I needed an accent. He decided I should [have] darker coloured skin.
"The gatekeepers are not usually people of colour, so they don't understand you should be looking for way more colours of the rainbow within that one ethnicity."
Meanwhile, the 40-year-old actress previously insisted acting is just "a means to an end" for her as she wants to use it for a "platform" for her charity work.
She said: "I've always been business-minded. I worked in corporate America before becoming an actress and knew that acting wasn't the end but a means to an end.
"It gave me the platform and the exposure I needed to do my
philanthropic work. It also gave me the financial security to focus on my other businesses, start new businesses, and even help other people start businesses."
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