Latinos at the 2025 Golden Globes: Progress or Continued Erasure?

This year’s Golden Globe Awards had one of the highest number of Latino nominees in its history. While that’s a milestone worth celebrating, the actual outcome of the ceremony is a reminder of how far Hollywood still has to go. Out of all the groundbreaking nominees, including 8 Latine actors and at least 9 projects with significant Latino involvement behind the scenes (including 4 Latine directors), only 2 Latina actresses, Dominican-Puerto Rican Zoe Saldaña and Brazilian Fernanda Torres, walked away with trophies. Their wins are historic and well-deserved, but they don’t hide the fact that Latino talent continues to be largely overlooked in an industry that thrives on Latine contributions both on and off the screen.

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A Night of Firsts and Historic Wins

Latino artists made history during this year’s Golden Globes, with Zoe Saldaña taking home her first-ever Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture for her role in the film “Emilia Pérez.” With this win, Saldaña became the first American-Puerto Rican-Dominican actress to receive the award - an inspiring milestone for Afro-Latina representation in Hollywood despite the existence of controversy and critique that surrounds the film.

Brazilian actress Fernanda Torres also scored a major win as Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama for “I’m Still Here.” Her achievement came 25 years after her mother, Fernanda Montenegro, was nominated in the same category for “Central Station.” Torres’s win is both a recognition of her talent as an individual and a symbol of Latino generational talent in Hollywood.

The evening also belonged to “Emilia Pérez,” a Spanish-language movie that received 10 nominations across the board, surpassing the record of 9 nominations set by “Barbie” in 2023. The film secured wins for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy, Best Motion Picture – Non-English Language, and Best Original Song, taking its place in Golden Globes history. The award was accepted by Spanish actress Karla Sofía Gascón, the first openly trans woman nominated in a lead actress category at the Golden Globes.

While these wins are important and deserved, they don’t carry an entire community. With nominees like Selena Gomez, Liza Colón-Zayas, Diego Luna, Colman Domingo, and more, the night had the potential to be a banner year for Latinos. Instead, it left the same lingering question that many of these award ceremonies do: why does Hollywood still struggle to recognize and elevate Latino talent?

Hollywood’s Problem With Latino Representation

The Golden Globes nominations showed that things are moving in the right direction, but the gap between Latino nominations and actual wins highlights an industry still playing catch-up when it comes to equity. While the Hollywood Foreign Press Association recently diversified its voting body, with Latinos accounting for 25% (up from 22.3%), systemic bias doesn’t disappear overnight.

The harsh reality is that despite making up 19.5% of the U.S. population, Latinos are still underrepresented in film and television. A 2023 USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative study found that Latinos account for only 5.5% of speaking roles in major films, and that number hasn’t changed much in 16 years. When it comes to leading or co-leading roles, Latinos account for 4.4%, and Afro-Latinos account for less than 1% of that number. Behind the camera, things aren’t much better, with Latinos making up just 4% of directors and 3% of producers, according to the 2023 UCLA Hollywood Diversity Report.

This shows that Hollywood doesn’t seem to have the same enthusiasm for putting Latinos front and center as it does for leaning on Latino audiences for box office success. After all, Latinos are the most active moviegoers per capita in the U.S., accounting for 24% of movie ticket sales, according to the 2024 LDC U.S. Latinos in Media Report.

The Bottom Line

Despite the growing amount of Latino talent in Hollywood, they aren’t breaking through at a rate that’s proportionate to their contributions. The power of Latino talent, stories, and audiences is undeniable - report after report continues to quantify this as a fact year after year.

The Golden Globes have taken steps toward inclusivity, but a true transformation will require a sustained commitment from every corner of the entertainment industry.

The success of Latino-led and Latino-made media like “Emilia Pérez” shows that audiences are hungry for these stories. The question remains, will Hollywood finally put the appropriate amount of effort into supercharging the projects and Latino talent that audiences want to see?