Her father couldn’t believe what he’d seen and asked why he chose to keep his accent instead of changing it to an American one. “I told him that Diego has openly talked about keeping his accent and how proud he is of it,” she wrote in her Tumblr post. She continues, “And my dad was silent for a while and then he said, ‘And he was a main character.’ And I said, ‘He was.’ And my dad was so happy. As we drove home he started telling me about other Mexican actors that he thinks should be in movies in America. Representation matters.”

The post quickly went viral, eventually reaching Luna himself, who proudly shared it on Twitter.

riveralwaysknew  wasn’t the only one to be inspired by the group of minority actors featured in Rogue One. An Indian man wrote a heartfelt passage about how Riz Ahmed being in the film moved him. “[Riz Ahmed being in Rogue One] honestly brought tears to my eyes seeing it. Seeing this diversity, in a Star Wars movie, one of the biggest franchises in the world, and one of my favorite things in the world all throughout growing up. Representation MATTERS. When I was growing up, if there was an Indian superhero, or a Pakistani main character in Star Wars like there is now, maybe I would’ve loved who I was a little bit more. I needed someone like me to look up to as an 8 year old. I’ve never loved being Indian/Pakistani more than I do now. Over the past couple years, every day I love my heritage more and more and want to know and learn more about it and be more present in my culture.”

This is why representation matters. Not just for millennials growing up now, but for the older generations of people who didn’t get to grow up seeing someone on screen that looked or talked like them.  Not only is diversity in casting having a positive effect on audiences, its increasing profits for films. According to a recent study by UCLA, films that have a 41-50% non-white cast do better in the global marketplace. As the second-highest grossing film of 2016, Rogue One proves diversity has also helped earn more money in the states as well.

This is just the beginning. We are starting to see women of all sizes, the LGBTQ community and people with disabilities taking leading roles on movies screens and television sets. Actresses like Melissa McCarthy and Chrissy Metz are snagging starring roles. Speechless, a primetime show, features a character with cerebral palsy played by an actor with cerebral palsy. LGBTQ relationships are becoming more common on television, like Alex Danvers and Sarah Lance on the CW’s Supergirl and DC’s Legends of Tomorrow.

Hollywood is moving forward and we will hopefully see more remarkable stories and characters grace our screens.

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The post ‘Rogue One’ Star Diego Luna Touches the Hearts of Fans With His Performance appeared first on RESPECT. | The Photo Journal of Hip-Hop Culture.

The Globes will hosted by Jimmy Fallon and airs Sunday, January 8 on NBC. Here is the full list of nominations:

Film

Best Picture, Drama

Hacksaw Ridge

Hell or High Water

Lion

Manchester by the Sea

Moonlight

Best Picture, Comedy or Musical

20th Century Women

Deadpool

Florence Foster Jenkins

La La Land

Sing Street

Best Director
Damien Chazelle, La La Land
Tom Ford, Nocturnal Animals
Mel Gibson, Hacksaw Ridge
Barry Jenkins, Moonlight
Kenneth Lonergan, Manchester by the Sea

Best Actor, Drama
Casey Affleck, Manchester by the Sea
Joel Edgerton, Loving
Andrew Garfield, Hacksaw Ridge
Viggo Mortensen, Captain Fantastic
Denzel Washington, Fences

Best Actress, Drama
Amy Adams, Arrival
Jessica Chastain, Miss Sloane
Isabelle Huppert, Elle
Ruth Negga, Loving
Natalie Portman, Jackie

Best Actor, Comedy
Colin Farrell, The Lobster
Ryan Gosling, La La Land
Hugh Grant, Florence Foster Jenkins
Jonah Hill, War Dogs
Ryan Reynolds, Deadpool

Best Actress, Comedy
Annette Bening, 20th Century Women
Lily Collins, Rules Don’t Apply
Hailee Steinfeld, The Edge of Seventeen
Emma Stone, La La Land
Meryl Streep, Florence Foster Jenkins

Best Supporting Actor
Mahershala Ali, Moonlight
Jeff Bridges, Hell or High Water
Simon Helberg, Florence Foster Jenkins
Dev Patel, Lion
Aaron Taylor Johsnon, Nocturnal Animals

Best Supporting Actress
Viola Davis, Fences
Naomie Harris, Moonlight
Nicole Kidman, Lion
Octavia Spencer, Hidden Figures
Michelle Williams, Manchester by the Sea

Best Screenplay
Damien Chazelle, La La Land
Tom Ford, Nocturnal Animals
Barry Jenkins, Moonlight
Kenneth Lonergan, Manchester by the Sea
Taylor Sheridan, Hell or High Water

Best Original Score
Moonlight
La La Land
Arrival
Lion
Hidden Figures

Best Original Song

“Can’t Stop the Feeling,” Trolls
“City of Stars,” La La Land
“Faith,” Sing
“Gold,” Gold
“How Far I’ll Go,” Moana

Best Animated Feature Film
Kubo and the Two Strings
Moana
My Life as a Zucchini
Sing
Zootopia

Best Foreign Language Film
Divines
Elle
Neruda
The Salesman
Toni Erdmann

Television

Best TV Series, Drama
The Crown
Game of Thrones
Stranger Things
This Is Us
Westworld

Best TV Series, Comedy/Musical
Atlanta
Blackish
Mozart in the Jungle
Transparent
Veep

Best TV Miniseries or Movie
American Crime
The Dresser
The Night Manager
The Night Of
The People vs. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story

Best Actor, Drama
Rami Malek, Mr. Robot
Bob Odenkirk, Better Call Saul
Matthew Rhys, The Americans
Liev Schreiber, Ray Donovan
Billy Bob Thornton, Goliath

Best Actress, Drama
Caitriona Balfe, Outlander
Claire Foy, The Crown
Keri Russell, The Americans
Winona Ryder, Stranger Things
Evan Rachel Wood, Westworld

Best Actor, Comedy
Anthony Anderson, Blackish
Gael Garcia Bernal, Mozart in the Jungle
Donald Glover, Atlanta
Nick Nolte, Graves
Jeffrey Tambor, Transparent

Best Actress, Comedy
Rachel Bloom, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend
Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Veep
Sarah Jessica Parker, Divorce
Issa Rae, Insecure
Gina Rodriguez, Jane the Virgin
Tracee Ellis Ross, Blackish

Best Supporting Actor
Sterling K. Brown, The People vs. O.J. Simpson
Hugh Laurie, The Night Manager
John Lithgow, The Crown
Christian Slater, Mr. Robot
John Travolta, The People vs. O.J. Simpson

Best Supporting Actress
Olivia Colman, The Night Manager
Lena Headey, Game of Thrones
Chrissy Metz, This Is Us
Mandy Moore, This Is Us
Thandie Newton, Westworld

Best Actor, Mini-Series or TV Movie
Riz Ahmed, The Night Of
Bryan Cranston, All the Way
Tom Hiddleston, The Night Manager
John Turturro, The Night Of
Courtney B. Vance, The People vs. O.J. Simpson

Best Actress, Mini-Series or TV Movie
Felicity Huffman, American Crime
Riley Keough, The Girlfriend Experience
Sarah Paulson, The People vs. O.J. Simpson
Charlotte Rampling, London Spy
Kerry Washington, Confirmation

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The post 2017 Golden Globe Nominations are in! appeared first on RESPECT. | The Photo Journal of Hip-Hop Culture.