Actress Lupita Amondi Nyong’o has been receiving rave reviews both on and off the red carpet for her brilliant performance in Steve McQueen‘s 12 Year’s A Slave, her break-out role as the film’s heroine, Patsey, for which she received Best Actress in a Supporting Role. She is one of the few actors with Latin ties nominated for an Oscar this year (also nominated: Alfonso Cuarón for Best Director and Emmanuel Lubezki for Best Cinematography for the film “Gravity.”). Lupita Amondi Nyong’o was born in Mexico City to Kenyan parents and retains dual Kenyan and Mexican citizenship. Hispanics clearly aren’t a major presence at this year’s Academy Awards and this year is not unique. This has drawn criticism from the Hispanic community as well as others following the release of statistics compiled by the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism which determined that Hispanics are still under-represented in the film industry.While Hispanics buy over 25% of movie tickets and are the now considered the largest ethnic group in the US (As of July 2012, Hispanics constitute 17% of the nation’s total population, according to the US Census), they receive less than five percent of the speaking roles. Principal or speaking roles are vital for success for an acting career and clearly Latinos need a voice, literally. This year’s 86th Academy Awards is probably one of the most competitive in many years , simply look at the list of nominees for Actress in a Leading Role– Amy Adams, Cate Blanchett, Sandra Bullock Judi Dench, and Meryl Streep — all outstanding and highly talented and all deserving of the honor. Perhaps what really needs to be examined is why there aren’t more successful Hispanics at this level. Rather than criticizing the Academy, there should be greater attention paid to how roles are assigned, whether or not discrimination is a factor, and focus on issues such as education and mentorship as the issue is clearly a complex one. Regardless, talent clearly cannot and shouldn’t be denied– Actress Lupita Amondi Nyong’o has been receiving rave reviews both on and off the red carpet for her brilliant performance in Steve McQueen’s 12 Year’s A Slave, her break-out role as the film’s heroine, Patsey, for which she received Best Actress in a Supporting Role. She is one of the few actors with Latin ties nominated for an Oscar this year (also nominated: Alfonso Cuarón for Best Director and Emmanuel Lubezki for Best Cinematography for the film “Gravity.”). Lupita Amondi Nyong’o was born in Mexico City to Kenyan parents and retains dual Kenyan and Mexican citizenship. Hispanics clearly aren’t a major presence at this year’s Academy Awards and this year is not unique. This has drawn criticism from the Hispanic community as well as others following the release of statistics compiled by the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism which determined that Hispanics are still under-represented in the film industry.While Hispanics buy over 25% of movie tickets and are the now considered the largest ethnic group in the US (As of July 2012, Hispanics constitute 17% of the nations’s total popluation, according to the US Census), they receive less than five percent of the speaking roles. Principal or speaking roles are vital for success for an acting career and clearly Latinos need a voice, literally. This year’s 86th Academy Awards is probably one of the most competitive in many years , simply look at the list of nominees for Actress in a Leading Role– Amy Adams, Cate Blanchett, Sandra Bullock Judi Dench, and Meryl Streep — all outstanding and highly talented and all deserving of the honor. Perhaps what really needs to be examined is why there aren’t more successful Hispanics at this level. Rather than criticizing the Academy, there should be greater attention paid to how roles are assigned, whether or not discrimination is a factor, and focus on issues such as education and mentorship as the issue is clearly a complex one. Regardless, talent cannot be denied and Lupita Amondi Nyong’o is clearly a brilliant actress, whether or not you want to include her as a Latina nominee because ideally it shouldn’t matter. Ideally.