Guest Post by Marlene Forte

Not sure when I became the old broad on set, but here I am, in 2017, recurring on four TV shows as the mama to female leads who all happen to be Latinas!

Twenty-five years ago, as I approached my 30th birthday, I finally decided to follow my dream of becoming an actor. The first thing my two-bit-wanna-be-manager from New Jersey said to me was, “You have to change your name.” I was still married to the father of my one and only child, Giselle Rodriguez. “Marlene Rodriguez is too Spanish,” he insisted. This was before Gina Rodriguez and Selena Gomez proved that woman with a Latin surname could carry shows.

I was born Ana Marlene Forte Machado in Havana, Cuba. I told him to pick either my birth name or my married name. We went with Forte.

For the next 10 years I would keep my nose to the ground and work as an actor whenever I was offered or got a part. I did commercials, indie movies, and anything else that would help pay the rent. I was a single mom by then.

I worked in all aspects of the business, including production. I was a production assistant in every department at one point in my life. I was an extra in “When Harry Met Sally.” I was in all the movie’s New Year’s Eve scenes. If you look closely, you can actually see me in the last scene just as it opens up over the party hall.

I did work as an extra in over 12 other movies that year. It was my way of learning film. I studied English Literature. No one in my family was an actor or had any connections to the film or television industry. I literally started by subscribing to Backstage, an industry magazine that published casting opportunities.

My first stand-in job was for a movie called “New Year Stories.” I stood in for Talia Shire. A stand-in literally stands-in for the actor while the crew sets up the shot around you. I had Vittorio Storaro place a light meter in my face while Sofia Coppola and her dad, Francis Ford Coppola, worked out the shots.

My daughter, Giselle, is still my best production to date but I’m incredibly proud of all my amazingly beautiful and talented TV familia! I have a small recurring [role] on NBC’s “Superstore,” playing America Ferrera’s mom. I recur on Fox’s new police drama “APB” as Natalie Martinez’s mother, Sierra Ramirez’s grandma on ABC Family’s “The Fosters,” and I’m set to begin production on the new sci-fi Netflix series “Altered Carbon,” where I play Martha Higareda’s mama.

In the past, Latin names were treated as though they needed to be altered or changed completely. Now they no longer seem to offend viewers or the industry that caters to them. We have Justina Machado, Eva Mendez, Roselyn Sanchez, Jennifer Lopez, and Aimee Garcia lighting up Hollywood, just to name a few off the top of my head!

I’m sometimes asked if I’ve seen things change in Hollywood and what it’s like to get older in the business. Well, the fact that there are four shows on air where my TV daughters are No. 1 or No. 2 on the cast list is amazing. And to be the right age to play their mom or grandma is even better!

The first 10 years of my career I played many weepy mothers. Guest starring on many procedurals I seemed to be crying over one dead thing or another for years. But today’s TV mamas seem to have much more depth. They are more present in the lives of the characters, and some can even be a little scary like Celia Flores on “Fear The Walking Dead,” which is one of the favorite characters I’ve played to date.

I do believe that Hollywood has finally realized that the Lopezes, the Rodriguezes, and the Ferreras that live in this country, and watch TV, have much to offer and money to spend. Yes, things have changed, but we have just started to weave ourselves into the fabric of American television. There is still much work to be done. So we must create, produce, write, and act. We must get involved in all aspects of the work. Pa’lante.

After decades in the industry, Marlene Forte is one of those familiar faces to which you’d have trouble putting the name. Yet you’ve seen here everywhere simply because she’s played them all. Her credits include “Crossing Jordan,” The West Wing,” “Lost,” “Castle,” “24,” “Community,” “The Secret Life of the American Teenager,” and “Dallas.”