The last installment (finally!) of the five-part trilogy (?) Twilight is about to break upon us, beginning with a first exposure at a multi-hour, multi-theater Twilight Marathon on Thursday night. (The studios did the same thing, to great effect, with the premiere of The Avengers last summer). Most of the attention, quite rightly, has gone to the stars of this love-it-or-hate-it vampire romance, Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson. However, there are a lot—a lot–of other characters, and character actors, populating this sprawling drama. And some of them are even Latino.
Of course, real-world ethnicity and culture take a back seat to the fantasmagoric “societies” of the vampires and the werewolves in this tribal-warfare war story, be certainly the Denali clan is supposed to look “exotic,” and that has opened the door for a number of Latino (ish) actors to make a few bucks. And when the showcase is a film, or a set of films, that are virtually guaranteed to be seen, at some point or other, by at least half the eyeballs on Planet Earth, why wouldn’t you take a seat at the table (even if it is festooned with viscera).
Anyway: among the Latinos to be seen in the upcoming Twilight: Breaking Dawn Part 2:
Mía Maestro, best known (before this, anyway) for Motorcycle Diaries or Alias, is Carmen Denali. Look for her next Grand Street with Kelly McGillis and the TV series Some Girls with Kristen Bell.
Christian Camargo of Dexter and The Hurt Locker is Eleazar Denali. Look for him next in the sci fi thriller Europa.
JD Pardo, currently front and center in NBC’s Revolution, is Nahuel. You’ll also see him in the new Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson action flick Snitch, along with Nadine Velazquez.
Up-and-comer (and our friend) Marisa Quinn is Huilen. Marisa is also one of the creators of the web series Sweet Mary & Jane.
…and her good friend Judith Shekoni, who is at least an honorary Latina, is Zafrina. How could you not love a woman who was in Garfield: A Tale of Two Kitties?
Lateef Crowder as Santiago, a Afro-Brazillian stuntman/actor also seen in Book of Eli and Mortal Kombat: Rebirth.
…and of course, plenty of uncredited Latino walk-ons and backgrounders, all looking vampirish or wolfey (mostly wolfey).
Sometimes the roles are wonderful and challenging; sometimes they just pay the bills. And sometimes we just don’t keep score. Twilight: Breaking Dawn Part 2 will premiere Thursday and/or Friday in ten zillion theaters nationwide.
