Emilia Perez director Jacques Audiard awarded the Vanguard Award Ahead of the Golden Globes

The Palm Springs International Film Festival (PSIFF), a cornerstone event closing out the 2024 film festival circuit, has set the stage for what is shaping up to be an exciting 2025 awards season. Among the standout contenders is Netflix’s Emilia Pérez, which has captured attention with its daring storytelling, stellar performances, and a narrative that resonates deeply with audiences and critics alike. After a strong showing at Palm Springs, the film is already being touted as a potential awards-season juggernaut.

This past Friday, Emilia Pérez director Jacques Audiard was honored with the prestigious Vanguard Award at the Palm Springs International Film Festival. The award was presented by to him by the film’s three leading stars—Karla Sofía Gascón, Selena Gomez, and Zoe Saldaña. This recognition, arriving just days before the 82nd Golden Globes airing today, Sunday, January 5, 2025, has amplified excitement around Emilia Pérez and its prospects for awards season glory.

When the Golden Globe nominations were unveiled in December, Emilia Pérez made history with an extraordinary 10 nominations—the most ever for a film in the Musical/Comedy category. Including for the three female stars:

Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy: Karla Sofía Gascón and Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role in Any Motion Picture: Selena Gomez, Zoe Saldaña

The nominations have placed a bright spotlight on the film’s cast and creatives, as a strong performance at the Globes is often seen as a bellwether for Oscar success.

Here is the full list of Emilia Pérez’s Golden Globe nominations:

• Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy: Emilia Pérez (Netflix)
• Best Motion Picture – Non-English Language: Emilia Pérez (France)
• Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy: Karla Sofía Gascón
• Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role in Any Motion Picture: Selena Gomez, Zoe Saldaña
• Best Director – Motion Picture: Jacques Audiard
• Best Screenplay – Motion Picture: Jacques Audiard
• Best Original Score – Motion Picture: Clément Ducol, Camille
• Best Original Song – Motion Picture:
  • “El Mal” – Music by Clément Ducol, Camille; Lyrics by Clément Ducol, Camille, Jacques Audiard
  • “Mi Camino” – Music & Lyrics by Clément Ducol, Camille

As the awards season officially kicks off, Emilia Pérez seems poised to be a defining presence. Whether this Golden Globes momentum translates to Oscar glory remains to be seen, but one thing is certain: all eyes are firmly on this groundbreaking film and its exceptional team.

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Three Latinas Give Oscar Worthy Performances in Emilia Perez

Emilia Perez starring Zoe Saldana, Karla Sofia Gascón and Selena Gomez, is a gender-bending, genre-busting, phantasmagorical, operatic, hyper theatrical, electrifying crime and redemption melodrama.

Saldana plays Rita Mora Castro, an attorney tasked with negotiating a sex change operation for Manitas Del Monte, an arch drug cartel criminal . In a dark, unsettling scene, we meet the mobster with Gascón eerily portraying Del Monte in heavy prosthetic make-up.

Del Monte is born again as Emilia Perez. She tries to make up for her previous evil ways by helping  grief-stricken Mexican citizens find loved ones who have disappeared, often at Manitas’ hands. It’s a nice try, but sometimes redemption is a bridge too far.

Emilia Perez is a powerful Latina centric film. Saldana showcases her singing and dancing talents. Gomez, as Jessi, Manitas’ clueless spouse, gives a surprisingly strong and tough performance proving she has the acting chops for more demanding dramatic roles. Gascón shines in the dual role of Manitas and Emilia.

 The three leads, Saldana, Gascón and Gomez all shared a Best Actress Award for their performances in the film at the Cannes Film Festival. They will all get Oscar nominations. Hopefully, they won’t cancel one another out.

Writer / director Jacques Audiard will, no doubt, be considered for an Oscar for Best Director, as well as the movie for Best Picture. Could this, at long last, finally be the year Latinos make their too often overlooked and snubbed presence known at the Academy Awards? Hope so, otherwise the Academy will be on the receiving end of an acid drenched “WTF were you thinking? ¡Fideo Loco! blog from yours truly.

Emilia Perez is streaming on Netflix.
Director: Jacques Audiard
Cast: Karla Sofía Gascón , Zoe Saldana , Selena Gomez , Adriana Paz , Edgar Ramirez
Running time: 2 hr 10 minCast:  

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Emilia Pérez is a 2024 musical crime comedy film written and directed by Jacques Audiard. It stars Zoe Saldaña, Karla Sofía Gascón, Selena Gomez, Adriana Paz, and Édgar Ramírez in the lead cast. Emilia Pérez was the most talked-about film premiere at the 78th edition the 2024 Cannes Film Festival where it not only received a 12 minute standing ovation, the four lead women all received the best actress award at the renowned festival.

Filmed in Mexico, Zoe Saldaña who plays Rita, an overqualified and exploited lawyer who wastes her talents working for a large firm far better at whitewashing criminal garbage than serving justice. But an unexpected way out appears, the sort of offer she can’t refuse — to help feared cartel boss Juan “Little Hands” Del Monte – aka Manitas (played by Gascón) retire from his business and disappear forever. Manitas has a plan he’s been fine-tuning in secret for years, to become, at last, the woman he’s always dreamed of being.   

Following the movie’s Cannes debut, Selena Gomez who plays Manitas wife, Jessi del Monte, opened up about the nerves she was feeling. “I was very nervous because this is a project that is unlike anything I’ve ever done before,” she told The Hollywood Reporter in May. “Even though I have such a small part, it’s such a big and special project that I feel so lucky that I was able to be a part of it.”

Selena also recalled the audition process, where she said she “acted insane.” She told the trade publication, “[Audiard] wanted me to perform one of the numbers and I just surrendered and completely gave myself. I was, like, ‘Well, at least I could walk away and say that I did my best.’ When he asked me to be a part of it, I was so nervous but also so excited.”

The original songs for the film were contributed by mutli–grammy winning group, Camille, while its original score was provided by Clément Ducol. The choreographic sections of the film are designed by Damien Jalet.

The film premiered on 18 May 2024 at the 77th Cannes Film Festival, and was selected to compete for the Palme d’Or in its main competition section, where it won the Jury Prize and its female ensemble won the Best Actress award. The premiere date for Emilia Perez is set to August 21, 2024.

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By Bel Hernandez Castillo

The nine minutes standing ovation of French director Jacques Audiard’s latest film Emilia Perez at the Cannes Film Festival is a tribute to the Audiard’s vision and the three leads Karla Sofia Gascòn, Zoe Saldaña, and Selena Gomez who not only act in Spanish, but also dance and sing – it is a musical after all.

Emilia Perez is a film about cartel drug kingpin Juan “Manitas” del Monte’s  gender transformation into an elegant Spanish lady. It deals with heady topics like drugs, violence and psychology issues and at the end of the day, what money can, or cannot buy.  Saldaña plays Rita Moro Castro, a lawyer who is tasked with handling the legal matters of Manitas’ big shift from cartel kingpin to the women he has always been.  Selena Gomez plays Manitas’ wife Jessi, who after all is said and done, rekindles a relationship with a shady character, Gustavo (Édgar Ramirez) which just might unravel Emilia’s carefully laid family arrangements.

Gascòn, like her character in the film, is Spanish and also a trans woman in real life. This is the first film she has starred in as an actress after announcing her transition in 2018. Before that, she had a long career as a male actor.

Jacques Audiard was inspired for the idea of the musical from a chapter in a novel he read during the pandemic about a drug trafficker who yearns to change his identity.

Saldaña in the role of the lawyer gets to go back to one of her first artistic art forms of expression, dance. She has several dance numbers she performs in Emilia Perez as well as singing a couple of songs.  As for acting in Spanish, she is she is fluent. Although born in Passaic, New Jersey, when she was 10 years old her family moved back to the Dominican Republic for seven years.

Gomez, on the other hand told Vanity Fair in a recent interview, that the “Scariest thing was speaking in Spanish, for sure,” but what she ended up realizing, while singing in Spanish in the film, is that she sings better in Spanish than speaking it.

Audiard (winner of the Palme d’Or with Dheepan in 2015) started writing the film during the pandemic, after being inspired from a chapter in a novel about a drug trafficker who yearns to change his identity. The film has emerged as one of Cannes 2024’s biggest hits among critics and audiences alike.

Emilia Perez takes place in Mexico but was filmed mostly in France with a few location shoots in Mexico.  The film is set to release August 28, 2024

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Commentary By Bel Hernandez Castillo

The Emmy nominations were announced this morning, and while the 75th Emmy nominations are being touted by industry trades as record breaking, especially for Black women who garnered four Emmy nominations in just the supporting comedy actress category, nominations for Latino/as as a whole were down. Even though Latinos are the largest minority in the U.S. at 18% of the population, the Asian Pacific community (7% of the US population) had one more nominations, with four to only 3 for Latino performers. Black Americans are 13.6% of the U.S. population.

The three Latinos nominated for the coveted television acting categories, Pedro Pascal, Jenna Ortega and Aubrey Plaza represent less than 3% of the total number of actors (102) nominated for an Emmy this year.

Pedro Pascal is top of the list with two Emmy nominations, one for HBO’s The Last of Us and the other for Lead Actor in a Drama Series and Guest Actor in a Comedy Series for his appearance on Saturday Night Live.  Jenna Ortega has received her very first Emmy nomination as Lead Actress in a Comedy Series for her performance in the title role in Netflix’s Wednesday, which was the second-most watched English-language Netflix series last year.  Aubrey Plaza received her nomination for her role in HBO’s social satire The White Lotus as Supporting Actress in a Drama Series.

Once again, the underrepresentation of Latinos at the Emmys is glaring. However, Ortega’s nomination makes her only the third Latina to ever be nominated in this category. Jenna Ortega is a favorite to take the Emmy for Lead Actress in a Comedy Series, and if this happens it will be a big win for our community. and this nomination

In the interest of not being redundant, citing stats (as we do year after year on these occasions and nothing ever changes) that prove the lack of Latino representation in Hollywood, let me just say, aqui estamos y no nos vamos! We are here to stay, we are not going away anytime soon. With a U.S. Latino economic power of $1.9 trillion annual GDP, is it time to leverage our community’s buying power for equal representation? For now our voice is our power, and we need to speak up.

Selena Gomez, snubbed again? There are three leads in Only Murders in the Building.  Martin Short, Steve Martin and Selena Gomez. Both Short and Martin were both nominated last year in the Best Lead Actor category, but the third lead, Gomez was overlooked. Why? Some would say (like her 426 Million instagram followers) that her acting chops are on par with her co-stars.  This year Martin gets a 2nd Emmy nomination and Gomez is once again overlooked. Something is just not making sense. Her Mabel Mora character is the linchpin in the whole dang series!

We are grateful to the writers and producers who write the kind of roles that merit the attention of the Television Academy members.  We are grateful for the showrunners that cast a wide diversity net and think “out of the box”.  Thank you to the casting director of Wednesday Florina Fernandes and director Tim Burton for casting Ortega.  

But what about the Latino writers who have created and cast Latinos in some of the most lauded shows on TV? Where is the recognition for them?   For one, I am talking about Gloria Calderon Kellett who created and was the showrunner on the Netflix TV show, One Day at a Time (2017 – 2020). The critics raved about it. Lead actress Justina Machado was even named as one of the most “Most Dynamic Actresses on TV” by Harper’s Bazaar. But where was Kellett’s writing Emmy nomination or Justina Machado’s Best Lead in a Comedy Series Emmy nomination? 

We will keep asking the questions, as we celebrate Pascal, Plaza and Ortega on their Emmy nominations, and acknowledge the behind the camera Latino Emmy nominees for 2023: 

Outstanding Production Design For A Variety Special

The Apple Music Super Bowl LVII Halftime Show Starring Rihanna / FOX – Maria Garcia, Art Director

Outstanding Fantasy/Sci-Fi Costumes

Hocus Pocus 2 / Disney+ / Walt Disney Pictures – Salvador Perez, Costume Designer

The Mandalorian / Chapter 22: Guns For Hire / Disney+ / Lucasfilm Ltd. – Elissa Alcala, Assistant Costume Designer

What we do in the Shadows / The Wedding / FX / FX Productions – Barbara Cardoso, Assistant Costume Designer

Outstanding Contemporary Costumes For A Series – Only Murders In The Building / Framed / Hulu / 20th Television / Dana Covarrubias, Costume Designer

Outstanding Contemporary Hairstyling – Only Murders in the Building / Fabian Gonzalez, Hair Stylist

@belscoolist @latinheatmag

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The nominations for the 2023 Golden Globes were announced this Monday by actresses Selenis Leyva and Mayan Lopez. This was the first time two Latinas reveal the nominees across all categories in film and TV live from the Beverly Hilton Hotel. The Golden Globes, alway setting a trend of “first” when it comes to being inclusive of Latinos.

After testing positive for COVID-19, actor and comedian George Lopez was forced to drop out of announcing the list of nominees along with his daughter Mayan Lopez.

Among the nominees are Cuban-Spanish actress Ana de Armas, Mexican actor Diego Luna, Mexican-Puerto Rican Jenna Ortega, for her performance in Wednesday. Luna is the fourth Latino actor to be nominated for best male performance in a television series. Aubrey Plaza was nominated for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Limited Series or Motion Picture Made for Television. Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio has also been nominated for Best Animated Movie.

The 2023 edition of the Golden Globes will return to NBC in January after last year’s controversy over the lack of diversity in the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.

To see the full list, CLICK HERE

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Latino Hollywood must be scratching their collective heads over the recent Oscar, Tony and now Emmy awards that have consistently overlooked or openly snubbed deserving Latino films, TV shows, and the talent behind and in front of the camera.

So Much for Diversity

Of the dozens of potential Latino Emmy nominees TV series and on-camera actors eligible and worthy of an Emmy nomination, incredibly only a grand total of TWO Latinos were graced by the voters with Emmy nominations: Colman Domingo is nominated for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama TV Series for his portrayal of Ali in Euphoria and Oscar Isaacs for his Leading Actor Emmy nomination for his role as Jonathan in HBO’s Scenes From A Marriage. And as Porky Pig would say: “That’s all folks!”

But the Gomez snub for her work as an actress in Only Murders in the Building is especially galling because it begs the question of the Emmy voters: “What the heck were you people watching?” Gomez was lauded by Deadline Hollywood as “the glue that holds the show together.” How is it the voters looked right past that insightful and accurate bit of news?

Chemistry 101

The chemistry between the main characters in Only Murders in the Building Is cited as a major factor in the huge success of Hulu’s Original TV series which has earned 17 Emmy nominations including two for its male leads, Steve Martin and Martin Short., for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy series. The two comic actor legends have worked together in films like The three Amigos, Father of the Bride, countless other collaborations, so the chemistry between these two comedy amigos was well-established. But the question going into season one of Only Murders in the Building was how Selena Gomez would fit in with her two veteran comic co-stars.

From the very beginning, Gomez’s character, Mabel Mora, has proven to be a pivotal one in the storyline. Gomez’s portrayal of Mabel Mora as a potty-mouthed, droll, street-smart young New Yorker who delivers her one-line acid rejoinders with lethal deadpan accuracy, is the perfect foil and contrast to the Martin and  Short characters. Gomez is the active chemical agent in this potent comedic trio.

Steve Martin’s character, Charles Haden Savage, is a former TV star of a cop show, Brazos. Savage is a bit world-weary and somewhat of a cynic. However, Martin Short as Oliver Putman is a kinetic, hyper theatrical out-of work Broadway director. The three residents of the iconic Arconia Hotel team up to solve a murder that has occurred in the scenic old structure.

But Mabel’s allegiance to the crime-fighting team, her personal agenda, sexual identity and dark past connection to the Arconia Hotel are cleverly not made clear by the writers of the show. Over the succeeding episodes in season one and continuing into season two Mabel’s true character is slowly peeled away and revealed one onion layer at a time.

At times, Savage and Putman are not quite sure if Mabel is an ally, a BFF, a conniving femme fatale, or even a murderer, it’s obvious Mabel is the emotional focus of their lives. Regardless of their suspicions, they admire Mabel because she is cool, hip, smart, and has what old-timers like Savage and Putman nostalgically used to call “moxie.”

Without Mabel, Savage and Putman are just two old fuddy duddies fumbling around trying to solve a murder mystery. Mabel is the much-needed catalyst that drives the plot and whose caustic charm compliments and completes this oddball May-December crime-fighting trio. Gomez is without a doubt the glue that holds it all together.

The Other Snubbed Main Character

From a certain angle or critical perspective, you could argue that the two main characters in Only Murders in the Building are actually Mabel Mora and the Arconia Hotel. By placing all the action in the historic dwelling with its grand, spacious old New York City apartments, the writers have made the setting of the Arconia Hotel a universe unto itself.

At the center of that universe is Gomez as Mabel Mora. Mabel’s emotional tentacles are wound through and around the Arconia Hotel. The true hierarchy of characters is made abundantly clear in the opening credits. That opening credit shot sequence is a basic tutorial in scene analysis and cinema language. It begins with a shot of the outside wall of the hotel. First, we see Steve Martin through the window of his apartment. As we pan upward, we see Martin Short in his window. Finally, we reach the top and there looking demure and mysterious is Gomez. In classic movie scene structure, the character in the superior or higher position is the dominant character, the one in charge, the focal point of the scene.

So apparently and most painfully, the Emmy voters not only neglected to watch Only Murders in the Building, or notice Gomez was even in the cast and therefore did not fully appreciate her wonderful acting talents, but also totally missed the clues as to her true stature in the TV series shown in plain sight in easy to understand film studies cinema language in the opening credits.

Only Murders in the Building has been renewed for a third season. No doubt next year the series will again receive Emmy nominations. Hopefully within this time, the bag of plenty we will see a slip of paper with the name of Selena Gomez nominated for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series along with her two crime-solving compadres, Messrs. Martin and Short. The Emmy voters need to take Gomez off the snub list and recognize her vital comedic contributions to the success of Only Murders in the Building. 

Season Two of Only Murders in the Building is currently streaming on Hulu.

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Only Two Latinos Nab an Emmy Nomination

Commentary By Bel Hernandez

First and foremost, congratulations are in order for Oscar Isaacs on his Leading Actor Emmy nomination for his role as Jonathan in HBO’s Scenes From A Marriage; and Colman Domingo for Guest Actor in a Drama nomination for his role as Ali in Euphoria. Out of the 197 Latinos submitted for consideration for an Emmy nomination only these two great actors were nominated. That is less than 1%, or to be more specific 0.010%, of the talent submitted.

With a record number of Latinos submitted for an Emmy nomination, it looked like this was going to be the year we would see more inclusion of Latinos at the Emmys. The Acting Peer group of the Television Academy memberships are the group that decided that only two Latinos were worthy of a nomination.

To say that Latinos as sorely underrepresented again this year at the Emmys is an understatement. It happens every year and every year the trades carry the headlines on how Latinos are “missing” from the nominee list or the “lack of inclusion” at the Emmys. But nothing is done. And it’s not just at the Emmys where we are not represented, it’s all Hollywood industry awards, the Oscars, the Golden Globes…you name it. Latinos are always the ones missing on the contender lists.

In past years the excuse was that the roles just weren’t there. Not enough characters were written for Latinos, so how could we expect nominations? That was not the case this year. The work was there, you can CLICK ON THE LATIN HEAT EMMY CONTENDER LIST HERE and you will see the names of the talent submitted and the shows they worked on, in all genres and formats. The majority of the talent on this list is as talented as the persons who were nominted this morning.

Also, not one Latina actress was nominated. Not one. Out of 95 Latinas submitted not one was nominated. Not Selena Gomez for her role in the Hulu hit show Only Murders in the Building. The show was nominated in the best comedy category and since she is an executive producer on the show, she does get a nomination for that…but not for her on-camera work. However, her two co-stars were each nominated for their roles in same show, but not Gomez.

Not Rosario Dawson in DMZ, Dopesick, or The Book of Bobba Fett

Not Rosie Perez in The Flight Attendant

Not Monica Raymund in Hightown

Not Annie Gonzalez in Gentefied. In addition to the other 91 more on-camera Latinas who were not nominated.

What about the talent from shows like Hulu’s Love, Victor (3 actors submitted); 3pas’ Acapulco (with eight submission), Jeff Valdez’s The Garcias (with submissions), Netflix’s Mayans MC (Emilio Rivera, Edward James Olmos and 11 other actors submitted), ABC’s La Brea (Jon Seda, Nicholas Gonzalez & Liliy Santiago), or executive producer America Ferrera’s Gentefied (eight actors were submitted). The names on the list list goes on.

There were 106 Latino actors submitted, only two got the nomination. But, did the voting members even watch the great performances of Adan Cano in FOX’s The Cleaning Lady, JD Pardo in FX’s Mayans MC, Joe Minoso in NBC’s Chicago Fire, or Jon Huertas critically lauded for his role on NBC’s This is Us? Which of your favorite actors were not nominated, but should have been?

This happen year after year. The excuses are varied and some are even good ones, but excuses are no longer good enough. Latinos are the largest “minority” group in the U.S. and an economic force, with a $1.7 trillion annual consumer power. Hollywood knows about the Latino has exluded Latinos number one filmgoing audience for decades we continue to be ignored.

According to the October 13, 2021 Nielsen article “On-screen representation is driving Latino TV Viewing” the reason for the increase in Latino viewership is representation. “Programs that do attract notable Hispanic audiences are those that star Latinos, such as Selena, NCIS and Criminal Minds. This viewing behavior is in sync with the sentiment from nearly 60% of Latinos who say they’re more likely to watch programming featuring their identity group.”

So I am taking the advice of my good friend, Ana Valdez, Executive Director of the Latino Donor Collaborative when she says, “Expand the message. Demand Representation“. WATCH THE VIDEO HERE, and pass it on. It’s time to get loud. We have nothing to lose, yet recognition to gain.

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Puerto Rican artists Bad Bunny and Jhay Cortez lead the nominations for the seventh edition of the Latin American Music Awards, with ten and eight noms, respectively. The rappers are both foes and partners in this year’s edition of the award, competing against each other in several categories but also sharing two nominations with a collaboration song. 

Considered the Latino response to the American Music Awards, the Latin AMAs are produced by MBS Special Events and the Spanish-language network Telemundo, which will broadcast the award ceremony on April 21. Winners of 26 categories are determined by a poll of the public and fans.

Bad Bunny and Cortez face each other off in three categories including the coveted Artist of the Year, as well as Favorite Male Artist and Favorite Urban Artist. 

El Conejo also vies for the honor in two other top categories, including Album of the Year for El Último Tour del Mundo. Additionally, he is a candidate for Favorite Urban Album, Favorite Tropical Album, Favorite Tropical Song and Collaboration of the Year.

For his part, Cortez competes in other categories propelled by his collaboration songs with various artists. The hit “Dákiti,” a duet by Bad Bunny and Cortez, earned the artists another two nominations, in the top category Song of the Year and also in Favorite Urban Song. Also, “Fiel,” another collab with Los Legendarios and Wisin earned Cortez noms for Viral Song of the Year and Favorite Urban Song. 

El Conejo Malo and Cortez are closely followed by three artists also with multiple nods, Colombian artists J Balvin and Karol G and Puerto Rican artist Rauw Alejandro, with seven nominations each.

J Balvin is up for awards in the categories of Artist of the Year, Song of the Year and Favorite Urban Song for “In Da Getto,” Viral Song of the Year for “AM” and Favorite Video for “Lo Que Dios Quiera,” among others. Karol G’s nominations include Artist of the Year, Album of the Year and Favorite Urban Album for KG0516, as well as Collaboration of the Year for “El Makinon” and Favorite Female Artist. Rauw Alejandro is competing in the categories of Artist of the Year, Song of the Year with “Todo de Ti,” and Album of the Year and Favorite Urban Album for Vice Versa, among others.  

There are many other artists with multiple nominations. Camilo, Grupo Firme and Kali Uchis have six nods; Aventura, Christian Nodal, Eslabon Armado, Marc Anthony and Sebastián Yatra, five; Banda MS de Sergio Lizárraga, Farruko, Gera MX, Los Legendarios, and Maluma, four; Calibre 50, Carin Leon, Daddy Yankee, Enrique Iglesias, Ivan Cornejo, Los Dos Carnales, Myke Towers, Ozuna, Selena Gomez, Skrillex and Wisin, three; Annita, Carlos Vives, La Arrolladora Banda El Limón de René Camacho, María Becerra, María Angeliq, Piso 21, Prince Royce and Ricky Martin, two.

Nominees up for one award include Anuel AA, Becky G, Camila Cabello, Chiquis, Christina Aguilera, CNCO, El Fantasma, El Gran Combo de Puerto Rico, Evaluna Montaner, Gerardo Ortíz, Junior H, Khalid, Lennin Ramírez, Los Angeles Azules, Los Bukis, Luis Fonsi, Luis Vazquez, Natti Natasha, Nio Garcia, Pablo Alborán, Pabllo Vittar, Reik, Romeo Santos, Rosalía, Shawn Mendez, Sonora Ponceña, The Weeknd, Tini and Tommy Torres.

The 2022 Latin AMAs nominees are based on key fan interactions with music, including streaming, sales, airplay, and social activity tracked by Billboard through its data partners MRC Data and Next Big Sound from February 6 of 2021 through Jan. 29 of 2022, according to Telemundo.

The TV network said the nominees for Favorite Video and Favorite Social Artist were selected by a committee of industry professionals which consider the quality, content, creativity, and fan engagement of the music video for Favorite Video, and fan engagement and associated metrics on artist’s social media platforms for Favorite Social Artist. As with all Latin AMA categories, the winners for Favorite Video and Favorite Social Artist are determined by fan voting.

In addition to Telemundo, the Latin AMAs will stream live on the Peacock and broadcast simultaneously on Spanish entertainment cable network Universo. In the rest of the Americas, the show will be broadcast by Telemundo Internacional. 

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Actress, singer and filmmaker Selena Gomez will appear in Season Two of Apple TV+’s Dear…, debuting worldwide on March 4.

Inspired by Apple’s Dear Apple spots, Dear… spotlights today’s iconic figures in society using letters written by those whose lives have been changed through their work. “By reading these letters, each influential figure learns how they have unknowingly impacted others and gains new insight into how their work has made a unique contribution to the global community,” claimed streamer in a press statement.

Gomez will join a roster of personalities like the late fashion icon Andre Leon Talley, Oscar-winning actors Viola Davis and Jane Fonda, Nobel Peace Prize recipient Malala Yousafzai, Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Ava DuVernay, Primetime Emmy Award-winning and Golden Globe-nominated actor Billy Porter, multiple-Golden Globe-winning actress Sandra Oh, basketball legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and big-wave surfer Laird Hamilton.

Texas-born Gomez is one of today’s most recognizable pop stars both as an actress and singer. She started her acting career on the PBS children’s show Barney & Friends in the early 2000s and later rose to prominence for her role in the Disney Channel TV series Wizards of Waverly Place. She has been featured in dozens of TV and film projects, including the Horton Hears a Who!, Princess Protection Program, Monte Carlo, Spring Breakers, Hotel Transylvania, Behaving Badly and The Fundamentals of Caring. She can currently be seen in HBO Max’s cooking show Selena + Chef and Hulu’s mystery/comedy series Only Murders in the Building. 

As a singer, Gomez has reportedly sold over seven million records as part of her band Selena Gomez & the Scene and as a solo artist putting out a total of six albums including a 2021 Spanish-language EP titled Revelación, which earned her a nomination for a Grammy Award for Best Latin Pop Album. She has placed 37 songs on the US Billboard Hot 100, including a number-one single and 8 top tens. Her hits include “Come & Get It,” “Lose You to Love Me” and and the Spanish-language “999” with Colombian, Latin Grammy-winner singer Camilo. Three of her songs have been played more than one billion times on Spotify, “Wolves”, the bilingual “Taki Taki” with Ozuna and Cardi B and “It Ain’t Me” with Norwegian DJ Kygo.  

The first season of Dear… featured Lin-Manuel Miranda, Oprah Winfrey, Gloria Steinem, Spike Lee, Yara Shahidi, Stevie Wonder, Aly Raisman, Misty Copeland, Big Bird and others. 

Dear… is executive produced by Emmy and Peabody Award winner R.J. Cutler alongside Todd Lubin, Jay Peterson, Jane Cha and Lyle Gamm. Matador Content produces the series for Apple.

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