Written by Judi Jordan

The Imagen Awards was co-founded by legendary television producer and writer Norman Lear, who lived to the ripe age of 101, and passed in 2023. A deeply curious and humane person, Mr. Lear’s awareness of the void of positive portrayals of Latinos in the entertainment industry gave weight to the importance of positive Latino images. 

Norman Lear would be so proud of the 2025 nominees. His quest to see Latinos portrayed with respect and creativity is met in the ten categories including Drama, Comedy, Docs, Shorts and more. Helen Hernandez is the President & Founder of the Imagen Foundation who produces the Imagen Awards.

LATIN HEAT + IMAGEN  – Part One

The suave Latin devils of old Hollywood TV cliches have been replaced by a crop of intriguing, grown men with callings, consciences and inner conflicts. 

These new Drama Kings are dyslexic, intuitive, vulnerable (Will Trent/ Ramón Rodriguez) caring, conflicted, educated (The Cleaning Lady/Santiago Cabrera) regretful, emotive and resolute, (The Last of Us/Pedro Pascal) evolved, affable and effective, (Lincoln Lawyer/Manuel Garcia-Rulfo) and lonely, wary, idealistic (Andor/Diego Luna) These roles played to the talent’s dramatic strengths while offering exciting nuances that kept audiences tuning in weekly or binging – streamer contingent.  

Drama Kings – modern Latin Lovers are vulnerable, aspirational, responsible and gainfully-if sometimes painfully-employed. These seasoned IMAGEN-nominated men defy the tired one-dimensional stereotypes of heartless seducers, skeezy scammers and gun-happy cholos.

Established TV and film stars in uncommen roles wowed their fans with new facets of their talent and audiences approved. With resumes, personas and ‘chops’ that TV networks and streamer execs respect, TV showrunners craft episodes that highlight and challenge their characters’ strengths. 

Three seasons of Will Trent blew up the long, steady career of Ramón Rodriguez! Who knew he had 20+ film roles on his resume including G-20, Gang Related, Transformers? His memorable early TV work on The Wire 2002-2008 laid the foundation. By the time Will Trent arrived, Ramón Rodriguez, in the title role, was more than ready. His heartfelt, eccentric Southern detective is fascinating, never parodied. Will Trent, broken and brave feels embedded in his soul, but joy has crept into the series with dance numbers that lighten the storyline and a thoughtful, romantic storyline with Gina Rodriguez that fans loved.

An executive producer on the show, Rodriguez directed the exceptional Season 3 premiere episode and will direct again in Season 4. Deadline broke the story that Rodriguez recently signed a multi-year deal with 20^th Television, to develop and produce series and films for Disney, a fitting outcome for the gifted, dedicated multi-hyphenate. 

Santiago Cabrera is nominated for his dark turn as Jorge Sanchez, the highly-reluctant Harvard-educated drug cartel leader of the Sin Cara Cartel, in the gritty Fox/Hulu series The Cleaning Lady. Chilean-born Cabrera joined the show in seasons 3 and 4. Typically cast as the hero, female fans still swoon over his pitch-perfect portrayal of dashing, soulful Aramis in the 3-season BBC hit show Musketeers, now airing on Hulu. His 20-year working streak of good guy supporting and leads in Picard, Heroes, Merlin, Salvation, and prestige series romantic roles in Big Little Lies, Flight Attendant, Land of Women, and a kindly ghost Richard Deetz in Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice called for a change. 

Cabrera had resisted drug lord roles for years; but tempted by the premise, he used his discomfort – his very conflicted Jorge feels real. He admits, “It was fun to play the bad guy.” Audiences witnessed a very different Cabrera with a gun in his hand wading through cartel carnage as the ambiguous yet ambitious man with a plan that goes south by the hour. Not to mention a fraudulent marriage with Thony, a fearless Cambodian female doctor (played by Elodie Yung), who dissects bodies of cartel enemies in exchange for his protection. Plagued at every step by his obsessed sociopath sister Ramona (Kate de Castillo) for control of Sin Cara, Santiago’s Jorge is an idealist, out of his depth in the blood-soaked world.  

STAY TUNED.  NEXT UP: Sci-Fi Nominees

The post Drama Kings: The Imagen Award Actor Nominees Crush The Cliches first appeared on .

Ramon Rodriguez returns to broadcast television in the title role in ABC’s upcoming crime / drama series, Will Trent, as a Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) special agent. The series premieres on January 3 on ABC.

Rodriguez got his star on television with his first series regular in ABC’s Day Break. From there he went on to make to short live series Charlie’s Angels and Fox’s Gang Related.  Meanwhile on film fans followed his trajectory in films such as Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, The Taking of Pelham 123 and Battle Los Angeles. 

As Rodríguez embarks on his latest television series, which he also produces, he eloquently and enthusiastically spoke to Latin Heat about his artistic journey and emotional investment in creating a unique character for the TV series. 

Discovering Will Trent

Rodríguez recalls he did not initially seek out the role of Will Trent:

“I had just done a project with Hulu. I know some of the executives and have a history with them and they wanted to do something else with me and they presented me with Will Trent.”

The TV show, Will Trent, is based on author Karen Slaughter’s popular series of novels on the Atlanta-based special agent. Will Trent, who was abandoned as a child, grew up in the Atlanta foster care system, has dyslexia but overcame those obstacles to attain the highest clearance rate in the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.

Rodríguez admits he was not familiar with slaughter’s books but immersed himself in them and found Will Trent to be an attractive and appealing character.

He recalls, “I met with the showrunners, Liz Heldens and Daniel Thomsen, and we had several creative dialogs on how to approach the material, where we want to take the show, how to portray Will Trent and how to best develop a compelling character,” 

“A big part of it for me,” adds Rodríguez, “is the chance to produce and be a part of the early on dialogs about the show.”

The Puzzle Master

There were several factors that drew Rodríguez to the character of Will Trent:

“I found Will Trent to be a most interesting character,” says Rodríguez, “He had a difficult childhood growing up an abandoned orphan in the Atlanta foster care system. He experienced a lot of traumas and carries a lot of scars.  He’s dyslexic. But despite all that, Will manages to rise to the highest levels in the Georgia Bureau of Investigation earning  its highest clearance rate”

Rodríguez refers to Trent as a Puzzle Master because, despite his dyslexia, he can come onto a crime scene and see things others miss. Trent takes the puzzle pieces and creates a collage or story  to solve the hidden mystery  of a crime.

“We have created a visual language,” says Rodríguez, “to portray to the audience how Will sees things.”

Unlike Sherlock Holmes, Columbo and Hercule Poirot, who employ linear, logical geometrical deductive reasoning to solve crimes, Trent uses an unconventional, asymmetrical approach to reconstruct and deconstruct a crime scene.

Vulnerabilities

People with dyslexia are often wrongly characterized as being not very intelligent because they often have great difficulty reading. Will Trent has suffered with this all his life, but has developed coping methods to deal with it; visual aids, colors, color coded files, etc. But sometimes his dyslexia completely betrays him.

“We sometimes show Will really struggling with his dyslexia,” says Rodríguez. “There are times when he simply cannot read, and we show his frustration. Will is ashamed of his visual liability and works hard to keep it from being revealed.”

A Three-Dimensional Character in a Three-Piece Suit

According to Rodríguez, “Will is the kind of guy who loves working a crime scene. He lives for this stuff, and it sometimes creates tension between himself and the Atlanta Police Force.”

To present himself as a guy in charge and in control of the situation, he always shows up wearing a natty three-piece suit that gives him the aura of respectability, authority and being on top of things.

“I love Will’s outlook on life, his point of view and how he sees things differently than others do,” says Rodríguez. “Here’s a guy who grew up alone. Nobody helped him and yet because of his tragic childhood he is someone who cares and wants to help others in need.”

Rodríguez shares, “in the pilot we demonstrate this quality when will adopts a chihuahua dog he doesn’t like or want but can’t stand the idea of it being left alone and helpless like he was. This immediately shows the heart and I love that. This guy has a lot of heart.

Atlanta As A Character

Will Trent is shot on location in Atlanta, Georgia because as Rodríguez points out, “The novels take place in Atlanta. We shoot on location here in Atlanta, so the city is a real character. We want to capture that energy, heat and vibe,” explains Rodríguez. “Our stories are mostly Atlanta-based stories. In one episode we tell a story that takes place at a lake here that has a history that we mine for a story.”

Atlanta is rapidly becoming a center of entertainment production. Rodríguez indicates that the show is surrounded by so much talent. In addition to Rodríguez, the cast of Will Trent features Erika Christensen, Iantha Richardson, Jake McLaughlin and Sonja Sohn .

Executive producers are Liz Heldens, Daniel Thomsen, Karin Slaughter and Oly Obst. Ramón Rodríguez is a producer and the star of Will Trent. His tireless dedication and commitment to the character of Will Trent results in a relatable special agent who is resilient in the face of his adversities and liabilities, a relentless unorthodox crime solver but ultimately tempered and defined by his innate sense of decency and genuine humanity.

In the pilot episode of Will Trent premieres on ABC on January 3, Special Agent Will Trent relies on his keen instincts and unique experience to uncover the truth when a murder investigation reveals there’s more to the story than meets the eye.

The post Ramón Rodríguez Brings Special Agent Will Trent to Life in New ABC Series first appeared on .