Jennifer Lopez reflects on Hollywood fame: 'Being Latina, didn't call in for everything'

Jennifer Lopez is thinking back on the things she wishes she had understood before her ascent to success in the film industry.

In a recent interview for Elle magazine's December/January 2023 Women in Hollywood edition, the multi-hyphenate acknowledged that she "really came in blind" and that, in retrospect, she would choose her projects more carefully.

“I didn’t have that luxury, being Latina. I didn’t get called in for everything someone who wasn’t Latina would get called in for. I got called in for very specific things,” Lopez explained. “As I started getting more leads here and there, I should have pulled back. I took that mindset with me instead of going, ‘I should only work with certain kinds of directors that I really want to work with. I should choose this material in a different way.’”

The Hustlers star continued, “I just wasn’t as particular as I could be, I think. And if I [could] start over, I think I would’ve done that. I would’ve known that the director is really the helm of the project when you’re acting. Just like in singing, the producers you work with are very important. I knew that with music, but I didn’t quite understand it as much when I was younger about directors.”

Apart from that the singer during the interview with Elle, said it’s a “very exciting time for women in Hollywood” seeing “all the great women producers, directors and actors who are taking more control of their careers and creating their own material.”

Furthermore, she noted that “there are still a lot of obstacles in the way” that women must overcome for current and future generations in Hollywood.