Celebrating 25 years of NALIP with Rico and Raini Rodriguez

Latino stars of Hollywood celebrate 25 years of NALIP

ByRyder Maldonado OTRC logo
Monday, July 1, 2024 10:00PM
What Latino representation means to the Rodriguez siblings
The National Association of Latino Independent Producers celebrated its 25th anniversary this weekend with Latino creatives from Hollywood

LOS ANGELES -- "Modern Family" star Rico Rodriguez and his sister actress Raini Rodriguez joined in on the festivities celebrating 25 years of The National Association of Latino Independent Producers (NALIP).

NALIP is the premier organization supporting the advancement of Latino excellence across all creative media platforms.

This past weekend the organization held a summit to celebrate the milestone. On The Red Carpet spoke with the Rodriguez siblings about identity and their journey as child actors in Hollywood.

"It's important to celebrate Latino culture and the people that we get to stand on the shoulders off and help make our names," Rico said. "It's important to celebrate each other and our achievements and our success.

The two grew their careers among the Disney family with Raini starring in the Disney Channel original series "Austin and Ally" and Rico in the hit ABC comedy "Modern Family" for 11 seasons.

"Latino representation still has a lot of room to grow. And to be able to first, tell our stories and then to just be an everyday mainstay in the TVs and the movie theaters of America, I think it'd be awesome to do," he told On The Red Carpet.

George Lopez, Eva Longoria, Salma Hayek, and Edward James Olmos were among some of the actors who, they say, influenced the way they saw representation on screen.

"One of my big ones was America Ferrera and getting to watch her in 'Real Women Have curves' and that was kind of my first moment of realizing what being on TV looked like and what it could be for me and what it could showcase and that was really where I felt my first identity," Raini said.

The Walt Disney Company is the parent company of Disney Channel, Hulu, and this ABC Station.