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* Who created the Latino stereotype and why?
* What is the American stereotype?
* Is there any truth in stereotypes?

* Why are images of bandidos, maids and talking Chihuahuas offensive to the Latino community?

Alma Martinez, a dynamic speaker and motivator, addresses the construct of the Latino stereotype in film and television and infuses every detail of her presentation with personal and insightful perspectives garnered from 25+ years in the entertainment business. She leads audiences through the evolution of these images and gives them critical awareness of the role of media in creating the myths of the Latino and American stereotypes.

Alma Martinez takes you through her extraordinary life experience from poverty in Mexico to her successful Hollywood acting career.

- Are bad images better than no images?
- What are we really learning from media images?
- Do audiences have the power to affect changes?

Over 20 years in the entertainment business, a former member of El Teatro Campesino and a Ph.D. candidate in Drama at Stanford University, Alma Martinez's personal and insightful history of the Latina/o image in film leads audiences through the evolution of this image in Hollywood and gives them a critical awareness of the role of film in forging the popular image of Latina/os in the United States.

Electronic media is the most powerful communication tool the world has ever known and the United States's second largest export.

Films have defined who we are, our history and what it means to be American. Films are not novels and the stereotype has become a quick and powerful method of creating immediate audience recognition.

Close-up look at the past and present to understand what is real and not real and how history has created what today have become media stereotypes. The media can lead the way in depicting a culturally and ethnically balanced America which would enable us to live together with more understanding, respect and tolerance.

Film: co-starred in Zoot Suit, Under Fire, Born in East L.A., Barbarosa TV: Nash Bridges, Seguin, Corridos: Tales of Passion and Revolution

Stage: Zoot Suit as well as numerous Broadway and regional theatres across the country.

Education: BA Theatre,Whittier College, MFA Acting, University of Southern California, Centro Universitarito de Teatro, University of Mexico

Her presentation was timely, thought provoking, entertaining and informative. In my ten years I have never received so many accolades from faculty and staff alike. Ms. Martinez was phenomenal.

Robin Saunders, Student Activities

Howard Community College, MD

A potent and authentic speaker.                                                                 D.Wesley Poythress                                           

Director Multicultural Life

Hope College, MI