Immigration Debate Impacts Eva
As "Desperate Housewives" star Eva Longoria makes the move from the TV screen to the big screen, the United States is engaged in a great debate over the future of immigrants.
And, on The Early Show Friday, Longoria told co-anchor Harry Smith she's well aware of the deeply divisive issue, and does her best to help the cause of fellow Latinos in the U.S. by giving off the most positive image she can in whatever medium she's in.
"I love to somehow, in some way, contribute to the positive portrayal of Latinos in the media," she said.
Longoria took a break from playing the sexy vixen of Wisteria Lane to make "The Sentinel," with Michael Douglas and Kiefer Sutherland, among others.
She portrays a rookie Secret Service agent about to team up with a no-nonsense investigator, played by Sutherland.
She admitted to Smith it was a nice break.
"I mean," she quickly added, "I have the greatest day job in the world with 'Desperate Housewives.' But, it was nice to go from a set of estrogen to a set of testosterone."
She also admitted she was "actually star-struck, probably every day, when the director (Clark Johnson) would go, 'Michael, Kiefer, Eva, come over here,' and he'd try to explain something to us. And, every time I just heard my name in the same sentence it was really, I felt like it was an out-of-body experience."
Longoria's career skyrocketed when "Housewives" became a mega-hit and she concedes, "It seems like it's happening to someone else and I'm just watching. So it's fun."
She played a character who was, as she put it, "bad to the bone" for three years in the soap, "The Young and the Restless" and notes, to her relatives, that was the peak of any possible success.Even winning an Oscar, she say, "wouldn't matter. As long as I was on a soap. We didn't grow up with movies when I was little. We couldn't really afford to go to movies, so we grew up with soap operas and television and daytime television. So it was a big deal when I got 'Young and the Restless.' "
But Longoria knows her roles are just that, and the immigration questions pulling at the nation are all too real.
"It's a shame," she told Smith, "because we're the land of immigrants. I think it's kind of an oxymoron to be fighting this battle about immigrants when everybody is traced back to an immigrant at one time or another. And you (Smith) wouldn't be here if your ancestors hadn't had a chance.
"So why not give these people a chance? And you know, I grew up in South Texas (Corpus Christi), where I didn't cross the border. The border crossed us. So we were Mexicans. And then, one day, we were Americans. And that doesn't change who you are.
"It doesn't change my values or my morals, or anything about my life. It doesn't change my language. It doesn't change my religion. I'm still that person. So I think everybody has the right to be treated as a human being, no matter where you're from.
"I think, obviously, our country's in a big debate about the future of immigration, but, I think my responsibility is often colored by the negative media portrayal of Latinos in television and film. So for me, I love playing a non-stereotypical Latin on television. And I love to somehow, in some way contribute to the positive portrayal of Latinos in the media."
On a lighter note, Longoria added she's looking forward to the National Basketball Association playoffs. San Antonio Spurs star Tony Parker is her boyfriend, and she managed to make it to many of the team's games this season.