MAILBAG : The Frida Furor

Why must a Latina actress, specifically, portray Mexican artist Kahlo? And would an Argentine, Nicaraguan or Puerto Rican actress be eligible for the role?

It is the job of an actor to capture the essence of something he is not. (A perennial complaint of actors is that they are not given the chance to play contrary to “type.”) With the embellishments of makeup artists and special-effects craftspeople, an actor’s skill allows him to become, in effect, another ethnicity, older or younger, the other gender, a gorilla, an extraterrestrial and so on.

I happen to be of Greek descent, and I embraced Latino actor Anthony Quinn as Zorba the Greek!

DEANNE POULOS

La Mirada