Riverdale star Camila Mendes has probably done a gazillion interviews at this point.
I'm no celebrity, but I can imagine it would get a bit exhausting to answer the same old asinine questions over and over again.
Which is why, when Camila was recently given the chance to speak about an issue that's important to her, she was elated.
MTV / Via giphy.com
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On Monday's episode of the Tamron Hall Show, Camila was asked about facing discrimination in the industry.
"It's important to display Latinx people not just as like the poor underdogs," she told Tamron, "but as people who can be successful. I think that's like, a very empowering message to send to our audience."
She also touched on her own feelings and insecurities growing up in the industry as a "young girl" and feeling like she was "a supporting role to [her] white counterparts."
The CW / Via giphy.com
She said, "When I think about me — this is actually something I've been talking about in therapy a lot — but when I think about me as a young girl always feeling like I was a supporting role to my white counterparts, even in just like friendships, it was always like, 'I'm here to make you look good.'"
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Now as an adult, Camila says she wants to ensure she makes good use of her platform to "connect" with her younger fanbase. "What do I want to do for the world? How do I want to make a difference?" she explained. "And kind of thinking, 'Ok, when I was a teenager, what did I need from my teen idols?'"
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"... And then I also think about it — just the fact that I'm a Latina trying to represent a community of people who are heavily underrepresented in this industry."
Obviously, being able to play Veronica and the business-owning boss that she is, Camila is already breaking stereotypes for Latinx characters.
The CW / Via giphy.com
"Just to think about how now we are kind of going a direction where people of color can be leads and drive a story and be protagonists, that is something that we need to see more of."
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TBH, it's also refreshing as a fan to get to hear Camila discuss something other than Riverdale's ridiculous plot.
The CW / Via giphy.com
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