There was a very interesting article in Sunday’s New York Times about the mujeres that provide the dubbed Spanish voices for ABC’s hit show Desperate Housewives. These mujeres who look like real mujeres, not Hollywood starlets who look like they could use some arroz con pollo , make $12-$25 an hour so that the happenings of Wisteria Lane can be understood not just in households of Latin America but also in Spanish language homes here in the U.S. via SAP. According to the article:

Last fall ABC announced it would dub top-rated shows like “Desperate Housewives” and “Lost” to attract the growing audience in the United States of Spanish-language networks like Univision. The Spanish translation of these network hits is heard through the Secondary Audio Program option on television sets, which is available to more than 85 percent of American households.

No se but something about the article made me a little sad regarding the fate of Latino actors in Hollywood, especially bilingual actors. Marabina Jaimes, the Spanish language voice of Brenda Strong’s character, Mary Alice, the dead narrator of Desperate Housewives says :

There’s that saying, ‘You may not be a thoroughbred, but if you’re a fly on the tail of a thoroughbred, you’re a thoroughbred fly.

Despite the fact that Ms. Jaimes won an emmy for “Storytime,” a children’s show in English on PBS, and has been seen or heard in scores of commercials:

Any rape you see in police shows, it’s me.

Who says there isn’t a place for Latinas in the big time? And yes I am rolling my eyes.

Via / Virtual Boricua