Do we like Gina Torres?
Our score: 8 out of 10. Years of speaking up for Afro-Latino and Latino visibility and no sign of harm or scandal, though the record we could verify is thinner than we'd like.
Torres is the daughter of Cuban immigrants and grew up hearing Cuban music, then visited the island as a teenager. She has said that playing a Cuban woman on stage, after so many years in the industry, is “wonderful”. That heritage runs through everything she says about her career.
Fans know her as Zoë in Firefly, then as Jessica Pearson, the sharpest suit in Suits, and later as the star and producer of the spin-off Pearson. After that she took the captain's seat on 9-1-1: Lone Star until it ended in early 2025, and she has done a heap of voice work in animation and video games.
On the harm check, nothing nasty turned up in her own words or in the company she keeps. In September 2024 she spoke at a Philadelphia event organised by Kamala Harris's campaign, saying she was “activated to participate in this election more than ever”, and talked about reproductive rights. We found nothing she has said on trans issues either way, so that's a gap rather than a tick.
The real good stuff is representation. She has told Hollywood to stop boxing in Afro-Latina actors, and said of hiring Afro-Latinx and Latinx talent: “Hire us. It's not that hard.” She was a Rose Parade Grand Marshal in 2020 and joined a White House event on Afro-Latino heritage in 2024.
The Broadway return is the fresh bit, and it's a lovely one: a Cuban American actor playing a Cuban music legend on a big stage. There's no storm around it, just a veteran doing something she clearly loves.