Jeff Lima Discusses His Scholarship For Latinx Talents

2024 Author: Steven Freeman | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 08:15

Chicago Fire star Jeff Lima talked to People CHICA about his mission of advancing the Latinx image on screen with a special scholarship program. The Jeff Lima Production Award was created by the Puerto Rican actor last year and it grants unity,”scholarship judge and Nuyorican actress Andrea Navedo tells People CHICA. After playing Xiomara on Jane the Virgin, Navedo will next appear as Puerto Rican activist Carmen Delgado in the upcoming FX series Mrs. America, also starring Cate Blanchett and Rose Byrne.

"We need to create and direct our own work and sell it," says Lima. The actor, who grew up in Spanish Harlem in a Puerto Rican family, loved going to the Puerto Rican pride parades as a kid. "I loved the music and the food, the salsa dancing on stage - I took every opportunity to be a part of that culture."

This year's scholarship winner will be announced in the spring. Last year the award went to MFA candidate Max Walker-Silverman for his film Chuj Boys of Summer, about a group of Guatemalans living in a small Colorado town. Applicants must be a graduate film program thesis student at NYU (third year and above) or an alum who graduated from the program within the last six years (after January 2014). Applicants must submit a proposal, bio, short screenplay, synopsis, and a director's artistic statement of intent, which will also include the film's market validation and a budget. Eligible NYU Tisch Grad Film alumni interested in applying should email [email protected].