Rocío Camargo, film studies student at Santa Monica College, Culver City, Calif., on March 24, 2024. (Alexey Nosov | The Corsair)

Like Edward Scissorhands, everyone feels like an outcast trying to fit in with their version of the pastel suburban neighborhood. For Rocío Camargo as a Latina woman in film, that neighborhood is made up of Hollywood bigwigs.

Many film students have that one movie that made them realize they can pursue this as a career; a film that had a gravitational pull on their lives. For Camargo, that film was “Edward Scissorhands.” “I think I was 10 years old. That’s the movie that told me that I could do this,” she said.“This is how far someone’s imagination can go; I was obsessed with it and how weird it was.” She marveled at Tim Burton’s unique storytelling, and to this day, it is one of her all-time favorite films.

Camargo was born and raised in Tijuana, Mexico. At such a young age, Camargo felt a deep affinity for movies and shared how her parents were also big cinephiles.

She moved to San Diego at the age of 15 during the grueling pandemic. After having to endure her junior and senior years of high school fully online, she moved to Los Angeles to attend Santa Monica College (SMC) to pursue her dreams of working in the film industry. At only 19 years of age, she has her mind set on what she wants to do.

For Camargo, she doesn’t have a preference for what role she would like to take on in the future “as long as I’m in the room.” Beyond her acting pursuits, she emphasized how she has also grown an affinity to screenwriting.

On a windy day at SMC, Camargo finished her advanced screenwriting class and had a moment to sit down before her next class. In a silent moment, she contemplated if she ever saw herself taking on the role of a writer, director, an actress, or if she ever felt discouraged by the lack of Latin representation. “Yeah, I think so, but it was more because I was a woman, to be behind the camera.”

She said it is rare to see a female director or writer at awards shows, more specifically, Latina women. “I think that’s why I wanted to be an actress, because it seemed easier.”

Out of the 95 Academy Award ceremonies only 2 women have won the Best Director award neither of whom were Latina. In more recent years, the Academy has nominated female directors such as Greta Gerwig, Chloé Zhao, who had a historic win, and more recently in 2024, Justine Triet.

Camargo explored the idea of cultural and racial stereotypes being harmful to those watching and those who are being represented in film and tv. “Culture is attached to the identity of the individual – the stereotypes can be unnecessary if it doesn't help the character grow,” Camargo said. “It has [gotten] better with ethnicities, body types – step by step but we still need some work,” she laughed.

At SMC, Camargo said that it is much more diverse than the entirety of Los Angeles. “I was surprised by the fact that I felt like I belonged. I feel included. SMC does a great job of including all ethnicities – I can freely talk about my identity and even include it in my scripts in screenwriting,” she said.

Camargo spoke about the lack of connections she has in the industry because she moved to the United States recently, so it is harder for her to break into Hollywood. “I was really scared when I [chose] this major,” she said after mentioning how male-dominated film is. “I felt scared because of my accent – Because I'm a woman, I'm Latina, English is not my first language.”

Through Carmago’s own determination and success, those with similar upbringings will be able to see themselves on the screen and feel seen. “I never saw myself in a story on the screen,” she said, and she intends to change that.

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